What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring
Sophie Blackall, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh,
Qin Leng, Sara Palacios,
LeUyen Pham, and Melissa Sweet

— Melissa Sweet’s illustration of Frances Moore Lappé from Susan Hood’s
Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World

It was kind of like brushing your teeth with your foot. …”
— From Laura Veirs’ Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten,
illustrated by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
(Click to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

She wasn’t rich or even very famous in her time.”
— From Deborah Hopkinson’s Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen,
illustrated by Qin Leng
Over at Kirkus today, I write about Andrea Davis Pinkney’s and Brian Pinkney’s Martin Rising: Requiem for a King. That is here.
Last week, I wrote here about three new picture books featuring some remarkably talented and fearless women — Susan Hood’s Shaking Things Up: 14 Young Women Who Changed the World (Harper, January 2018), illustrated by 13 different artists; Deborah Hopkinson’s Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen: The Story of Six Novels, Three Notebooks, a Writing Box, and One Clever Girl (Balzer + Bray, January 2018), illustrated by Qin Leng; and Laura Veirs’ Libba: The Magnificent Musical Life of Elizabeth Cotten (Chronicle, January 2018), illustrated by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh.
I’m following up with some art from each book today.
Enjoy!

(Click to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

(Click to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

And now, millions of people know her music.”
(Click to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

Sara Palacios’ illustration of Pura Belpré
(Click to read poem and see spread in its entirety)

Sophie Blackall’s illustration of Jacqueline Nearne
(Click to read poem and see spread in its entirety)

the woman who wrote, ‘Eat more greens’ …”
Melissa Sweet’s illustration for the Frances Moore Lappé spread
(Click to read poem and see spread in its entirety)

LeUyen Pham’s illustration of Angela Zhang
(Click to read poem and see spread in its entirety)

and precisely what she didn’t. …”
(Click to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

Maybe. Then again, maybe not.”
(Click to enlarge)

LIBBA: THE MAGNIFICENT MUSICAL LIFE OF ELIZABETH COTTEN. Text copyright © 2018 by Laura Veirs. Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Chronicle Books, San Francisco.
ORDINARY, EXTRAORDINARY JANE AUSTEN. Text copyright © 2018 by Deborah Hopkinson. Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Qin Leng and reproduced by permission of the publisher, Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins.
SHAKING THINGS UP: 14 YOUNG WOMEN WHO CHANGED THE WORLD. Text copyright © 2018 by Susan Hood. Illustrations here are copyright © 2018 by Sophie Blackall, © 2018 by Sara Palacios, © 2018 by LeUyen Pham, and © 2018 by Melissa Sweet. Used by permission of the publisher, Harper, New York.
Well this was a whole lot of loveliness to brighten my day. Thank you!
My pleasure. This artwork brightens my day too. I’m selfish that way!
Wow, a book with BOTH Sophie Blackall and Melissa Sweet? That fresh angel, Laurina Cashin, is swooning…
Amazingly creative artworks in such a crowded world of excellent picture books …