Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 
Claire — the narrator of Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s Snow Angel, Sand Angel (Make Me a World, January 2022), illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky — lives in Hawai’i and is dismayed when, for a school project, she must make a diorama about winter. “I’ve never even seen real snow!” she thinks. This is a sore point for her; she longs to experience winter and play in the snow. So she’s delighted when her father tells her he’ll show her and her brother, Timbo, some snow up on Mauna Kea, “the top of the tallest mountain in the world, if you measure from seafloor to summit.”

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“And the books were constant company. Which was nice. Tama loved books. Caught in their pages were worlds bursting with color and light, love and fairness. Pressed between their covers were words that planted seeds in the garden of Tama’s mind.
How magical that—even in Minidoka—such a small little library
could fit so much inside of its four walls!”
(Click spread to enlarge)

 
Over at BookPage, I’ve a review of Maggie Tokuda-Hall’s Love in the Library (Candlewick, January 2022), an exquisite piece of historical fiction illustrated by Yas Imamura.

Here is the review, and below are some more spreads.

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(Click image to enlarge)

 

It’s one of my favorite posts of any year — when, at Calling Caldecott, we look at the year’s CaldeNott books (or best picture book imports of the year). This year’s post is written by Thom Barthelmess, who coined the very term. Pictured above is one of the books he chose for this year’s list (a book I also love).

You can read the post here.

(Click cover to enlarge)

 
Look at that! 7-Imp is having it’s 777th week of 7 kicks! This week of special numbers snuck up on me.

I can’t let 2021 fade away without mentioning Phoebe Wahl’s Little Witch Hazel here at 7-Imp, which was released last fall (Tundra Books). I love this book fiercely. Over at Calling Caldecott last week, guest poster Lisa Meidl wrote about it, and I’ll send you there if you want to read more. It is such a magnificent book, and I hope we get to read even more one day about this character and her world. Read the rest of this entry »

 

I’ve got a Q&A over at Chapter 16 with author Alice Faye Duncan. We discuss her two new picture books — Evicted!: The Struggle for the Right to Vote, illustrated by Charly Palmer, and Opal Lee and What It Means to Be Free, illustrated by Keturah A. Bobo.

The Q&A is here.

 
Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell ventures into the world of early readers with his new book, Cornbread & Poppy. Over at BookPage, I chat with him about this. That Q&A is here.

And here is my review of the book.

Below are some early sketches from the book as well as some final art. (Pictured above is the book’s title-page illustration.) I thank Matt for sharing!

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Happy New Year, dear Imps! Today, I’m pleased to welcome author-illustrator Jamie Hogan, who shares some process images and final art from her wondrous 2021 book, Skywatcher (Tilbury House, October).

Skywatcher tells the story of boy who lives in a “worn brick building” in the city and loves to read his Skywatcher comics, which are about a woman who travels the universe. The city lights, however, outshine the stars in the bustling city where this boy lives, and he wonders: “How could Skywatcher find her way through the universe without the stars?” The boy’s mother surprises him with a camping trip far from the city, and the two of them wake in the middle of the night to a beautiful surprise.

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I’ve a review over at the Horn Book of Seth Fishman’s When I Wake Up (Greenwillow, December 2021), illustrated by Jessixa Bagley — an adventurous tribute to the imagination of children and a day’s endless opportunities. And here at 7-Imp today, Jessixa shares things like early sketches and character tests, and some final spreads are also pictured below. I thank Jessixa for sharing. (Pictured above is an early character sketch.)

The review is here.

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“The fox is one of the only wild creatures in the world that can
successfully make a life for itself in cities.”

 
I recently heard two friends and colleagues — Betsy Bird and Susannah Richards — sing the praises of this Autralian import, originally published in 2008 and on American shelves this year (October). Then I unexpectedly received a review copy and understood precisely what they meant. Tohby Riddle’s Nobody Owns the Moon (Berbay Publishing) is nothing short of spectacular.

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Here’s a snowy holiday image from author-illustrator Tim Miller. I always love to see his work.

I hope all of you reading this had a happy holiday, however you celebrate it!

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