March 7th, 2021 by jules
Mii maanda ezhi-gkendmaanh / This Is How I Know (Groundwood, March 2021) is a book about the seasons — and a beautiful collaboration between author Brittany Luby, illustrator Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, and translators Alvin Ted Corbiere and Alan Corbiere. The book is written in both Anishinaabemowin and English.
March 4th, 2021 by jules
Here is the Chapter 16 chat with Jessica.
Pictured above is the book’s title page spread (sans text), and below are some more spreads from the book. Also! Please do come join me for a Parnassus Books Facebook Live event during which I’ll chat with both Jessica and Rafael about this book. That will be next Tuesday, March 9th, at 6:00 PM Central. Here’s the info.
March 2nd, 2021 by jules
I’ve a review over at BookPage of the bright and beautiful Starting Over in Sunset Park (Tilbury House, February 2021), written by José Pelaez and Lynn McGee and illustrated by Bianca Diaz.
The review is here, and below are some spreads.
Enjoy!
February 28th, 2021 by jules
February 25th, 2021 by jules
Over at BookPage, I’ve a Q&A with author Barb Rosenstock and illustrator Mary GrandPré about their newest collaboration, Mornings with Monet (Knopf, March 2021). It’s a nonfiction picture book, as Barb notes in our Q&A, that begins and ends in four hours and captures Claude Monet one morning (3:30 AM, no less) “on his way to work.” And “work” is painting, from his rowboat (his “studio boat”), on the Seine. It’s a beautifully crafted book, filled with vivid sensory language and richly imagined acrylic illustrations.
Here’s the Q&A, and below is another spread from the book.
February 23rd, 2021 by jules
Pictured above is an early character sketch from Steve Light’s Road Trip! A Whiskers Hollow Adventure (Candlewick, February 2021). This is a picture book with its own delightfully distinct world, one that Steve had fun building and tells me about below in our art-filled chat today. It’s a wooded world we enter, with animals zipping around in tiny cars on interconnected tree branches (there’s even an acorn car); characters with intricate homes in the trunks of trees; a heading dose of mud; and good friends. Oh, and there are endpapers that feature maps so that little hands can orient themselves — and, as Steve discusses below, even create their own imaginary adventures with locations not in this story.
February 21st, 2021 by jules
And here today at 7-Imp are some spreads from this tender story.
Enjoy!
February 18th, 2021 by jules
I’ve a review over at BookPage of Phùng Nguyên Quang’s and Huỳnh Kim Liên’s captivating My First Day (Make Me a World, February 2021).
That is here, and below are a couple spreads from the book.
Enjoy!
February 16th, 2021 by jules
There are many things I like about following picture book imports, and one is that they often don’t shy from addressing some of life’s hardest challenges (even oftentimes exhibiting more of a willingness to let complex questions rest unanswered). Let’s look today at a picture book originally published in French about an extremely difficult topic — domestic abuse. Valérie Fontaine’s The Big Bad Wolf in My House (Groundwood Books), illustrated by Nathalie Dion, is a book that could be a lifeline for children experiencing this and a book that, at the very least, can help them feel seen. It was first published last year, will be on American shelves early next month, and has been translated by Shelley Tanaka.
February 14th, 2021 by jules
Author Leda Schubert shares a story based on her own family in Nathan’s Song (Dial, February 2021), illustrated by Maya Ish-Shalom — a picture book that is a valentine to family (and keeping family stories alive). I’ve got some spreads today from this spirited, big-hearted true tale.
