What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring Red Nose Studio

h1 January 18th, 2019 by jules


Early sketch
(Click to enlarge)


 


Final spread: “… He’s so nervous he can’t stop shaking, even when he’s onstage, even when he starts to sing. But that shaking, that shaking starts an AVALANCHE of screaming — in a good way! And so it begins: Brand-New Elvis now knows what to do onstage — and he will never forget. It is a thing to behold.”
(Click to enlarge spread; head here to read more
about how Chris created “a shaky Elvis”)


 

Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got thoughts on bibliotherapy, the debut picture book from a Dutch author-illustrator named Eva Eland, and a Norwegian import (coming in March) called Angryman. The latter is about domestic violence and is unlike any picture book I’ve seen before.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I wrote here about Jonah Winter’s Elvis Is King! (Schwartz & Wade, January 2019), illustrated by Chris Sickels, aka Red Nose Studio.

Today, I’ve got a bit of art from the book, as well as some early sketches and such from Chris. Chris gave me permission to lift these images from his blog, where he’s written a handful of posts about this book. I link to the corresponding blog post under each image below. Here’s the link to his blog, if you want to read even more about his other projects. A visit to Chris’s site is always rewarding.



 



 


More early sketches; head here to read more
(Click each image to enlarge)


 


The flip side of the dustjacket for the book; head here to read more
(Click to enlarge)


 


A final illustration: “Elvis Is Born! But alas, he is born in a humble shack on the wrong side of the railroad tracks, the side where the poorest of the poor people live,
down down down in the Deep South — Tupelo, Mississippi.”
(Click to enlarge; head here to read more)


 



 



 


A final illustration, followed by details of the image (head here to read and see more): “There it is, hanging from a strap behind the counter. With pennies she saved, Mama buys her eleven-year-old birthday boy the most important gift he will ever receive.
It will be the key to his salvation.”
(Click each image to enlarge)


 


Bill Black from the final spread pictured at the top of this post. Head here to read more about the Blue Moon Boys and to see more photos …
(Click to enlarge)


 


(Click to enlarge cover)


 

* * * * * * *

ELVIS IS KING! Text copyright © 2019 by Jonah Winter. Illustrations © 2019 by Red Nose Studio. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Schwartz & Wade Books, New York. All other images reproduced by permission of Chris Sickels.





One comment to “What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring Red Nose Studio”

  1. The artwork is phenomenal — intricately made sets photographed for each scene. The birthplace house looks exactly like it does in real life! The text is alright, but the book does contain a comprehensive author’s note at the end that gives greater historical context for Elvis’s rise to fame.


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