Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

I love the first Sunday of each month here at 7-Imp, because that’s when we all get to see the work of student or debut illustrators. Today, author-illustrator Mika Song visits. She’s not a student, and her newest book is not her debut. But she’s still relatively new to children’s lit, and I’m happy to showcase her work today. Let’s get right to it, because she tells us a bit about her work and shares some artwork and sketches below. I thank her for visiting.

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Last week, I wrote here about What’s Your Favorite Color? (an Eric Carle and Friends book, published by Godwin Books/Henry Holt), which features the work of a slew of talented authors and illustrators and will be on shelves in August. Today, I’ve got a small handful of spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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Normally, when I do a Kirkus Q&A, as I did last week, I follow up the following week with art here at 7-Imp from the picture books I write about. I have no art for you this week, since my Q&A last week was not about a picture book. But I’m still doing a quick post. Wanna know why?

My Q&A (here) was with Deborah Heiligman, and we talked about her new book, Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers, published by Henry Holt in April. Yesterday, it up and won the 2017 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in the category of Nonfiction, which made me happy to see!

In fact, all their choices in all categories were so good that it’s too hard to single out any other one book. Check out all the winners here.

Congrats to all!

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to see an early copy of a book coming to shelves this Fall from Lion Forge Comics/CubHouse, Amélie Fléchais’s The Little Red Wolf, originally published in French in 2014. The English edition of this story, which turns the classic “Little Red Riding Hood” tale on its head and features a wolf in a red cape, was translated by Jeremy Melloul.

I’ve got some art from the book to showcase today—I’d love to let the art do the talking—but let me do my best to describe to you what this book offers. It’s a story, divided into chapters, that is, at turns, funny and haunting, the tale of a little wolf instructed to head to his grandmother’s house to give her one of the juicy rabbits his mother has recently killed. Read the rest of this entry »

 
I’ve got a BookPage review of Isabelle Arsenault’s newest picture book, one she both wrote and illustrated. Colette’s Lost Pet was just released (Random House); my review is here over at BookPage; and I’m following up with some art from the book here at 7-Imp today, thanks to Isabelle.

Enjoy!

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That is here.

Last week, I wrote here about three picture books that won’t be on shelves till the Fall, but I like them so much that I couldn’t help myself. Today I’m following up with some art from those books, so you’ll see illustrations here from Patrick McDonnell’s The Little Red Cat Who Ran Away and Learned his ABC’s (the Hard Way) (Little, Brown, September 2017); Barb Rosenstock’s Vincent Can’t Sleep: Van Gogh Paints the Night Sky (Knopf, October 2017), illustrated by Mary GrandPré; and Mac Barnett’s I Love You Like a Pig (Balzer + Bray, September 2017), illustrated by Greg Pizzoli. Greg also shares some preliminary images below.

Enjoy!

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“I thought I knew everything about Vincent, but then I was in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in the summer of 2011, and I saw a mention of Theo. Next to a painting, it said something about how Theo supported Vincent. I was bowled over. I probably gasped. I had forgotten he had a brother, and I had no idea that Theo had supported him. I knew right away that I wanted to write a book about the brothers someday.”

What’s that? You want a recommendation for a great book? I’ve got one: Deborah Heiligman’s Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers, published by Henry Holt in April, a book officially geared at the late middle-grade/YA crowd but which I say is for all ages. It’s the best book I’ve read this year, and I’m pleased that Deborah chatted with me about the book over at Kirkus. I enjoyed our conversation.

That is here today.

Until tomorrow …

Photo of Deborah taken by Matt Peyton.

But there’s more: I chatted with Rowboat about this book. He shares his thoughts about the story and its meaning for him, and the discussion opened my eyes to the book in new and wonderful ways. Let’s get right to it, and I thank him for visiting 7-Imp again.

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I’m doing something a little bit different today. I have two picture book reviews over at BookPage to which I’m sending you, if you’re so inclined to read them — Tom Brenner’s And Then Comes Summer, illustrated by Jaime Kim (Candlewick, May 2017)—that review is here—and Carol Murray’s Cricket in the Thicket: Poems about Bugs (Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt, May 2017), illustrated by Melissa Sweet. That review is here.

I don’t know about where you live, but here in Tennessee, school is wrapping up. In fact, this week is the last week for my own daughters, and everyone is ready for summer. Both of these books are just right for this time of year.

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Sometimes I can’t help but do a little preview of what’s to come in the world of picture books. Today at Kirkus, I do just that, taking a look at three upcoming Fall picture book releases, including the one pictured above.

That is here.

Until Sunday . . .