What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week,
Featuring Kate Berube, Ryan T. Higgins,
Rafael López, Antoinette Portis, and Chris Raschka

h1 August 17th, 2018 by jules


“On the walk to school, Mae thought about all the things that could go wrong.”
— From Kate Berube’s
Mae’s First Day of School


 


“Omek helps Yelfred and Q-B share back!”
— From Antoinette Portis’s
Best Frints at Skrool
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“We’ve got the wind and the clouds in our hands!
We’ve got the whole world in our hands.”
— From Rafael López’s
We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Dear Turtle,
Here’s a poem I made up …”
— From Liz Garton Scanlon’s and Audrey Vernick’s
Dear Substitute,
illustrated by Chris Raschka

(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“CHILDREN!”
— From Ryan T. Higgins’s
We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
(Click to enlarge spread)


 

Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got two new picture books on the mind, ones that take a look at both sides of a story.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I wrote here about some good new back-to-school picture books, including Kate Berube’s Mae’s First Day of School (Abrams, July 2018); Antoinette Portis’s Best Frints at Skrool (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook, June 2018); Liz Garton Scanlon’s and Audrey Vernick’s Dear Substitute (Disney-Hyperion, June 2018), illustrated by Chris Raschka; Ryan T. Higgins’s We Don’t Eat Our Classmates (Disney-Hyperion, June 2018); and Rafael López’s We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands (Orchard/Scholastic, October 2018).

I’m following up today with art from each book.

Enjoy!

 

From Mae’s First Day of School:


 



(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)


 


“‘I’m not going to school,’ said Rosie.
‘Me neither,’ said Mae. ‘Would you like a cookie?'”

(Click to enlarge)


 



(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)


 



(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)


 


“Mae smiled at Ms. Pearl and Rosie. ‘You know what?
We’re all afraid of the same things. I’m glad I’m not the only one.'”

(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)


 



 

From Dear Substitute:


 


“Dear Library,
The substitute says
we’re not coming to you …”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Dear Story Time,
We usually only get you on Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday.
Today’s an extra. …”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 



 

From Best Frints at Skrool:


 



(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)


 


“On Boborp, sometimes frints use their words in ways that aren’t so frintly.”
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)


 


“Some stroodents need to spend time by the Quiet Wall
so they can think hard about what they’ve done.”
(Click to enlarge spread and read text in its entirety)


 



 

From We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands:


 


“We’ve got the moon and the stars in our hands.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“We’ve got the whole world in our hands.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“We’ve got everybody everywhere in our hands.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 



 



 

From We Don’t Eat Our Classmates:


 



(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)


 


(Click image to enlarge)


 



 

* * * * * * *

BEST FRINTS AT SKROOL. Copyright © 2018 by Antoinette Portis. Published by Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press, New York. Illustrations reproduced by permission of Antoinette Portis.

DEAR SUBSTITUTE. Text copyright © 2018 by Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick. Illustrations copyright © 2018 by Chris Raschka. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Disney-Hyperion, New York.

MAE’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. Copyright © 2018 by Kate Berube. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Abrams Books for Young Readers, New York.

WE DON’T EAT OUR CLASSMATES. Copyright © 2018 by Ryan T. Higgins. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Disney-Hyperion, New York.

WE’VE GOT THE WHOLE WORLD IN OUR HANDS. Interior illustrations © 2018 by Rafael López. Used with permission from Orchard Books/Scholastic.





One comment to “What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week,
Featuring Kate Berube, Ryan T. Higgins,
Rafael López, Antoinette Portis, and Chris Raschka”

  1. I picked up Scanlon & Verdick’s DEAR SUBSTITUTE after reading about it here and it did NOT disappoint. Clever, funny–and dead-on about the tricky business of being a substitute (a job which I did for a number of years to bridge my teaching and writing lives) and being a student who HAS a substitute. Thanks for this great post on back-to school books–I plan to read the others soon!


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