Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

It’s the first Sunday of the month, which means the 7-Imp spotlight gets turned on a student or debut illustrator, and today I’ve got the latter. Jane Porter is a UK-based illustrator, who has a master’s in Illustration and Animation from Kingston University — and who spent a long time watching ducks-in-action for this book. (Also, she sometimes draws with a stick. WITH A STICK. Jane Porter Fun Fact! She discusses this more below.)

Duck Sock Hop, to be released this week from Dial, was written by Jane Kohuth, who has a degree in English and Creative Writing from Brandeis University, but who also has a master’s degree in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. (We’re in good company today, aren’t we, fellow imps?) There are no theological musings in Duck Sock Hop, but there are jaunty read-aloud rhymes about some messy, musical, dance-loving ducks, as well as bright and colorful illustrations from Porter.

I’m not going to run my mouth for long here, since both Janes are here this morning to say a bit about this book and their work in general. I’m happy both author and illustrator are visiting today. But let me quickly add that this is a great story-time choice, and I am taken with Porter’s sunny, patterned illustrations. “Eye-catching” is how Publishers Weekly puts it, and they’re right: “…[T]hey’re…an engaging, eye-catching bunch,” the review states, “rendered in bold black outlines and playful silkscreen-like patterning that’s an inventive visual riff on feathers. Kohuth’s…verse offers plenty of read-aloud pleasure, giving readers the immense satisfaction of saying ‘socks’ and ‘ducks’ over and over.”

First up this morning is Jane Porter (illustrator)—along with some early sketches from the book, as well as a picture of her art-making tools—and I’ll follow that with some words from Jane Kohuth (author). I thank them both for visiting 7-Imp today, and I look forward to what each of them brings readers next. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning at Kirkus, I take a look at two new 2012 offerings from Tara Books, as well as run down some of their titles from recent years that I think are must-sees. If you’re interested in international picture books (particularly from South Asia), you might find it a post worth visiting. The link is here this morning.

Also, yesterday morning over at Kirkus, I chatted briefly with author/illustrator Tad Hills about his upcoming picture book, Rocket Writes a Story. That link is here, and next week here at 7-Imp I’ll have some more spreads from that sequel.

Last week at Kirkus, I discussed two new little-boy picture book protagonists who make me laugh. First up was Adam J.B. Lane’s Stop Thief!, to be released later this month by Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. (An illustration from that book opens this post.) And Judith Rossell’s Oliver (HarperCollins, May 2012)—or What Happens When You Build Your Own Cardboard Submarine and Head Down the Bathtub Drain—is very funny and a winner all-around. That link is here, and today I follow up with some art from each book.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

You all know I’m a ginormous picture book addict, and I tell you what: Author/illustrator Philip C. Stead knows how to send just the right content to make this blogger happy. I’ve been trying to convince him to come have one of my standard breakfast interviews for years now, but (lucky for me and my imp readers) he likes to do things differently at pretty much all times and sends me the kind of words and images you see in today’s post (and the goodness he sent last year) instead.

I am very good with this.

And why is that? Well, take today’s post: Phil gets very detailed about the story behind his new picture book, A Home for Bird, to be released in June by Neal Porter/Roaring Brook — the story’s history and how it got to where it is today. He also shares lots of sketches and even pictures of specifically what he uses to make his art. And this time he’s done something different from collage (but he tells you more about that below). Yes, if you’re a fellow picture book fan, his thoughtful words and images will make you happy today, so grab a cup of coffee and won’t you sit for a spell? Read the rest of this entry »

I’m afraid that, if I try to count the number of picture book creators who have visited this site in the past six years, I’ll be here all day. I’ve done quite a few Q&As, to say the least. But today is a “first” for 7-Imp. Unless you count the photographs Chris Raschka used to answer some of his questions or Deborah Freedman’s illustrated responses to the Pivot Questionnaire (hi, chicken), this is the first time an interviewee has sent illustrated responses to his answers. Well, most of them. “Although some of them are in written form,” Chilean-born illustrator Claudio Muñoz told me, “I have given most of my answers the way I communicate best — that is, with my drawings.”

And that makes this illustration junkie very happy. In fact, here’s what happened when I asked if he could tell me what he likes to have for breakfast daily:

Read the rest of this entry »

In the Summer of 2011, I wrote at Kirkus about TOON Books. Today’s post is about a new TOON title, R. Kikuo Johnson’s The Shark King, so if you’re thinking, TOON hubba WHAT? and what is Jules going on about NOW?, then you can head on over to that Kirkus column to get the low-down on this imprint.

And I like this new title. I do. You won’t see anything else like it this year. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning at Kirkus, I take a look at two picture book protagonists who make me laugh in Adam J. B. Lane’s Stop Thief! and Judith Rossell’s Oliver. If you’re so inclined to read it, the link is here this morning.

Last week, I wrote about some good, brand-new picture books for Earth Day. That link is here, if you missed it and want to read more. Below is some art from each book, including some early sketches and work-in-progress images from I. C. Springman’s More, illustrated by Brian Lies.

Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

Author/illustrator Amy Schwartz visited 7-Imp for a breakfast chat in June 2010. It was there that I reiterated what I love most about her picture books: her attention to detail. The types of details, that is, upon which young children tend to focus. So, it’s with eagerness that I turn toward any of her new picture book releases.

And if you’re a fan of her books, it’s a good year to be one. (For all I know, she has even more 2012 releases; I failed to ask her this.) In February, Holiday House released Willie and Uncle Bill, and in August Neal Porter/Roaring Brook will release Lucy Can’t Sleep. I’ve seen a copy of both, including an F&G of the latter, and both are a delight. And today at 7-Imp Amy’s sharing a couple of early sketches from one of the books.

You’ll often read reviewers use the word “understated” for the humor in Amy’s books. It’s true. “Droll,” too — and, as I’ve said previously here at Camp 7-Imp, I love a Good Droll. You could easily use both descriptors for Willie and Uncle Bill, a series of three stories about a young boy, mostly silent, and his very outgoing, flamboyant uncle, mostly not-silent and full of good cheer and style.

When the doorbell rings three times, as it does at the start of each story, Willie and his mother know that Uncle Bill has arrived for babysitting. Uncle Bill has relatively big, dramatic hair. He loves to cook. He’s all about pink, polka-dotted (or otherwise exuberant and funky) shirts and wears a frilly apron when he is busy in the kitchen. He is who he is, wonderfully left-of-center, without ever trying too hard to be so. (“Some people,” wrote Walt Whitman, “are so much sunshine to the square inch.” Yeah. I can tell that’s Uncle Bill.) Read the rest of this entry »

How do you like my new friend here?

That was created by author/illustrator Aaron Zenz, and he appears in this post Aaron wrote on Monday about some of his favorite blogs.

I can’t possibly thank Aaron enough for the kind words about 7-Imp. Oh my. Best part is the company I’m in.

Naturally, I begged for a copy of the Zenz-inspired Mad Hatter to feature here at 7-Imp. It’s now on this page of the blog, left to posterity. (Um, I sound like I’m retiring, but you reader-Imps know what I mean.)

Thanks again to Mr. Zenz!

I’ve written about author/illustrator John Hendrix previously at 7-Imp. Today, though, he’s joining me at the breakfast table, his breakfast-of-choice being only “about five gallons of coffee.” (I can go for that. I’m sturdy with my coffee intake. I feel confident I can handle it.)

And I believe I’ve previously used the word “galvanic” when describing his art.

Well, it is. Have you seen his artwork?

His sweeping spreads are indicative of an artist who started out in editorial illustration — with spreads, Kirkus once wrote, that “combine the iconic and the realistic to compress the visual storytelling into one heightened image.” Or “larger-than-life,” if you’re School Library Journal. And it’s true: John knows how to get your attention, as you can see below in the mixed-media illustrations featured today. There’s an edgy, sometimes darker side to his art, too, that makes you look twice. (And, I must mention, he often hand-draws his text, as you can see in some examples below.)

Most recently, John has brought readers the illustrations for Deborah Hopkinson’s A Boy Called Dickens. That was published by Schwartz & Wade in January, and back then I invited John over for a breakfast chat. I may just now be getting to it, but better late than never. He shares art and early sketches below from Hopkinson’s book, as well his other three previously illustrated titles and other art from here and from there.

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

I always look forward to new picture books from Polly Dunbar (who visited 7-Imp back in ’08).

Kirkus calls her newest, Arthur’s Dream Boat, released by Candlewick in February, a “real attention-getter.” In this book, Dunbar asks child readers to consider what is real and what is but a dream.

Arthur awakes one morning to recall an amazing dream. He’s got a sailboat on the mind — in more ways than one. He’s dreamt of one, not to mention there is a tiny sailboat perched on his head. (“A few years ago,” Dunbar notes in the book’s back-flap bio, “I was sitting on Brighton beach, looking out to sea. There was a small boy in the water and a boat far away on the horizon. For one magic moment, the boat looked as though it was perched on the boy’s head. I remember thinking, I’m the only one who can see that boat on his head; it must be a dream boat. And I drew a quick sketch.”)

He sets out to tell family members about his “amazing” dream, but no one is quite listening. Observant readers will notice that the boat is increasingly embellished with features he sees on or near his own family members—the rainbow-colored fish food his mother is tossing into the aquarium becomes the “polka-dotted sails,” and the baby food his sister is flinging around the kitchen becomes the “golden flag”—as well as other nautical clues, including a message in a bottle on the family’s kitchen table. Read the rest of this entry »