Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

I know, I know. I don’t need to be that insufferable nerd, who is blogging on Thanksgiving Day. I’ll keep this short, as there’s fudge pie waiting for me anyway, but I wanted to do a quick post in celebration of Melissa Sweet’s Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade (Houghton Mifflin, November). (I’ve had this beautiful book for months and keep slipping and calling it Bullets Over Broadway and then find myself whispering, “No, no, don’t speak. Please don’t speak,” which is just the wrong narrative altogether.) If you’re here, taking in this post, why then, here’s some quick reading before you watch that Macy’s parade — a book about Tony Sarg, the man responsible for those annual ginormous (and ginormously impressive) balloons. Melissa shares this morning here at 7-Imp some images and early sketches from the book (another early sketch is pictured right), as well as archival images of Tony and his work. (She also pointed out to me the below video, footage from the ’30s of the Macy’s parade. Fascinating to see.)

Now, another reason I can be brief today is that there are lots of other great write-ups I can point you towards with regard to this wonderful picture book biography of Sarg, pictured later in this post. (And I mean wonderful: This is one lovingly-crafted and very engaging book, but then I’m not surprised, as it comes from Melissa Sweet.) There’s Jama Rattigan’s early November post (“If ever there was a perfect biographer for Master Puppeteer Tony Sarg, it’s Melissa Sweet”); Mary Lee’s post at A Year of Reading; this great interview with Melissa at Kirkus; and this write-up by Pete Hamill in the New York Times (“Sweet’s brilliant combination of collage, design, illustration and text gives ‘Balloons Over Broadway’ an amazing richness”) — to name just several of many, I’m sure.

So, if you’re so inclined, you can go read those posts from those talented folks, but here I shall briefly share some images Melissa sent, as well as throw in my own enthusiastic words for this book. Melissa crafted this biography—which nearly glows with its reverence for the subject matter—with gouache, collage, and mixed media. It’s entirely a delight for one’s eyes to take it all in. Telling the story of Sarg—the inventive child who grew up to make marionettes and puppets and then developed the balloons that parade, still to this day, over New York City every Thanksgiving—she gives a tip of the hat to a creative artist about whom most children haven’t heard — and does so in such an accessible, inviting way that even the youngest of children, I think, would be taken with this book. Read the rest of this entry »

Remember this early March post here at 7-Imp? That’s still one of my favorite books of the year, Samantha R. Vamos’ The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred (Charlesbridge, February 2011), illustrated by my visitor today, Rafael López.

Rafael received the 2010 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award for Pat Mora’s Book Fiesta! and is also the recipient of two Américas Book Awards and a 2006 Pura Belpré Honor. Many of López’s stylized folk-art-style paintings, acrylics on wood, are brimming with joy, as you can see below. (López sent a whole heapin’ ton of art for today’s breakfast, which is how you win over this blogger.) Colorful, bright, bold, evocative, and even “eye-filling” are words that have been used by reviewers to describe López’s art. “His sophisticated, multilayered textures create depth, give form and work together to create an image that is easily readable, humorous and harmonious,” Kirkus wrote about Cazuela.

Rafael has been involved in many other projects, which he describes below. And public librarians all over the nation, who engaged in summer reading programs this year, may recognize this poster artwork:

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If you’re a regular reader here at 7-Imp, you’re most likely a devoted follower of children’s picture books and contemporary illustration. This also means you likely know the work of author/illustrator Peter Sís — and probably know it well. Today, I feature his first book aimed at adult readers. (You’ll see in the below video that Sís sees it as a book for all ages, though—as he put it—the market determined it was for adults.) Fans of Sís may not be surprised to read it’s a feast for one’s eyes, elegantly illustrated and lovingly rendered.

And it’s bold. And that’s because in this October release from Penguin Press, The Conference of the Birds, Sís takes an ancient Persian poem, approximately 4,500 lines long, and extracts its very essence—in this beautifully-designed book (o! the very paper it’s printed on!) with Sís’ signature illustrations, geometrically beguiling and full of symbolism—in a manner that is accessible for modern readers. (Note the timeliness of the “upheaval” spread below.)

The poem, written by Persian Farid Ud-Din Attar in 1177 (Sís notes he was first inspired by this 1984 translation from Dick Davis), tells the story of a gathering of the birds of the world, who have no king and who set out on a quest—as suggested by the hoopoe, the wisest of them all—to find the legendary Simorgh. Read the rest of this entry »

Back in 2009, I fell for the debut picture book from author/illustrator Julia Sarcone-Roach. It’s called The Secret Plan (Knopf), has warm and inviting acrylic paint and pencil illustrations, and is very funny. (“Genuinely funny” Booklist called it, as well as “inventive” and “charming,” and Kirkus called it “sweet fun.”) My own children fell for it, too, and it became an insta-favorite around our house. It’s the story of an elephant, named Milo, and three cats—Harriet, Hildy, and Henry—who devise a plan to keep bedtime from happening, since bedtime is always disrupting their super special plans to generally wreak havoc and have the most kickin’ of adventures.

I contacted Julia back in ’09 to see if she’d let me show some art from the book or to see if she’d want to stop by 7-Imp, but even though she was interested, life got in the way and it never really panned out. Till now, that is. Julia has a brand-new picture book out, called Subway Story, which I also really like. So, she’s taking this opportunity today to talk a bit about each one. Color me pleased.

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This morning over at Kirkus, I offer my thoughts on why I think 2011 has been a good year to ponder picture books. That link is here.

For last week’s column, I wrote about Yu Li-Qiong’s A New Year’s Reunion, illustrated by Zhu Cheng-Liang (to be released in December by Candlewick). That link is here, if you missed it.

Opening this post is an illustration from the book, and here are some more below. Enjoy.

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Last week I did a part-one post, if you will, of some new picture book titles for the youngest of readers. Here’s the next installment — with lots of art. Enjoy.

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Really devoted 7-Imp readers will note that Alfred, pictured left, is joining me earlier than usual for today’s post. Alfred, who sprung from the mind and paintbrush of Matt Phelan, now lives at 7-Imp and always introduces Bernard Pivot’s famous Pivot Questionnaire, which is how I consistently close my interviews. (As noted elsewhere at the blog, Alfred makes good, strong coffee and tells wicked funny knock-knock jokes in a low voice. I like him.)

He’s at the top of today’s post, because my guest this morning, author/illustrator Deborah Freedman, illustrated her responses to the Pivot Questionnaire, which makes me happy. Yes, illustrated! (There is always Chris Raschka’s set of Pivot responses, answered in photographs, which I also loved, but these illustrated responses are a first for 7-Imp.) Since I blew up Deborah’s Pivot image at the close of this interview to be as large as possible in the blog’s template, Alfred didn’t quite fit down there, so he’s up top with me now to introduce Deborah. Don’t worry. He’s not as surly as he looks.

There aren’t a whole lot of author/illustrators who can say that their second published book got a good deal of Caldecott buzz. But Deborah can. Those who pay attention to picture-book chatter know that her newest title, Blue Chicken, released by Viking in September (and sparked by William Carlos Williams’s “The Red Wheelbarrow,” as Deborah notes here), has been mentioned by many in the same sentence as that prestigious award (all in the name of ALA awards-predictions, which get hot and heavy this time of year). The book tells the story of a painted chicken who lets loose on an artist’s canvas. She just wants to help, yet spills blue paint everywhere. Then, things get very 3-d, as other animals in the painting emerge from the canvas onto the meta-landscape to watch while the chicken tries to “undo the blue” by toppling over the artist’s glass of water.

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Did you all know that one of our country’s most devoted Seuss scholars is a dentist by day? Yes, his name is Dr. Charles D. Cohen, and he will tell you that his trove of Seussiana is likely the most comprehensive in the world. He brought readers this in 2004.

Dr. Cohen has written the introduction to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories, a collection of little-known tales by Ted Geisel that have for the first time been pulled into one collection by Random House. Here’s part of what Dr. Cohen wrote: Read the rest of this entry »

This morning over at Kirkus, I discuss A New Year’s Reunion, written by Yu Li-Qiong and illustrated by Zhu Cheng-Liang. That link is here.

If you missed last week’s column, I weighed in on Norton Juster’s Neville, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. I’ve got some preliminary drawings/materials from that here this morning, thanks to Karas. They’re probably best viewed after seeing the video he made about the creation of the book, which I’ll use to kick things off below.

And, since I opened up that column last week by mentioning Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth, originally published in 1961 and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, as well as Leonard Marcus’s outstanding annotated version of the book, I’ve got some illustrations from that classic children’s novel here this morning, too.

First up is Neville, followed by The Phantom Tollbooth. Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry »

Oftentimes, 7-Imp posts exist in two ways: In my mind and in reality. In my mind, today’s post was going to be an art-heavy round-up of some great picture book titles (and, in one case, a board book title) for the youngest of readers.

In reality, life gets in the way (a good thing, as you wouldn’t want me to be a blogger without a life, yes?), and so today’s post will be about three picture book titles for the youngest of readers — not the eleven or so I had initially planned on.

But those other eight (or so) books? I’ll get to them soon. Promise.

Let’s hit it, shall we? Read the rest of this entry »