What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring
Stephen Savage, Lauren Tobia, & Paul O. Zelinsky

‘Everybody is busy with Double Trouble!’ cries Anna Hibiscus.
‘Nobody has time for me.'”
— From Atinuke’s Double Trouble for Anna Hibiscus!, illustrated by Lauren Tobia
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— From Emily Jenkins’ Toys Meet Snow, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky

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This morning over at Kirkus, I take a look at Pamela Zagarenski’s The Whisper. That link is here.
Last week, I wrote here about new picture books that feature the happy return of some beloved picture book protagonists, including Stephen Savage’s Where’s Walrus? And Penguin? (Scholastic, August 2015); Atinuke’s Double Trouble for Anna Hibiscus!, illustrated by Lauren Tobia and whose cover is pictured here (Kane Miller, September 2015); and Emily Jenkins’ Toys Meet Snow, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky (Schwartz & Wade, September 2015).
I’ve got a bit of art from each today. Zelinsky shares some early sketches and cover sketches as well.
Also, since we’re on the subject of Lauren Tobia’s artwork, I’m adding in a couple of spreads from Fran Manushkin’s Happy in Our Skin, published by Candlewick last month.
Enjoy!




Plastic doesn’t say anything. She is thinking.”
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— The progression of a spread
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(Click each to enlarge)


Anna Hibiscus always eat breakfast with Grandmother.
But Grandmother is busy sleeping. …”
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splash with her aunties, and play with her uncles and cousins.
But first Anna Hibiscus runs to her mother.”
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illustrated by Lauren Tobia:

get a scratch when we itch, and hold hands and nestle.”
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with all of us in it! See the splendid view:
bouquets of people, blooming and boisterous,
brawny and thin, loving each day …”
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DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR ANNA HIBISCUS! Text copyright © 2015 by Atinuke. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Lauren Tobia. Illustrations reproduced by permission of Lauren Tobia and the publisher, Kane Miller, Tulsa, OK.
HAPPY IN OUR SKIN. Text copyright © 2015 by Fran Manushkin. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Lauren Tobia. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.
TOYS MEET SNOW. Text copyright © 2015 by Emily Jenkins. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Paul O. Zelinsky. Images reproduced by permission of Paul O. Zelinsky and the publisher, Schartz & Wade Books, New York.
WHERE’S WALRUS? AND PENGUIN? copyright © 2015 by Stephen Savage. Images reproduced by permission of Stephen Savage and the publisher, Scholastic Press, New York.