Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“‘Will you be okay in the big kids’ school? You’re still so little.’
‘Mom, don’t worry. I’ll be fine, I am already five!'”
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Friday at Kirkus, I’ll have a column about David Mackintosh’s The Frank Show, as well as Karina Wolf’s The Insomniacs, illustrated by The Brothers Hilts. That link will be here tomorrow morning.
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Okay, as for this post’s title, “cover reveal” sounds mighty dramatic, but … well, it just sounded better than “cover.”

Remember when Yuyi Morales visited last week (that link is here) and mentioned her next picture book project? Here’s part of what she wrote:

I just finished my book, Niño Wrestles the World, and I am tremendously happy with it. This is a book with Roaring Brook Press and Neal Porter, and I couldn’t be more delighted working again with this group of artists, thinkers, [and] creative people, who are embedding into my work the richest of their talents. Niño is a lucha libre story, filled with some of my favorite (scary) Mexican characters, and it is also a tribute to games and to my two sisters, Magaly and Elizabeth, who were the truest terrors of my childhood.

The third image above is the cover, courtesy of Roaring Brook. (There’s a bit more about the book here at Publishers Weekly Spring 2013 Previews.)

Also pictured above (second image) is a spread from Mac Barnett’s Oh No! Not Again! (Or How I Built a Time Machine to Save History) (or at Least My History Grade), illustrated by Dan Santat and released in June from Hyperion. Dan chatted with me last week at Kirkus about this book, as well as some of his other upcoming illustrated books, so here’s the link, if you missed that and are so inclined to read it.

Last but not least, the image opening this post is from Hyewon Yum’s Mom, It’s My First Day of Kindergarten! (Frances Foster/Farrar Straus Giroux, July 2012), which I wrote about at Kirkus last Friday. So, here’s all about the book, and to follow are some early dummies from the book, as well as some final illustrations (without the text), thanks to Hyewon.

Enjoy.

Early dummy: “‘Mom, wake up! It’s my first day of kindergarten!'”
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Final spread: “‘Mom, wake up! It’s my first day of kindergarten!'”
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Final spread: “‘Oh dear! Look at the time, you’ll be late for school.’
‘Don’t worry, Mom. We can run!'”
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Final spread (left side): “We find my classroom. The door is open.
‘Uh-oh, Mom, maybe I’m not ready for this.'”
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Final spread (right side): “Mom sighs.
‘I’m sure you’ll be fine in kindergarten,’ she says.”
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Early dummy: “When my teacher says parents should leave, Mom hugs me,
and kisses me, and hugs me, and kisses me. I say, ‘Bye.'”
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Early dummy: “I hug her, and she hugs me. ‘How was school?’ she asks.
‘It’s awesome,’ I say.”
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(Final)

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Cover of Niño Wrestles the World used with permission of Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press.

OH NO! NOT AGAIN! Copyright © 2012 by Mac Barnett. Illustration copyright © 2012 by Dan Santat. Published by Hyperion, New York. Spread reproduced with permission of Dan Santat.

MOM, IT’S MY FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN! Copyright © 2012 by Hyewon Yum. Published by Frances Foster Books/Farrar Straus Giroux, New York. All dummies and final illustrations reproduced with permission of Hyewon Yum.