Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“And she did.”
(Click to enlarge spread, which is sans text)

 
“Ruby’s mind was always full of ideas,” opens Brenda Maier’s The Little Red Fort (Scholastic), illustrated by Sonia Sánchez. In a story whose framework follows that of the classic folk tale The Little Red Hen, we read as Ruby asks for her brothers’ help to build a fort in their backyard. But when she’s met with a series of repeated rejections, she forges ahead, building it all by herself. She learns how to do it; she draws up her own plans; she gathers her supplies; she cuts the boards for the fort; and she hammers and builds. (She gets some help from her mother, who knows her own way around a set of tools, as well as her grandmother.) The result is a pretty rad fort.

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Feel like a laugh? Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got two new picture books for the funny bone. You can click on the image above to read about them.

Next week here at 7-Imp, I’ll follow up with some art from each one.

Until Sunday …

“Empty railroad tracks: / A train sounds in the spring hills
And the rails leap with life.”
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Last week, I talked over at Kirkus with author-illustrator Nina Crews about her newest picture book, Seeing Into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright (Millbrook Press, February 2018). I really enjoyed that chat, which is here.

Today, I’ve a few spreads from the book. If you haven’t already read the Q&A and know the answer, you get seven points for identifying the talented man in the spread above.

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“If I had a horse, we would be brave together.”
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I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Gianna Marino’s If I Had a Horse (Neal Porter/Roaring Brook, January 2018).

That is here (and I’ve got a certain song from this classic album of my childhood in my head today).

Here at 7-Imp, I’ve got a few spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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City Hidden Behind Clouds — Baucis
— From Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities
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It’s a pleasure to have a visit today from New York-based illustrator Shreya Gupta. As you will read below, she is has done a great deal of editorial illustration but is also currently working on her first children’s book.

I’m going to hand 7-Imp over to her so that she can share more of her art and tell us more about herself.

I thank her for visiting. . . .

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“‘Hello, my name is Simon.
I am a cat. Just like you!'”– From Galia Bernstein’s I Am a Cat

 

” … and he tumbled into the river as well!”
— From Mem Fox’s Ducks Away!, illustrated by Judy Horacek

 

“‘Hello, Little Tiger,’ said Elephant. ‘Did I scare you?’ asked Little Tiger.
‘Oh, no. You’re much too small.’ ‘Drat!’ said Little Tiger,
and he set off again to find someone else to scare.”
— From Philippa Leathers’ The Tiptoeing Tiger
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Last week at Kirkus, I wrote here about three new picture books perfect for the toddler and preschool set — Mem Fox’s Ducks Away! (Scholastic, January 2018), illustrated by Judy Horacek; Galia Bernstein’s I am a Cat (Abrams, February 2018), and Philippa Leathers’ The Tiptoeing Tiger (Candlewick, February 2018).

Today, I’ve got a bit of art from each book.

Enjoy!

(Note: See an interview with Galia Bernstein here at Mel Schuit’s wonderful blog.)

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“I started thinking about illustrating [Richard Wright’s] haiku back in 2006 after I came across a few of them in a poetry anthology. I had read Native Son and The Outsider in my twenties and had more or less dismissed his work as too polemical for my tastes. I was surprised and delighted by the poems. A quick search online led me to a posthumously published collection of over 800 of his haiku, Haiku: This Other World.

In addition to hundreds of wonderful poems, this book included a terrific introduction that gave me a new perspective on Wright and backmatter that gave me a deeper understanding of this poetic form. Creating this book was an opportunity for me to reconsider my feelings about Wright’s work. I am now a fan.”

* * *

Over at Kirkus today, I talk with author-illustrator Nina Crews, pictured here, about her new picture book, Seeing into Tomorrow: Haiku by Richard Wright (Millbrook Press, February 2018), which features her photo-collage illustrations.

The Q&A is here. Next week, I’ll follow up here at 7-Imp with some art from the book.

Until tomorrow …

* * * * * * *

Photo of Nina Crews taken by Matthew Septimus.

 

I’ve a post over at the Horn Book’s Calling Caldecott about Dave Eggers’ Her Right Foot, illustrated by Shawn Harris.

That is here.

Until Thursday …

“The word parade is about to begin ….”
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Happy Sunday to all! I’ve got a review at BookPage of Judy Sierra’s The Great Dictionary Caper (Paula Wiseman/Simon & Schuster, January 2018), illustrated by Eric Comstock.

That is here at BookPage, and today at 7-Imp I’ve got some spreads from the book.

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— From Cori Doerrfeld’s The Rabbit Listened

 

“‘I can’t do it,’ says Sophie. ‘Make your brain stronger,’ whispers Paula. ‘Just try.’
Paula gathers up a pile of square tiles. ‘Think hard, Sophie,’ whispers Andrew.
He takes a sheet of graph paper. Sophie sits and stares.
And stares. Maybe she can draw them!”
— From Molly Bang’s When Sophie Thinks She Can’t …

 
Today at Kirkus, I’ve got three brand-new picture books for the toddler/preschool set, books also great for your story time stack. That is here.

* * *

Last week at Kirkus, I wrote here about little children and big emotions — Molly Bang’s When Sophie Thinks She Can’t … (Blue Sky/Scholastic, January 2018) and Cori Doerrfeld’s The Rabbit Listened (Dial, February 2018). I’m following up today with art from each book.

Enjoy!

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