Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

” … is me and my brothers’ bike.”
(Click to enlarge spread, which is sans text)

 
I’ve a bit of art today from Maxine Beneba Clarke’s The Patchwork Bike (Candlewick, September 2018), illustrated by Van Thanh Rudd. First published in Australia and New Zealand in 2016, this is the story of a young girl, her “crazy brothers,” their “fed-up mum,” and their desert “mud-for-walls” home in a third-world country. The “best thing of all in our village,” the girl tells us, “is me and my brothers’ bike.” It is, as the title says, a patchwork bike made of spare parts — tin-can handles, wood-cut wheels, branches for handlebars, and the like. Read the rest of this entry »

“The best I can describe it would be to tell you it was like the scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix where Professor Umbridge punishes Harry by making him write lines over and over with a Blood Quill. Every time Harry writes something on paper, the words get seared into the back of his hand. So there were moments when it was painful and difficult to make this book. My beautiful studio space would get transformed into that small kitchen in Worcester where difficult moments played out. That being said, there were also many wonderful moments to relive. Those scenes brought me great joy, and when the book was finished, I sort of had to mourn the loss of my grandparents all over again. It was truly a gift to spend that time with them again.”

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Over at Kirkus today, I talk with author-illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka about his graphic novel memoir, Hey, Kiddo, coming to shelves in October.

That is here, and next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll follow up with some more images from the book.

Until tomorrow …

“First crawl …”
— From Nancy Raines Day’s Baby’s Firsts,
illustrated by Michael Emberley

 

“See how high he kicks his feet?
Yesterday I lost two teeth.”
— From Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s You and Me,
illustrated by Susan Reagan
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“… and back to her crib. So close! Bingo yawns. Maggie stirs.”
— From Richard Jackson’s Tessa Takes Wing,
illustrated by Julie Downing
(Click to enlarge spread, which is sans text)

 
Last week at Kirkus, I wrote here about Richard Jackson’s Tessa Takes Wing (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook, July 2018), illustrated by Julie Downing; Rebecca Kai Dotlich’s You and Me (Creative Editions, August 2018), illustrated by Susan Reagan; and Nancy Raines Day’s Baby’s Firsts (Charlesbridge, September 2018), illustrated by Michael Emberley.

I’m following up with art from each book today. Closing out the post is also a sneak peek at Julie’s next picture book (for Holiday House, to be published in 2020), written by Candace Fleming. Julie says, “I finished the dummy and am just working on final art. The text is fabulous! I’m not sure the title is final, but at the moment it is titled Cubs in the Nursery.”

Enjoy!

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Coming to shelves early next month will be a new picture book from Yuyi Morales, called Dreamers (Neal Porter Books). In this splendid picture book — have mercy, it is a beautiful thing — she tells her own immigration story.

I’m not going to say much about the book today, because I will be writing about it soon for BookPage. (When I do so, I will link to that here from 7-Imp.) But today, I’m giving 7-Imp over to Yuyi, who is sharing a photo essay about the making of this book. (This is very similar to what she did here in 2014 for the making of Viva Frida, and that is one of my favorite posts in over a decade of blogging.)

I thank Yuyi for sharing. You can click on each image in this post, especially if you want to see larger versions of some of them.

Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

“Kingfisher: the colour-giver, fire-bringer, flame-flicker, river’s quiver. …”
(Click image to enlarge and read the text in its entirety)

 
The restoration of the missing words of nature via a spellbook. That’s what I have for you today, dear Imps.

Though Robert Macfarlane’s The Lost Words, illustrated by Jackie Morris — originally published last year in the UK but coming to American shelves in October from House of Anansi Press — makes no mention of the Oxford Junior Dictionary, it has a lot to do with the book’s very genesis. Here’s how Katharine Norbury explains it in this 2017 article at the Guardian:

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— From Renato Moriconi’s The Little Barbarian
(Click to enlarge)

 

“Sharp-toothed …”
— From Kate Gardner’s Lovely Beasts: The Surprising Truth,
illustrated by Heidi Smith
(Click to enlarge)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got babies on the mind.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Renato Moriconi’s The Little Barbarian (Eerdmans, August 2018) and Kate Gardner’s Lovely Beasts: The Surprising Truth (Balzer + Bray, September 2018), illustrated by Heidi Smith. I’m following up with a bit of art from each book today.

Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry »

 
I’ve a review over at BookPage of Ann Stott’s Want to Play Trucks? (Candlewick, August 2018), illustrated by Bob Graham. It’s a picture book about the dynamics — and compromises — of sandbox-play.

That is here. And today here at 7-Imp I’ve got a bit of art from the book.

Enjoy!

Read the rest of this entry »

— From Chapter 16, “Angelus”: “I pressed into a corner as the hounds, desperate to attack, bayed round me. ‘Back,’ cried a huntsman striding in, whip in hand.”

 
I’m doing something a little bit different today. I’ve not got a picture book for you this morning, dear Imps. I have a novel.

This is one of my favorite books this year, Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s The Book of Boy (Greenwillow, February 2018). I like it so much that I’m reading it a second time — this time, I’m reading it out loud to my daughters.

“This story, like another, begins with an apple,” the book begins. This is the tale, set in Europe in 1350, of a boy who can talk to animals. His name is merely Boy. He is physically disfigured and mercilessly mocked for it. He is called a hunchback, and when he meets a mysterious pilgrim, named Secundus, in the medieval town of France where he lives, his life changes forever. In fact, when Boy leaves with Secundus (Secundus is impressed with his ability to jump and climb) to help the pilgrim find the seven relics of Saint Peter — rib, tooth, thumb, toe, dust, skull, tomb — it’s the first time Boy ever leaves the only home he’s ever known. He pilgrims to the city of Rome with Secundus in the hopes that Saint Peter can remove his hump and make him a real boy.

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“On the walk to school, Mae thought about all the things that could go wrong.”
— From Kate Berube’s Mae’s First Day of School

 

“Omek helps Yelfred and Q-B share back!”
— From Antoinette Portis’s Best Frints at Skrool
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

“We’ve got the wind and the clouds in our hands!
We’ve got the whole world in our hands.”
— From Rafael López’s We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands
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“Dear Turtle,
Here’s a poem I made up …”
— From Liz Garton Scanlon’s and Audrey Vernick’s Dear Substitute,
illustrated by Chris Raschka
(Click to enlarge spread)

 

“CHILDREN!”
— From Ryan T. Higgins’s We Don’t Eat Our Classmates
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got two new picture books on the mind, ones that take a look at both sides of a story.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about some good new back-to-school picture books, including Kate Berube’s Mae’s First Day of School (Abrams, July 2018); Antoinette Portis’s Best Frints at Skrool (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook, June 2018); Liz Garton Scanlon’s and Audrey Vernick’s Dear Substitute (Disney-Hyperion, June 2018), illustrated by Chris Raschka; Ryan T. Higgins’s We Don’t Eat Our Classmates (Disney-Hyperion, June 2018); and Rafael López’s We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands (Orchard/Scholastic, October 2018).

I’m following up today with art from each book.

Enjoy! Read the rest of this entry »

“Josie checked for a loose tooth every night.
But nothing ever moved, not even a bit.”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
I am always interested in seeing the latest picture book release from Jennifer K. Mann. Her stories possess such respect for the inner lives of children, and she captures domestic and school-related dramas so perfectly. (Here’s my 2016 7-Imp interview with her, if her books are new to you, by chance, and you want to explore.) Her newest picture book, Josie’s Lost Tooth (Candlewick), is no exception. It will be on shelves next month. Here’s a quick peek inside.

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