7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #440: Featuring Mordicai Gerstein
July 12th, 2015 by jules
I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Mordicai Gerstein’s newest picture book, The Night World (Little, Brown, June 2015). That is here if you want to read all about the book.
I’ve got some art today here at 7-Imp from the book, and Mordicai also sent some early roughs from the book. “As you will see,” he tells me, “the ruffs are very close to the final art.”
They roughs are, indeed, similar to the final art, but if you’re an illustration fan like me, you love to see these kinds of comparisons, so I’m going to post Mordicai’s roughs and follow each one with the final art as seen in the book.
I thank him for sharing.
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‘It’s too late to go out, Sylvie … or it is too early?'”
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Everyone except for Sylvie and me.”
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A porcupine looks up and whispers, ‘It’s almost here.’
‘It’s coming,’ murmur all the animals. ‘It’s almost here!'”
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‘Where’s everybody going?’ I ask.
‘This is our bedtime,’ says the porcupine. ‘Sweet dreams!’ say I.
The glow flares above the trees. Clouds turn pink and orange.”
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The lilies and sunflowers turn yellow. ‘It’s here!’ says Sylvie.”
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bursts from the tops of the trees.
‘Good morning, sun,’ says Sylvie. ‘Good morning!’ sing all the birds.
‘It’s going to be a beautiful day!’ I sing, too. ‘Good morning, sun!'”
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THE NIGHT WORLD. Copyright © 2015 by Mordicai Gerstein. Published by Little, Brown and Company, New York. All roughs and final art reproduced by permission of Mordicai Gerstein.
Note for any new readers: 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. New kickers are always welcome.
Forgive me as I forgo seven, separate kicks (band name — I call it!), but the girls and I are reading a galley of this …
… and I’m really curious to know how it ends, so my kicks are this book and that I’m going to go read some more with them. (We’re close to being done!)
How about you all? What are YOUR kicks this week?
I love, love, love this book Jules. I am so glad the artwork is highlighted here today. I will be linking this to my blog post.
I am so looking forward to Brian Selznick’s new title. I know it will be as remarkable as the others. He is truly gifted.
My kicks:
1. Walking late one night with Xena I saw my first firefly.
2. Birdsong in the morning
3. Blooming perennials
4. Visit from a bookish friend
5. F & Gs
6. and 7. Days with Xena
Have a good week you all.
Fireflies make me think of this, Margie, which I’m also reading: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781442423367. We have about a billion of them in Tennessee (fireflies, that is).
Glad you a week of books, friends, and bookish friends. Hugs to Xena.
Gorgeous art work!
And I can’t wait to see the new Selznik book. Do tell when you are done!
Margie- Your first firefly- that is super exciting!
Ok.. kicks.
1. Celebrated my mother and daughter’s b’days this week.
2. Chocolate cake!
3. Saw Finding Neverland. A new to me story which was totally fascinating.
4. Led my first Read Like a Writer Book Club with 5 amazing tweens this week.
5. Explored an outdoor sculpture garden called Storm King.
6. Starting on three weeks with no visitors and no vacations. Feels like the relaxing part of summer might (fingers crossed) be starting.
7. Caroline and Rob went to see the Women’s World Cup ticker tape parade and I think it might be the happiest I have ever seen my daughter!
Hope you are all well!
I love this book, the transformation of night to morning. I love this part of the day. And his author’s note is wonderful.
Jules, I can’t wait for the new Selznick book. Chuck and I were just talking about Hugo to friends last weekend.
Margey, fireflies are magical. And as Jules, said they are abundant in TN. I saw something on 60 Minutes about a state park where they put on quite the show.
Stacey, I love the name of the tween book club. Yum to chocolate cake.
My kicks:
1. Our friends in Idaho.
2. PEO s from the summer poetry swap.
3. Movement on our condo purchase.
4. Cloud cover.
5. A friend’s wedding reception.
6. Getting fresh Marrionberries.
7. Making freezer jam with berries.
Have a great week.
Such lovely illustrations – they really capture that magical feeling of transformation when you’ve stayed up al night and watch the sun come up.
Jules – hooray for reading a book you cannot put down with the girls! Such a wonderful feeling.
Margie – what a lovely week you’ve had. Especially the firefly and walks with Xena.
Stacey – so exciting that your daughter got to go to the ticker tape parade! Love that team! And chocolate cake is always a kick.
Jone – I loved all that sunshine, but the cooling cloud cover is a nice change from the extreme heat. Yum to fresh marionberries! Good wishes for the condo closing.
My kicks this week:
1) The USWNT winning the World Cup! So exciting and inspiring and emotional.
2) Reading T.C. Boyle’s The Women – halfway through – its not what I expected but I am liking it.
3) Planting more color in the front yard – mainly lavender and dianthus – the landscaping project is coming together.
4) Lucked into finding someone who will do the concrete pour for the new walkway. (I was going to try to do it myself, but pouring the front step showed me how much work it would be, which is a bit too much for me.)
5)This: “We can fight and we can disagree but we can still sit next to each other.” Sarah Vowell https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153419521251800
6) The tomatoes are just starting to ripen.
7) Daisy the imp. She loves watermelon and I give her some on hot evenings after dinner. I had given her a large piece to work on in the back yard while I was busy in the front, and the little hippo went inside and swiped the rest of it off the kitchen counter. She did get a timeout, but it was pretty funny.
Have a wonderful week all!
I love the artwork for The Night World! Thanks for sharing. And of course go back to finishing the Marvels. My 7 kicks are all about Summer Reading, it’s exhausted me. Kids making things out of wood, racing cars, playing outside, open art, science, animals, and puppet shows. Whew!
Jules~ I can hardly wait to read that book.
I’ll vote for chocolate cake any day Stacey.
I’ve never had Marrionberries Jone. They sound delicious.
Glad to see your landscaping project is coming along Rachel. My perennial gardens are beautiful in three seasons.
Hooray for summer reading, Dianna!
Good morning, Imps!
Hello, Mordicai and Sylvie!
Hello, Margie, Xena, and the fireflies!
Jules, let us know what you all think of the book.
Stacey: Happy birthday to your mom and daughter.
Jone: I like berries but haven’t had marionberries yet. What do they taste like?
Rachel: Thank you for adding color to the world. Hi Daisy!
Hello Margie and Dianna.
My kicks from the past week:
1) Seen
2) Heard
3) Writing
4) Wishes
5) Aware
6) Awake
7) Alive
Back in the morning, you all, promise! I want to read your kicks when I’m not rushed, but I’m finishing a writing deadline now.
more soon …
Stacey: Dang, I wish I could have seen that parade. Happy birthday to all, and have fun with no visitors and no travel!
Jone, I’ll have to look up what marionberries are. Never heard of them. Continued good luck on the move!
Rachel, the video link isn’t working for me, but I’ll look it up. The World Cup win is definitely exciting. Should have been my own kick. p.s. 7-Imp says, yay for Daisy the Imp.
Have fun with the rest of the summer reading, Dianna. Our summer is already halfway over here in middle TN.
Margie, it’s a good book!
LW: WOO HOO! Those are happy, healthy kicks.
I hope you all have a good week. I’ll definitely report in when I finish the book.
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