Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Here’s a quick art stop to say that this year marks the 75th anniversary of Kenneth Grahame’s The Reluctant Dragon, illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. Holiday House is marking this occasion with an anniversary edition of the book, complete with an introduction from Leonard S. Marcus. If you’ve never read this, Grahame’s most famous short story, it’s the tale of a young boy and a peaceful, sonnet-loving dragon. The dragon is hiding out near the boy’s home, which is “half-way between an English village and the shoulder of the Downs.” The boy and dragon become friends, but when St. George arrives, summoned by the town to destroy the dragon, the boy steps in. Instead, a fake joust is staged, and … well, I won’t tell you the entire story, should you want to read it on your own.

As Marcus explains in this edition, Helen Gentry, the cofounder of Holiday House, discovered this story in Grahame’s Dream Days, published in 1898, a series of what Marcus calls “wistful, late-Romantic essays about childhood.” Gentry then decided to seek publication for this story — with its own illustrations. She first offered the assignment of illustrating the book to Francis D. Bedford, the illustrator of J.M. Barrie’s Peter and Wendy from 1911. When Bedford turned down the job, Gentry then turned to Shepard. The story was then published in 1938. Read the rest of this entry »

The amazing Anna Hibiscus who lives in amazing Africa is back, you all! (I’m not just engaging in hyperbole for fun. “Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa. Amazing Africa” is how these books tend to open.)

If you’re wondering whom I’m talking about, I’ll send you here, if you’re so inclined to read. That was a 2011 Kirkus column I wrote about the very delightful Anna Hibiscus chapter book series from Kane/Miller. Anna’s appeared in a picture book as well, featured here at 7-Imp in 2011, and now she’s in a new one, Splash, Anna Hibiscus! (also from Kane/Miller). In a nutshell, Anna is a young African girl, living in a commune with her huge family (including a Canadian mother). The series is top-notch reading for children and has been recognized by the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards (2011). The books are written by Atinuke, a Nigerian storyteller, who spent her childhood in both Africa and the UK and now lives in Wales, and illustrated by British artist Lauren Tobia.

In this new story, Anna’s at the beach with her family. She loves the waves but wants to play in the water with a family member — anyone who will just stop being busy to participate in her joy.

Lauren shares some art today (sans text), as well as a couple of sketches. I thank her. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning over at Kirkus, I write about Stephen Davies’ Don’t Spill the Milk!, illustrated by Christopher Corr. That link is here.

Last week, I wrote here about three new picture books (simply ’cause I couldn’t decide on just one) — Anna Harwell Celenza’s Saint-Saëns’s Danse Macabre, illustrated by JoAnn E. Kitchel and released by Charlesbridge this month; Øyvind Torseter’s The Hole, released by Enchanted Lion this month and originally published in Norwegian; and Jacqueline Woodson’s This Is the Rope: A Story from the Great Migration, illustrated by James Ransome and to be released by Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin later this month.

Below are some illustrations from each book. (For the illustrations in Øyvind Torseter’s The Hole, the tiny, hollow circle outlined in a reddish color that you see on each spread represents the small, die-cut hole that works its way through the book’s center, so you’ll have to imagine that part.)

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

Pictured above is an early image from Caldecott Honor medalist Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s Bully, released in July from Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. A little birdie (named Neal Porter, in fact) told me months ago that Laura created the illustrations for this book with a twig and hand-made paper. I knew I wanted to learn more about this, and I sent Laura a few questions a while back. I thank her for taking the time to share today. (We’ve each had a busy summer, but she’s finally had time to answer and I’ve finally got time to post.)

If you haven’t seen the book, the story of a bullied bully who becomes a bully himself, Laura tells us a lot about it below. So, let’s get right to it. Read the rest of this entry »

Hello again, 7-Imp readers! First, let me say a quick thanks for all the kind words of encouragement after my first post. You sure know how to make a gal feel welcome around here! This summer has been such a treat, and I will be sad to see it come to a close. But, worry not! You’re not rid of me yet. Jules has been helping me with two very exciting interviews over the past few weeks, and I’m excited to be sharing the first one with you today.

Leafing through the stacks of books at the Danielson house, it is hard not to become overwhelmingly entrenched in fandom-ly mystic wonder. As I poured over the blissfully endless words and pictures, this book immediately struck me. The art has a unique comic quality, the text is built to work for a wide range of readers, and I immediately connected to the story in its seemingly simple, incredibly humorous, and cleverly subtle messages about sibling relationships.

Young protagonist Thomas doesn’t think his little brother Nathaniel is all that interesting. In fact, all he really does is poop and scream. But, when the grown-ups in the house talk about “eating him up,” Thomas steps in to protect Nathaniel from ending up on the dinner table. I got in touch with author and illustrator Amy Young to chat about Don’t Eat the Baby! [Viking, May 2013] and how she got to where she is today. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week at Kirkus, I wrote about Bruce Eric Kaplan’s Cousin Irv from Mars (Simon & Schuster, June 2013). This book makes me laugh, and I say much more about it at that Kirkus link, which is here.

Today, I’ve got some art from the book.

I wrote here (back in 2010) about Kaplan’s last picture book, Monsters Eat Whiny Children (also Simon & Schuster, 2010), also wonderfully demented and funny.

I’m glad he makes picture books.

Enjoy the art below. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, over at Kirkus, I have a three-picture-book round-up, which includes the book pictured above. That link is here.

On Sunday, I’ll have some illustrations from the subject of last week’s column, Cousin Irv from Mars.

Until then …

After this post here at 7-Imp last year, I ended up getting a very early copy of Aaron Becker’s debut picture book, Journey. I loved it so much that one morning I, no kidding, called an emergency picture book coffee-shop meeting with two friends who love picture books as much as I do, ’cause I just had to show them this book. We sat over our cups of strong coffee and ooh’ed and aah’ed a lot.

The book’s finally out, and I chat with Aaron about it over at Kirkus this morning. That link is here.

Later (maybe next month), he’s going to come visit 7-Imp for a longer interview, filled with lots of art.

Until tomorrow …

That’s illustrator Leila Rudge. She’s eagerly awaiting the breakfast we’re going to have this morning. “As it’s a special occasion,” she said, “I’ll have fat, fluffy pancakes with crispy bacon and a fried banana. Pile ‘em up!” I’m in!

Droll. Charming. Understated. These are all adjectives that have been used to describe her illustrations. Rudge was born in England and currently makes her home in Australia, but some of her illustrated books, such as Meg McKinlay’s No Bears (Candlewick, 2012), have been published here in the States. Her newest book, Ted, which she both wrote and illustrated, is currently only available in Australia but will be out in the UK and U.S. early next year.

Leila shares lots of art today, including all kinds of peeks into her sketchbooks, which I very much enjoy, given that—as you’ll see below—she’s not committed to just one style of drawing, the one style we end up seeing in her published illustrations. As an art-lover, I find this fascinating to see.

I thank her for sharing, and let’s get right to it. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, dear Imps, it’s the first Sunday of the month, which means I invite to the breakfast table a student or recently-graduated illustrator.

This morning, it’s Kate Berube, who lives in Portland, Oregon. Pictured above is one of her pieces, called Lonely, which I very much like. (Maybe the end of the story-in-waiting in this illustration can be that the boy and the dog finally meet, you think?) Kate tells us below all about her work, and she also shares here a good handful of artwork, for which I thank her. (She also let me pick some favorites from her site and post those in addition to what she sent me.)

Let’s get right to it, shall we? Welcome to Kate … Read the rest of this entry »