Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

For one of Julia Denos’s recent illustrated titles, Erica S. Perl’s Dotty, Publishers Weekly had this to say about her artwork: “Denos’s…paintings are an unadulterated delight, combining the naïf styling of scribbly children’s drawings for the creatures and the easy, playful elegance of pattern book illustrations from the 1950s.” I like this, because “unadulterated delight” would be a good description of my very first response to her art work, years ago, when I first discovered it. Just don’t call her illustrations “cute”; as you’ll see below in her responses to the Pivot Questionnaire, that may not be her favorite descriptor. But that’s just the thing about her artwork: On the surface, it seems light and cheery, what with her lush, luminescent watercolors, but look carefully. It’s not all easy-breezy sunny flowers and fashionable young ladies. Denos injects a just-right, subtle drama into her work. As one reviewer for Cecil Castellucci’s Grandma’s Gloves (the other of Julia’s 2010 illustrated titles) wrote, “she also shows a real gift for portraying both characters and a setting marked by loss.” And Julia’s other strong suit? Her distinctive, can-spot-it-from-a-million-miles-out-in-space style, all her own.

“I run to her, and she folds me in her fleshy arms for a big kiss. She smells like earth and coffee and hair spray and perfume. Those are my favorite smells.”

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Don’t you want to know more about this little bird? I do. This collage illustration comes from freelance illustrator Lindsay Ward, who is here in the 7-Imp pad on this first Sunday of the month, in which I like to feature up-and-coming illustrators. It is from an upcoming book she is doing with Penguin in Spring 2012, called Blue & Egg. (That title is subject to change, she tells me.) “This will be the second author/illustrator project I have done,” she added. “It is about a little bird who lives in Central Park. One morning a snowball lands in her nest, but Blue thinks it is an egg. She spends the rest of the book trying to find Egg’s mother, while developing a friendship with Egg. Soon, Spring comes and Egg is melting. Blue tries to help save her friend. The ending has a quiet surprise and highlights that friendship always wins out in the end.”

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FYI for you fellow Southerners:

The official time and place for the Nashville screening of The Library of the Early Mind at the Southern Festival of Books:

Roll out the red carpet: Jon Scieszka is here—wait! That’s right. He’s no longer the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. That title has been handed to the honorable Katherine Paterson. But Jon, you may remember, was the inaugural ambassador, appointed such in 2008 by the Library of Congress. And I can’t help but still envision him with that lovely, stylish sash.

It’s a pleasure to have the acclaimed author and the very funny Jon visit again. (Surely, you all don’t need an introduction? If so, how about I do it simply this way: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs; The Time Warp Trio series; The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales, which got some Caldecott love; and Trucktown. ‘Nough said?) He’s here to talk about his new science fiction book/multimedia project, Spaceheadz, written with Francesco Sedita, but while I have him here, I’m also taking the opportunity to ask him about how Guys Read is faring, about the great and abiding Stinky himself, whether or not we’ll ever be treated to more stories with this dynamic duo, and a few other things. And several folks stopped by to contribute art, since I seem to be physically incapable of doing posts sans illustrations.

First off, Spaceheadz, since you may be scratching your head and thinking, SpaceWHAT? What in the what the?… Well, here’s how it all begins (the cover and interior artwork for the book created by Shane Prigmore):

“Michael K. knew his first day in a new city was going to be weird. How could a first day at someplace in Brooklyn, New York, called P.S. 858 not be weird?”
(Click to super-size image.)

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I love this post, yet I can’t take credit for the idea.

You all remember 2008’s Hush, Little Dragon (Abrams), written by Boni Ashburn and illustrated by Kelly Murphy, yes? I loved this delightfully subversive, subtly ghoulish little wonder, what the San Francisco Chronicle called “Sweeney Todd for the sandbox set” (it brought “a welcome tartness to mother love,” wrote the Washington Post), in which a mama dragon and her wee dragon settle down for the night (set to the tune of Hush, Little Baby), pondering which of the villagers in their medieval home they will snack upon in the way of a bed-time treat.

Well, Boni has written a sequel, released by Abrams this March, in which we visit the same dragons and village, and this time it’s set to the tune of Over in the Meadow, making this one a counting book, as well. Over at the Castle brings Boni and Kelly together again. And when I asked Boni about visiting 7-Imp to talk about the new title, she had a pretty kickin’ idea, and that would be to ask three other folks the same four questions she answered, in order to bring us unique perspectives on the process of picture-book-making: the illustrator, Kelly Murphy (who rendered this title in acrylic, oil, and gel medium); the editor, Maggie Lehrman; and the art director/book designer, Chad W. Beckerman. I love the idea so much I want to build a wayback machine and actually go to the prom, taking the idea as my date. (Shut up! No, I didn’t go. My contrarian friends and I filmed a horror-movie spoof that night instead, but I digress.) I even think it’d be fun to consider doing similar posts in the future. Kudos to Boni for the idea!

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{Note: Click on this image to see the entire spread from which it comes.}
When I did this…oh, about a month ago, I guess it was, I found myself telling those in attendance about a lot of wordless picture books. I realized that a lot of my favorite titles from this year (as well as in general) are true “picture books”: wordless gems. This morning, I’m featuring one of those — and one of my favorite picture books of 2010.

I first read about Béatrice Rodriguez’s The Chicken Thief (Enchanted Lion Books, May 2010)—originally published in France in 2005 as Le Voleur de Poule—at Betsy’s blog, in which she described it as “one of the lovelier picture book offerings of the year,” adding that it’s charming and very French and is an “epic cross-country chase, {which} reads like The Bremen Town Musicians meets The Fugitive.” The wonderful Paula at Pink Me also covered this one: Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve decided—after Tuesday’s visit with Hiroe Nakata—to feature even more picture books this week that are perfect for your wee’est of children, as Hiroe’s illustrated titles are. I’m talkin’ some more preschool fare from three picture-book creators that rarely, if ever, steer you wrong for this age range: Ashley Bryan, Lois Ehlert, and Denise Fleming. All three of them brought us some colorful (in more ways than one) titles this year. In terms of palette, I mean to say it’s like a rainbow spontaneously combusted this morning here at 7-Imp.

That opening image comes from Ashley Bryan’s picture book adaptation of Cecil Alexander’s beloved hymn, “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” released at the beginning of this year by Atheneum. Read the rest of this entry »

I feature a lot of illustrators here at 7-Imp, but I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve given something like a full-length interview to an illustrator like Hiroe Nakata, visiting this morning (and pictured here with her young daughter), who creates illustrations almost exclusively for preschoolers. To be sure, she’s illustrated books for older readers, too, but for bright, inviting, sunny art work geared towards the very young, Hiroe won’t let you down.

Publishers Weekly once described Hiroe’s watercolors as “ebullient,” and that pretty much covers it. Title after title, her light-infused watercolors, typically depicting warm, loving families at play, engage the youngest of child readers — or listeners. Hiroe’s illustrated titles are great choices for intimate lap-time reads with wee children.

I invited Hiroe for a breakfast chat to find out how she got started, where she’s been, and what she’s up to now. Her breakfast-of-choice is Eggs Benedict with fries (mmm, I wholeheartedly endorse that), and I’ll bring the strong coffee. I thank her kindly for stopping by.

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I posted this yesterday at the blog, but it was at the very bottom of the post, so here again, in the name of shouting about a wonderful thing, is an early flyer for Nashville’s upcoming Southern Festival of Books, an annual three-day literary festival hosted every October by Humanities Tennessee. Check out the line-up, and that’s not even all the children’s and YA authors that will be in attendance. Whether you live in the South or not, consider a visit to Nashville in October. (I’m on a committee this year to help out with the children’s and YA author visits and events, yet I’ll be out of town for the actual festival. HORREURS! I’ll miss Mo and Jon and Kerry and Sara and Tom and everyone else, but it’s still fun to help prep.)

MID-MORNING ADDENDUM: Please note! Woot! (It’s particularly painful that I’m going to miss the screening of this film, but I can wait patiently.)

LATE-MORNING ADDENDUM, BUT I’M PROBABLY JUST TALKING TO MYSELF: I do get to see this documentary on that Sunday. Woo and hoo! Who’s gonna join me?

“… I look out the window / and I see the whole block swimming in water. / Furniture, clothes and toys are swirling in the flood. / Roofs are crumbling and windows are shattering. / Big winds have come and trees are breaking. / And all I can see is more water rising. / So I look away and I squeeze Jasmine’s hand / real tight because now
I am scared too.”
(Click to enlarge spread.)

“Her voice was light and springy. Her beat was perfectly in time with the band. Soon even the noisemakers in the second balcony were holding on to every word. The feeling of being listened to—oh, it was a salve to Ella’s sore heart.”
(Click to enlarge.)

I should probably open a kicks post, dear readers, with an image that is not as intense as that very first one, but I really love that spread from Shadra Strickland. It’s quite moving, yes? This comes from Shadra’s latest illustrated title, written by debut picture book author Renée Watson. And then, below that, we’ve got an illustration of Ella Fitzgerald from illustrator Sean Qualls to scatter some joy; that comes from Roxane Orgill’s forthcoming picture book biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Both Shadra and Sean have new illustrated titles out and have both been featured at the blog before—each multiple times—so I invited them over this morning for a show-us-what-you’re-up-to-now post.

And, since there’s quite a bit of art this morning, let’s get right to it. Read the rest of this entry »