Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Can you imagine me here with my 7-Imp notepad, and I’m making a check on it? I’m checking off the name of illustrator and painter Oliver Jeffers, as I’ve always wanted him to visit 7-Imp and have coffee with me over breakfast. Honestly, I’m not that organized. No such 7-Imp notepad exists; it’s more like a scattered mess of chicken-scratch notes on my desk, but you get the idea.

I’m going to fall back on the old tired but true List of Seven Reasons It’s Good to Have This Particular Visitor Here Today:

1). Oliver’s Lost and Found (Philomel, 2006) is one of my Top Best Most Favorite Adored Beloved Treasured Apple-of-My-Eye picture books in all the world. Ever read it? It includes these two chaps . . .

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If I re-named this blog, I dunno, Seven Impossible Julie Paschkises Before Breakfast, I’m quite certain regular 7-Imp readers wouldn’t be surprised. (I know the title would need some work.) I’ve featured Ms. Paschkis’ art many times before here at the blog, and it’s evident I’m a huge fan.

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This poem comes from Deborah Garrison’s 2007 collection of poetry entitled The Second Child (Random House). This is not re-printed with permission. I hope you all won’t have to visit me in Poetry Jail. The poems are funny, tender, and honest, and some of them send goosebumps up my arms. My commentary this morning will not go beyond that. I simply leave the poem for you to enjoy.

“A Drink in the Night” by Deborah Garrison:

My eyes opened
at once for you were standing
by my side, you’d padded
in to ask for a drink in the night.

The cup was—-where?
Fallen down, behind?
Churning in the dishwater, downstairs?
Too tired to care, I cupped
my hand and tipped it
to you. You stared, gulped,
some cold down your chin.
Whispered, “Again!”

O wonder. You’d no idea
I could make a cup.
You’ve no idea what
I can do for you, or hope to.
You watched, curious and cool,
as I cupped some up
to my own lips, too,
then asked,
“Why does it taste better?”

The Poetry Friday round-up is being held this morning over at Some Novel Ideas.

Strong lines. Gorgeous hues. Sheer artistry. Dramatic. Exquisitely-crafted. Elegant. Pitch perfect. Oh, I could go on. Those are descriptors that have been applied by various and sundry professional reviewers to the books crafted by British author/illustrator Chris Wormell. In all my picture book nerd-dom, Wormell is one illustrator whose titles I’ve followed with a keen eye for the past several years. He’s a class act and makes some truly beautiful books. Many of his books are either dramatic tales of clever, fearless child protagonists or animal tales in one form or fashion, and most of his work has been rendered in lino cut prints, wood engravings, or watercolor. No matter the medium, it’s striking — his bold strokes and elegant compositions.

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I pulled this Kevin-Hawkes illustration, one of my favorites from 2008, from the 7-Imp archives in order to not get cyber-pinched today. You may remember that this comes from The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps, and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum (Knopf Books for Young Readers, September ’08), written by the very talented author of a whole slew, to be precise, of award-winning biographies for children, Kathleen Krull.

I simply never tire of looking at that illustration.

My kindergartener told me yesterday that her class set out some leprechaun traps. I find this a disturbing and dramatic turn-of-events for the poor little guys, but let’s hope they survived this morning.

And a happy St. Patrick’s Day to you. I’ll be back tomorrow with an interview. Until then…

Will someone hire me as librarian-for-the-day just so I can share Chris Barton’s and Tom Lichtenheld’s new title, Shark Vs. Train, with a group of children, followed by Bob Shea’s 2008 title, Dinosaur Vs. Bedtime? I think it quite possibly could be the Loudest and Most Entertaining Story Time in Recent History.

But I’m here to focus on the former title, released by Little, Brown earlier this month. In fact, as mentioned in my tremendously creative post title up there, the author and illustrator are joining me for late-night cyber-coffee to discuss the book. And its illustrator, Tom Lichtenheld (you do remember this wonderful madness, don’t you?), will share some rejected spreads from the book, once the coffee starts brewing. Yup, these spreads have little post-it notes on their backs that say “kick me.” But rejects have never been so welcome, I say. You’ll see why below.

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I’m featuring this morning two of the acrylic paintings by Susan Gaber that make up JoAnn Early Macken’s beautiful new picture book, Waiting Out the Storm, released by Candlewick this past week, I think it was. At the back of the book, Gaber pretty much summarizes the appeal of this book, so how about I quote her, shall I? She writes, “I’m inspired and held in awe by how this graceful story takes on fear, love, and compassion all in a simple and familiar situation.” Read the rest of this entry »

My Poetry Friday post this week is—straight up, y’all—stolen from the honorable Liz Garton Scanlon. Always steal from the best, right? She posted this poem by Marie Howe back in September of last year, and I swear I’ve thought of it every day since then. Cross my heart.

And that would be because I’m a hurrier myself. And I would like to be less of one. And my oldest daughter moves slowly and takes in the world well, which she got from my husband. Evidently, a grown-up neighbor once told him when he was a boy—and I paraphrase—“you will never get an ulcer, my child, but you’ll give one to those who are waiting on you.” I drop my daughter off at school, and—no matter if she’s about to be late—she downright ambles into the building, all these kids rushing past her. Wait: It’s most definitely a mosey that she executes. But I think she probably sees way more than I do in this weird, bizarro world we live in. And this is good.

So, here’s the poem that Liz posted that kept me from getting up from my computer for about twenty minutes after I first read it. It had this power over me, started a conversation with me about why exactly it is that I do hurry. Yes, I talk to myself. What? Seriously? Don’t you all? For real? Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I mentioned earlier, dear readers, that Chronicle Books was releasing a most lovely illustrated paperback edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, originally published (as hardcover) in 2000. This was back when I noted what a good time it is to be an Alice fan. Due to the new Tim Burton film adaptation (which, no, I haven’t seen; it will likely be a DVD-watch for me), the lit-minded folks of the world are all AliceAliceAlice right about now. This is good for us geeky fans, who consider it one of our desert-island-type reads.

{Pictured here is Gertrude Kay’s depiction of Wonderland, circa 1923.}

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: A Classic Illustrated Edition was compiled by Cooper Edens, who owns an impressive collection of rare and antique picture books, one of the largest in the world. Excuse me, but SWOON. ….Where was I? Right. Chronicle has released this 2010 paperback edition and did I mention it’s lovely? Edens explains in the preface how he chose with “great care and deep reverence” the illustrations in this edition. He adds:

“…there is no singular vision of Wonderland. In researching the visual history of {the book}, and the many different artists it has enchanted, I discovered that each artist focused on different elements of Lewis Carroll’s story…For me, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a book so incredibly faceted that its many secrets begin to shine only when these distinct interpretations are brought together.“

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…Eisha can be President. I’ll be Secretary. (Hey, she can be in charge, as I’m a really good note-taker.) We’ll meet in the 7-Imp Treehouse. Snacks WILL be served.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, as I’ve been focusing so heavily on illustration at 7-Imp (picture books and illustrated novels), but I’m going to mention an adult fiction title today. And with the help of Eisha. You remember her, right? Oh you know you miss her. And it hasn’t been that long since she said goodbye.

There are reasons I stopped blogging about novels: Primarily, I burnt myself out on reading a novel and then turning right around to report on it. I still read ’em, but I’m keeping them to myself. But Eisha and I decided to make an exception today. Rather, we decided back before Christmas to make an exception and accept an early copy of British author Jon McGregor’s newest novel, Even the Dogs. And that’s because we’re big ‘ol ginormous nerdy fans of his novels, and when he contacted us out of the blue to say he’d written a new one and would we be interested in reading it, why, we were most certainly intrigued. Eisha blogged here about his first book (2003), which she convinced me to read Way Back When (long before that blog post, which is itself rather dated anymore), and I fell in love with it just about as hard as she did. And then there was his exquisite, luminous second novel, So Many Ways to Begin (Bloomsbury 2007), which we…uh….tried to post about here. But Yours Truly screwed it all up. I’m a winner like that sometimes.

Bottom line: Jon McGregor, whom The Guardian has called “a hoarder, an omnivorous collector of perception and experience,” has become one of our favorite contemporary authors. So, hell to the YES we wanted to read his new book. And, as it turns out, the novel didn’t let us down. Read the rest of this entry »