Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

I write here at 7-Imp (and elsewhere) about picture books. ‘Cause I love them so.

I’ve never, however, tried to write one myself (except that time in grad school when I took a course from Jack Gantos, and HOO BOY, was it one of the hardest things I’ve ever been asked to do, but I digress). Despite this fact, I get lots of queries from people who want to publish a picture book but don’t know where to begin.

And I’ve found myself telling these people lately about a new handbook from picture book author Linda Ashman (with whom I had a Kirkus chat this past May). It’s called The Nuts and Bolts Guide to Writing Picture Books: Tools and Tips for Writing, Polishing and Selling Your Manuscript. If memory serves me right, she released it this past summer. I’m just now getting around to writing a post about it, though as I said, I’ve personally recommended it to several wannabe authors since then.

It’s an e-book, and you can even download the Table of Contents and Introduction here at Linda’s site. It is packed with the type of information those wanting to be published—or even thinking about writing a picture book—would need to know. In fact, I’m super happy that I can now direct folks to this guidebook, given that I do get asked often about how to get one’s foot in the door when it comes to publishing a picture book. There are nine chapters, which instruct readers—with accessibility and wit—in the ways of Prepping a Picture Book Manuscript for Submission. It’s a comprehensive and common-sense guide from someone who knows the ins-and-outs of picture book publishing and who speaks with wisdom. And occasionally throughout the handbook, Linda pauses to chat briefly with editors, agents, etc. in the field. (You know you wanna hear editors and agents weigh in with their responses to the following queries: “Please complete these sentences: I would love to publish more picture books like … and If I read another picture book manuscript submission about [fill in the blank], I will scream.” At least I found those responses really intriguing.) Read the rest of this entry »

I love to see a beautifully-crafted Mother Goose collection, and there’s a new one on shelves — David McPhail’s My Mother Goose: A Collection of Favorite Rhymes, Songs, and Concepts, released by Roaring Brook in October.

As the sub-title indicates, these are classic nursery rhymes—McPhail sticks to the most beloved ones and doesn’t throw any terribly obscure rhymes into the mix—but he also occasionally pauses to introduce concepts. In between, “Great A, little a, Bouncing B” and “London Bridge,” readers pause for an entertaining “My ABCs” spread. Later, readers look at how Henry the Bear gets around (covered wagon, unicycle, train, etc.). There are also numbers, shapes, colors, etc.

McPhail opens the book with a note about what nursery rhymes meant to him as a child, and he talks about memories of his own mother reciting them to him — and how he now recites them to his own grandchildren. The book closes with an index of first lines.

In November at the New York Times (here), Leonard Marcus wisely noted that McPhail’s characters in this collection, as you can see in the illustrations featured here, “are wistful daydreamers who bear a certain family resemblance to those first seen in children’s book art in the path-finding early illustration work of Maurice Sendak.” There are even moments that smack of Richard Scarry. These pen-and-ink watercolor illustrations invite us into a cozy, intimate world.

Here are some more illustrations from the book. Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

 
This morning over at Kirkus, I write about Nina Laden’s Once Upon a Memory, illustrated by Renata Liwska. That link is here.

Last week, I wrote here about Uri Shulevitz’s Dusk, so I’m sharing some art from it today.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning over at Kirkus, I chat with author-illustrator Jon Agee, pictured here.

We talk about his newest picture book, Little Santa, released by Dial in October. Jon also looks back at publishing picture books over the years; considers Maurice Sendak’s contributions to picture books, as well as to his career; discusses what contemporary picture book artists inspire him …

… and more!

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll have some more art from Little Santa, as well as some early dummy images from Jon.

That Q&A is here.

Until tomorrow …

 

Photo of Jon Agee used with permission.

Here’s a really quick post (because work calls) to show some artwork from Paula Bossio, who has also worked as a graphic designer and art director and who currently lives in Spain. In fact, this wordless title was originally published in Spain in 2011 as El lápiz.

This book is called The Line, and this English edition was released by Kids Can Press in September. It’s the tale of a young girl who finds—you guessed it—a line, and she immediately picks it up to play with it. I don’t want to give a lot of the story away (especially the ending, which is probably a love-it or hate-it kind of closing for many readers), but the line becomes many things to her, as you can see in the illustrations below. Is it her imagination at work or something else?

Bossio’s pencil lines are very loose (well, those lines that aren’t the line itself, that is, which is of course super loose), and things get dramatic in this tale. The girl goes from glee to fear to tears in the span of several spreads. It’s a simple tale, stripped down to its basics in these uncluttered spreads, with Bossio showing that a lot can be done with a little.

Told you this would be brief. Back to work.

Enjoy the illustrations. Read the rest of this entry »

Santa gets around any way he can, y’all.

And author-illustrator Brian Biggs proves this point in the newest entry in his Everything Goes series, called Everything Goes: Santa Goes Everywhere!, published by Balzer & Bray this September. This is actually a board book, and it’s good stuff. In fact, I did story time yesterday morning at Parnassus Books here in Nashville, and I brought this one along. The children there loved the book. There were many laughs, in particular, to see Santa on a speedboat. (And how much do I love the book’s cover? A whole heapin’ lot. Opening this post is the cover art.)

(By the way, that’s Brian pictured above and right. He painted himself into his new book about what goes on the sea, but more on that book below.)

I’ve posted before here at 7-Imp about this wonderful series (see this 2012 post in which I chat with Brian), which is perfect for the vehicle- and transportation-obsessed child in your life (or even growns-ups). I think it’d be unfortunate, though, to write about these books in such a way to imply they should be limited to only those who like moving vehicles of any sort. They’re such well-crafted books on many other levels, and they’re full of rewarding details. You will often hear Biggs compared to Richard Scarry when folks write about these books, and there’s a reason: They are spreads to pore over and take one’s time with, spreads full of many stories and running jokes and visual treats. Oh, and they’re educational too. Clearly. But, most importantly, they’re very fun. Read the rest of this entry »

Today over at Kirkus, I write about a new picture book from Uri Shulevitz. It’s called Dusk.

That is here this morning.

Last week, I wrote here about Isobel Harris’ Little Boy Brown (pictured left), illustrated by French graphic designer and illustrator André François and originally published in 1949.

I’m following up today with some art from the book, released by Enchanted Lion Books last month, which is below.

Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry »

Last week at Kirkus, I chatted with publishing director Cecily Kaiser, who works with Appleseed, a fairly new imprint of Abrams Books for Young Readers. We chatted about board books and what makes a good one. All of that chit-chattin’ is here, and today I’m following up with art from some of the books she mentioned, including the re-boot (coming in 2014) of Chris Raschka’s Thingy Thing series, pictured above.

Enjoy the art.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hi, all.

You’re really gonna click on the image above and see that cardboard up close, right?

I recently reviewed Sam Zuppardi’s The Nowhere Box (Candlewick, November 2013) for the fine folks at BookPage. This is Sam’s debut picture book.

And, since you all know I get kind of twitchy when I don’t share art from the books about which I write, I’m following up here today at 7-Imp with some art from Zuppardi himself (pictured right). He has also sent along some early sketches and dummies from the book.

My book review is here at BookPage’s site (I give them seven points for the name they gave my review, “He’s a Real Nowhere Man”), and below are some more images from Sam.

I thank him for sharing.

Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the first Sunday of the month, when I typically feature student illustrators or those brand-new to illustration, but I’m breaking the rules today.

And that’s ’cause, earlier this week, I was chatting with author-illustrator Carin Berger about how she turned in the art for her upcoming book, Finding Spring (Greenwillow Books), which is about a bear who doesn’t want to hibernate and, instead, goes in search of Spring. The art is what Carin describes as “somewhat 3D”—like her most recent illustrated children’s book, Jack Prelutsky’s Stardines Swim High Across the Sky: And Other Poems (Greenwillow Books, February 2013)—but “more like tiny toy theaters or Victorian raree shows.”

I haven’t seen an early copy of this book, which won’t be on shelves for a while, but I always enjoy reading about Carin and how she creates her artwork. In fact, Carin and I did this back in January of last year, way before Stardines came out. She visited back then to share images of her dioramas, her three-dimensional art from that book. Hmm. Maybe I can just make it a 7-Imp tradition to check in with Carin at the first (or nearly first) of every year. I’m a fan of her artwork. That’d make me happy anyway.

So, without further ado, here’s Carin, and I thank her for sharing. Read the rest of this entry »