Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

 

I loooooove to see the New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book list every year, which is (as of last year) called the New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Book list. The 2018 list was announced on Friday.

I wrote about it at the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott today. That is here.

 
Welcome to the first Sunday of the month, which here at 7-Imp means the art of an illustration student or one newly-graduated. Today, I welcome April Zufelt, who has previously studied with (and I believe still studies with) illustrator Marla Frazee.

Let’s get right to it. I thank April for visiting and sharing some artwork today.

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— From Travis Jonker’s The Very Last Castle,
illustrated by Mark Pett

 

“How does he stay so silent?”
— From Silvia Vecchini’s Phone Call with a Fish,
illustrated by Sualzo

 

“Wait a second. What’s going on?!”
— From Jon Agee’s The Wall in the Middle of the Book
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got three new children’s books about when grown-ups mess up.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I wrote here about Jon Agee’s The Wall in the Middle of the Book (Dial, October 2018); Travis Jonker’s The Very Last Castle (Abrams, October 2018), illustrated by Mark Pett; and the Italian import Phone Call with a Fish (Eerdmans, September 2018), written by Silvia Vecchini and illustrated by Sualzo.

Today here at 7-Imp, I’ve art from each book.

Enjoy!

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Despite the fact that you are seeing just one elephant here, I promise I have a parade of them for you today. Head over to BookPage, if you’re so inclined, for my review of Kevin Henkes’ A Parade of Elephants (Greenwillow, September 2018). That review is here.

Below are some spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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Arthur Geisert’s latest book, Pumpkin Island (Enchanted Lion, October 2018), is set in the very place the author-illustrator calls home — Elkader, a small city in northeast Iowa. In this story, a storm arrives, sweeping a pumpkin down the river. After it breaks into pieces and arrives on a small island, the seeds sprout, vines stretch, and before anyone knows it, the vines have stretched across the bridge and into town — and pumpkins begin to appear everywhere.

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“Pushing back the war with every step.”
— From Nicola Davies’s The Day War Came,
illustrated by Rebecca Cobb

 

“He opened the door and walked outside. When he reached the street,
it was completely empty. Everything was different. …”
— From Nadine Kaadan’s Tomorrow
(Click to enlarge and read text in its entirety)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got three new picture books about knocking down walls.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I wrote here about Nadine Kaadan’s Tomorrow (Lantana, September 2018) and Nicola Davies’s The Day War Came (Candlewick, September 2018), illustrated by Rebecca Cobb.

I’ve art from each book today. Enjoy!

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If you haven’t met Yasmin yet, by chance, I’m pleased to introduce her to you today. She is the star of Saadia Faruqi’s debut chapter book for beginning readers, illustrated by Hatem Aly (who visited 7-Imp back here in 2016). Meet Yasmin! (Picture Window Books, August 2018) includes four stories in which this curious, problem-solving second-grader puts her imagination to work — Yasmin the Explorer; Yasmin the Painter; Yasmin the Builder; and Yasmin the Fashionista. As you can tell from the cover sketch above, Yasmin has personality to spare.

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“Princess Lois is a dentist. Not a single child comes to her clinic with fear.
She is married to Princess Maggie. Princess Maggie is a mail carrier.
She loves to deliver postcards from distant lands.”
(Click to see spread in its entirety)

 
Today, dear Imps, I’ve some art from an illustrator whose work it always makes me happy to see — German artist Sonja Wimmer. On shelves now is Dolores Brown’s The Truly Brave Princesses (published by NubeOcho earlier this month), illustrated by Wimmer and a book the Kirkus review calls a “not-so-subtle deconstruction of the princess myth.”

“Perhaps on more than one occasion you’ve seen a princess,” the book opens. “Maybe you didn’t realize she was actually a princess, because at that moment she was not wearing her crown.” Look closely, the book suggests: A princess can be anywhere. And then we are introduced to 18 of them, girls and women of various ethnicities, occupations, and personalities, who are depicted, via word and art, with such delightful idiosyncratic details that you find yourself lingering over each spread. Read the rest of this entry »

 
Over at Kirkus today, I write about two new picture books — Nadine Kaadan’s Tomorrow and Nicola Davies’s and Rebecca Cobb’s The Day War Came.

That is here.

* * *

Last week, I chatted with author-illustrator Carin Berger about the Pen and Ink Brigade’s newest project, the Blue Wave Collection. You can read all about that here.

In that conversation, Carin mentioned writing and illustrating All of Us (Greenwillow, May 2018) days after the 2016 election. I’ve some art from that today.

Enjoy!

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A week from today at Parnassus Books, I’ll have a conversation with author-illustrator Anastasia Higginbotham about her newest picture book, Not My Idea: A Book About Whiteness (Dottir Press, September 2018). This book is part of her Ordinary Terrible Things series, which I’ve written about here. (Wanna see art from two previous books in that series? Head to this 7-Imp post.)

All the details about our conversation next week are in this handy-dandy image (above) that I didn’t even have to make, but here is more information at Parnassus’s site, should you need it.