Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

First things first: This item above—a watercolor by Sendak of a Wild Thing Balloon for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, dated 1998—will be for sale at the Bloomsbury Auctions in New York on December 9. This would be the moment in time in which I wished that a) I lived in New York, at least for the length of time during which this auction takes place and b) I was filthy rich. Here’s more information. (There are also two pencil sketches and one more watercolor study of the balloon. See here. Swoon.)

This preliminary jacket design below for William Steig’s Shrek! will also be auctioned off, along with lots of other great stuff, so go see.

Okay, as for my List ‘O’ Random Things…

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I’m going to keep it simple this Poetry Friday with a brief excerpt from, of all the things, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” a poem and Christmas carol written mid-nineteenth-century by Edmund Sears, pastor of a Unitarian Church in Weston, Massachusetts.

I’ve been listening to some holiday tunes lately, as perhaps many of you are. As one of 7-Imp’s esteemed readers—who regularly runs after his hat “with the manliest ardour and the most sacred joy”—told me in an off-blog conversation, “Christmas music seems pretty much unambiguously glorious to me. It’s like good songwriters and hymnalists lose all the artifice and bombast and sentimentality they’re prone to the rest of the year.” To that, I say—rather uneloquently—word. He nailed it.

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Author and illustrator Jackie Morris visited 7-Imp about this time last year, but she’s here this morning for a more detailed interview. Jackie, who trained as an illustrator at the Bath Academy of Art in England, now lives here in Wales and has won international acclaim for the many books she has written and illustrated. As I said last year, I struggle to find the words to describe her art work without sounding…well, totally trite, and I ended up deciding to go with words of praise from School Library Journal about her illustrations, since they nail it: “The undeniable beauty of the delicate watercolor illustrations, with their dramatic use of line, coupled with soft, earthy tones, lend the characters and landscapes dignity and timelessness.” So, we’ll just go with their words again. Yeah, what they said. Or, in the words of the New York Times, Jackie is capable of bringing us gorgeous fantasies.

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Anyone remember how for a while now I’ve been checking in with author/illustrators who have been previously featured here at the blog? Those of the male persuasion, that is. I’ll try to get to those ladies next. (Anyone kept up with me this long? Here was Part One with David Ezra Stein and Lane Smith; here was Part Two with Sean Qualls; and here was Part Three with Adam Rex and Mac Barnett.) Well, I’m wrapping that up today. Better late than never.

The breakfast-y illustration above comes from Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s Spoon (Hyperion, March 2009), illustrated by Scott Magoon. But I’ll get to that later, as I’m simply going to line these guys—Matthew Cordell, Steve Jenkins, and Scott Magoon—up in alphabetical order this morning before breakfast.

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I’m going to try something new here at 7-Imp, and it involves this guy here, writer and researcher and teacher and editor and producer/film-maker and poet (whew) Steven Withrow, pictured here with his beautiful daughter. Steven is going to contribute one post a month here at 7-Imp, and just below here in a moment, he’ll tell you what that contribution will be. I’ll still be 7-Imp editor (7-Impitor? Where’s Little Willow when you need some creative phrasing?), but once a month, Steven will be here to provide some new and exciting content. At least I think it sounds great, and all I have to do is take what he’s written and the images he’s provided and post it, people! I get to kick back and read and enjoy, just like you will. Dudes! This’ll be a treat.

I’ll let him tell you all about it. I asked him to introduce himself and to let us know, in his own words, who he is, what he’s done, what he’s all about, and—of course—what turns him on creatively, spiritually, or emotionally. (He has a good answer for that one.) He rose to the challenge, conducting an energetic, fast-paced interview with himself. (Kudos to him for managing to fit his professional and personal life into less than 800 words.) And, because he chose to close his introduction with his favorite books (and good ones, at that), I have a feeling he’ll fit in comfortably when he stops by here monthly, as a rabid, insane, bordering-on-pathological passion for good books is required to be a contributor.

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Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you.

I guess whether we’re ready for it or not, the holiday season has descended upon us. I have to say that this time of year is particularly exciting with young children. In celebration, I’ve got some holiday illustrations today. Above is a spread from the talented Lauren Thompson’s The Christmas Magic (Scholastic, September 2009), illustrated by Jon J. Muth. I’ve been a long-time fan of Muth, and he was the perfect choice for illustrating this enchanting title. And I’ve also got some spreads from David Martin’s Hanukkah Lights (Candlewick, September 2009), illustrated by Melissa Sweet:

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I’ll probably be offline the rest of the week, as I assume many others will, to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family. (If I’m inspired by poetry, I’ll show up Friday. Otherwise, I’ll see everyone on Sunday.) I wanted to leave you this week with some art from the picture book Gracias / Thanks by Pat Mora and illustrated by John Parra (Lee Low, October 2009) — all in the spirit of thanks-giving.

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I’m pleased to welcome British illustrator Neal Layton to 7-Imp today. As many of you know, lots of blogs in the kidlitosphere like to celebrate nonfiction on Mondays. Now, Neal has written and illustrated some pretty wonderful fiction titles. I love his illustrations for the wonderful That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown by Cressida Cowell (Hyperion, 2007). (Evidently, there is a new Emily Brown sequel in the U.K. Excellent. Guess I’ll have to wait a while for that one.) Oh, and have you read the Mammoth Academy chapter books (published by Henry Holt)? I’ve only read the second, which was released this summer, but it had me and my kindergartener laughing out loud.

But I’m here today to highlight what happens when Neal pairs up with author Nicola Davies. What happens, to be exact, is that they create excellent nonfiction titles for children. Neal’s here to say a few words about them and his work.

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I’ve said this before here at 7-Imp, and I’ll say it again today: I’m a big fan of Amy Schwartz’s picture books and the understated charm and humor of her stories and illustrations. I’ve occasionally told myself, Self: Why don’t you write a sort of Amy Schwartz Appreciation at the blog? But I guess I have discussed a few of her titles before here at 7-Imp, so we can consider my Ode to Amy a perpetual work-in-progress. I’ve also said before that I love the seeming simplicity of both her writing and illustrations, but there’s really a lot going on, including an undeniably strong child-centeredness that, in my experience, makes her books bonafide Kid Magnets. Amy can perfectly capture the details of a child’s world, what they truly care to pay attention to. (The book best exemplifying this would be the wonderful What James Likes Best from 2003.)

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Here’s the schedule for this, the last day of the Winter Blog Blast Tour. I’m late gettin’ to it, but better late than never:

• Pam Bachorz at MotherReader
• Alan DeNiro at Shaken & Stirred
• Joan Holub at Bildungsroman
• Sheba Karim at Finding Wonderland
• R. L. LaFevers at HipWriterMama
• Lisa Schroeder at Writing and Ruminating