February 9th, 2017 by jules
Today, I am following up with some art from the book, including the glorious endpapers.
Enjoy.
February 7th, 2017 by jules
The plight of Syrian refugees was in the news well before we elected such a disastrous and hateful president, but due to his recent travel ban, it’s all the more top of mind for folks all over the world. Having picture books on hand that can explain this to children is helpful, and I recently wrote here at Kirkus about picture books that capture the plight and flight of refugees.
Coming to shelves in March is Suzanne Del Rizzo’s My Beautiful Birds (Pajama Press), a new book specifically about Syrian refugees. Rendered in bright and textured polymer clay and acrylic, it’s the story of a boy named Sami, leaving his Syrian home (with a sky full of smoke) to escape war. The boy is concerned about the pet pigeons he leaves behind. “It will be okay,” his father tells him. “Your birds escaped too.” When Sami and his family make it to a refugee camp, the boy tries to create art commemorating his birds, but his art only turns to black. Sami eventually comes to some peace when he a canary, a dove, and a rose finch fly into the camp.
February 5th, 2017 by jules
It’s the first Sunday of the month, dear Imps, which means I have a student or newly-graduated illustrator. Today, it’s James Serafino, who graduated from the School of Visual Arts and tells me that children’s books are his primary passion in life and that he loves to share and learn and talk about them as much as possible.
Let’s get right to it, and I thank James for sharing his artwork.
February 3rd, 2017 by jules
Last week, I wrote here about the third book in John Lewis’s and Andrew Aydin’s March trilogy (Top Shelf Productions), released last year and illustrated by Nate Powell; Carmen Agra Deedy’s The Rooster Who Would Not Be Quiet! (Scholastic, January 2017), illustrated by Eugene Yelchin; and Shana Corey’s A Time to Act: John F. Kennedy’s Big Speech, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie and coming to shelves from NorthSouth Books in April.
Today, I’ve got art from all three books in the March trilogy, as well as art from Yelchin and Christie.
Until Sunday …
February 2nd, 2017 by jules
“The books I loved best when I was a kid were always very detailed, so I probably pick narratives that will lend themselves to that style. Pretty much every mythology is so rich in back story and characters that it’s a great thing to hang a story around, because it gives you an instant, vast visual language you can then place your character into.”
Today over Kirkus, I talk with British author-illustrator Joe Todd-Stanton about his debut children’s book, Arthur and the Golden Rope (Flying Eye Books, February 2017), volume one in the Brownstone’s Mythical Collection series.
That Q&A is here.
I’ll have even more art from the book here at 7-Imp next week.
Until tomorrow …
January 31st, 2017 by jules
Author-illustrator David Soman visits 7-Imp this morning for a cyber breakfast and gives just the right answer to my question about what he would like to have on our cyber-table. “Coffee,” he says. “Coffee and blueberry banana pancakes. With coffee. Sweet Sue’s, a great breakfast joint in somewhat nearby Phoenecia, New York, calls blueberry banana pancakes ‘blue monkeys,’ which is what we call them at home. I love them on the weekends. With coffee. Did I mention coffee?”
Coffee it is, and I’m pleased to say that David shares a whole bunch of art and preliminary images today. Pictured above is an illustration from last year’s The Monster Next Door, released by Dial in September. David both wrote and illustrated this one, though he’s most well-known for the series on which he collaborates with his wife, author Jacky Davis — the bestselling Ladybug Girl series. (If I’m counting correctly there have been over 20 sequels to the opener in the series, Ladybug Girl, published in 2008.) Let us also not forget 2014’s beautiful Three Bears in a Boat, one of my favorite picture books from that year.
But David’s first illustrated picture book, written by Angela Johnson, was published in 1989. He’s been making picture books for a while, in other words, and so it’s a pleasure to talk to him today about his work, his technique, his teaching, and much more. Let’s get to it, and I thank him for visiting today.
January 29th, 2017 by jules
Marsha visits today to talk about this tender, endearing story and what’s next for her. She titled what you will see from her below “Lessons in Patience,” which is also a fitting way to summarize this book. In it, Badger makes it loud and clear that he’s tired of waiting for the snow to come, despite the more philosophically-bent Hedgehog reminding him in more ways than one that “it will snow in snow’s time,” just as the crocuses always bloom in their own time every Spring. All Badger has to do is wait, but that’s easier said than done.
Let’s hear more from Marsha about the book, and I’m peppering the post with some of Renata’s beautiful spreads — and even an early sketch or two.
January 27th, 2017 by jules
Last week, I wrote here about two books in Anastasia Higginbotham’s Ordinary Terrible Things series — Death Is Stupid, released last year, and Tell Me About Sex, Grandma, coming to shelves in April of this year. (Both books are from Feminist Press.)
I’m following up with some spreads from each book today.
Until Sunday …
January 26th, 2017 by jules
Enjoy!
January 25th, 2017 by jules
The Land of Nod (Flying Eye Books) will arrive on shelves next month. In the illustrations, Hunter gives a young boy, the one who nightly visits the dream-world of Nod, a leg cast and set of crutches. The boy looks longingly out the window at children playing, but since he can’t join them, he retreats into the world of his imagination at night. His dreamscape is populated by the items in his bedroom and the rest of his home, all of them mammoth in size and the playground of his adventures. In one spread showing his entrance into the Land of Nod, he leaps across so many spectral items in his home — a chair, books, a piece of furniture, a vase. They form an otherwordly bridge of sorts, one awash in the cool blues of night. The toys on his bed join him on his surreal adventure. The mundane becomes the fantastical here. Read the rest of this entry »
