Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“Petals curve. Insects swerve.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
“In spring,” writes April Pulley Sayre in the closing note of her newest picture book, Bloom Boom! (Beach Lane, February 2019), “flowering plants can bloom a few at a time, over weeks and months. But sometimes, many bloom all at once. There’s a boom of blooms.” And this joyous book celebrates that very thing.

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The Horn Book has posted a review of Wendy Meddour’s Lubna and Pebble (Dial, March 2019), illustrated by Daniel Egnéus.

This is one of my favorite picture books thus far this year. I had the pleasure of writing the Horn Book review. It’s here.

Until later this week . . .

 
Did any of you see last year’s Business Pig by author-illustrator Andrea Zuill? I didn’t end up writing about it anywhere, but it is a 2018 picture book I enjoyed. Jasper the Business Pig (who prefers flows charts over foraging or mud baths) made me laugh — just to look at him did. Zuill has a distinctive style, and her expressive line work and understated humor bring to life endearing oddball characters. She’s back this year with another awkward and eccentric, yet lovable, character — Sweety.

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— From Gideon Sterer’s Not Your Nest!,
illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi

 

“Yes, there are a lot of us.”
–From Vera Brosgol’s The Little Guys
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At Kirkus today, I write about a story of deep empathy and elegance, one about sorrow, grief, and how to support a friend suffering it.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Vera Brosgol’s The Little Guys (Roaring Brook, April 2019), as well as Gideon Sterer’s Not Your Nest!, illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi (Dial, March 2019). Today here at 7-Imp, I’ve some art from each book, and both Vera and Andrea also share some early sketches. I thank them for sharing.

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“Today and tomorrow …”

 
Over at BookPage, I’ve a review of Chris Raschka’s Side by Side (Phaidon, March 2019).

That is here if you’d like to read more about the book, and here at 7-Imp I’ve a few spreads from it.

Enjoy!

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At Kirkus several weeks ago, I wrote about a small handful of new board books I love, and one of them was Aaron Becker’s You Are Light (Candlewick). It will be on shelves at the end of this month. Here is that Kirkus column, if you’d like to read more about the book.

Today, Aaron visits to talk a bit about creating this book and to share some process images (as well as a bit of final art). I thank him for sharing.

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Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got Sharing 101 (and two brand-new picture books) on the mind.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Cindy Derby’s How to Walk an Ant (Roaring Brook, March 2019). I’m following up here today with some final art from the book, and Cindy has also sent lots of process images — character sketches, book dummy images, etc. I thank her for sharing.

Enjoy!

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Over at BookPage, I’ve a review of Christian Robinson’s Another (Simon & Schuster, March 2019), which is such a superb picture book. That review is here.

Here at 7-Imp today, Christian shares some preliminary images (sketches, character exploration, images of studio work, book design, etc.), as well as some final art from the book. I thank him for sharing.

Enjoy!

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Over at Tennessee’s Chapter 16, I’ve got a Q&A with author Mac Barnett, who returns to Nashville next week (Parnassus Books) to talk about Circle, the latest book in the Shape trilogy. The Q&A — and more details on his bookstore visit — is here.

If you’d like to circle back here (see what I did there?) after you read the Q&A, I have below some of Jon Klassen’s illustrations from the book. [Pictured above is the title page illustration.]

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“Whisper, nudge. Look!”

 
If you visit Taia Morley’s site, you’ll see she’s hardly new to children’s books (and that she has also previously worked as a toy and game designer). But Wake Up, Color Pup (Random House, March 2019), which she’s here to talk about today, is her first book as both author and illustrator.

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