September 10th, 2015 by jules
Enjoy the art!
September 8th, 2015 by jules
Author-illustrator Greg Pizzoli visits 7-Imp today to tell us a bit about his newest picture book, Templeton Gets His Wish (Disney-Hyperion, May 2015). I like this story and the way it swings from desperation to elation à la Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Templeton’s feelings are intense, as the feelings of young children tend to be, and in the end he sees the great error of his ways. It’s a book that unabashedly embraces its morality, and I look forward to sharing it with groups of children.
I don’t need to tell you the storyline, because Greg does so below. And I don’t need to describe the art, because Greg also shares some below. I thank him for visiting.
Let’s get right to it. … (p.s. This is the second time Greg’s visited 7-Imp this year. You have read Tricky Vic, right?)
September 6th, 2015 by jules
This is one of the best picture books I’ve seen this year. I said this the other day about Mac Barnett’s Leo: A Ghost Story, illustrated by Christian Robinson. My, so many superlatives in one week, but they are both excellent books.
I know that on the first Sunday of each month at 7-Imp, I feature student illustrators, but I gotta take a break today to show you Henkes’ superb artwork.
The Waiting review is here, and below is a bit more art.
Enjoy.
September 4th, 2015 by jules
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!
September 3rd, 2015 by jules
That link is here.
Until tomorrow …
Photo of Liniers taken by Nora Lezano and used by his permission.
September 1st, 2015 by jules
And I’ve got a bit of art from the book here today. The only thing these spreads today are missing is the wonderful character of Jane, but you’ll just have to find a copy yourself so you can meet her. Oh, wait! She’s in the bottom right corner of this image:
I think this is one of the year’s best picture books thus far. Definitely a favorite for me.
Enjoy.
August 30th, 2015 by jules
“I’d had my suspicions for a while that someone had replaced my sister with a girl who looked a lot like her. It had to be! …” Thus opens the new book from author-illustrator Simona Ciraolo (who brought us last year’s Hug Me), Whatever Happened to My Sister? This will be on shelves, come November, from Flying Eye Books. It’s the story of a young girl whose teenage sister is keeping her distance, as teenage sisters are wont to do. The girl, however, is filled with confusion and sorrow, given that they used to play together closely. “I am rather observant,” the girl notes, “yet the moment of the switch must have passed me by.”
There’s a real tender pain here as we follow the girl watching her sister, the latter fully engaged in typical teen activities (listening to music, watching television, hanging with her friends). The younger one tries to engage her sister yet can’t — and eventually she is moved to tears and hides behind the living room couch. But fear not: Her older sister finds her and they spend time together. Read the rest of this entry »
August 28th, 2015 by jules
Last week I wrote here about the picture books of three newcomers, so I’ve got art (and, in some cases, preliminary images) from each book today. Those books are Jayme McGowan’s One Bear Extraordinaire (Abrams, September 2015), Victoria Turnbull’s The Sea Tiger (Candlewick, October 2015), and Phoebe Wahl’s Sonya’s Chickens (Tundra, August 2015).
Enjoy the art!
August 27th, 2015 by jules
Big thanks to Nick Patton for having me as a guest over at his place, The Picturebooking Podcast, this week.
He and I chat about blogging and why precisely those of us who do it do it, and we talk about 7-Imp and picture books.
AND lots of other stuff.
The link is here.
It was a pleasure to chat with him, and I appreciate the invitation to do so.
Until tomorrow …
August 25th, 2015 by jules
Author and illustrator Daniel Miyares—whose most recent picture book is Float, published by Simon & Schuster in June (and the subject of my Kirkus column here)—visits for breakfast this morning. Normally, he tells me, he has merely a hot cup of Earl Grey tea with a splash of milk in the fabulous mug his wife gave him, pictured below. (“She gets me,” he adds.) If he’s taking the time to sit down and eat in the mornings, he says, he goes with biscuits. “I grew up in South Carolina,” he tells me. “It’s kind of a requirement.”
Hey, I’m in Tennessee and get this, so biscuits and tea it is.
Daniel is relatively new to picture books, at least in the grand scheme of things, and I thank him for visiting today to tell me and my readers more about his career, his books thus far, and what’s next on his plate.
Let’s get right to it.
