Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Because I had less time for blog-writing last weekend, today’s post is another quickie art-stop post. Have you all seen yet Marjorie Blain Parker’s A Paddling of Ducks, illustrated by Joseph Kelly? Published by Kids Can Press in March, it’s subtitled Animals in Groups from A to Z. And, it occurs to me just now, wouldn’t it be fun to pair with this, seeing as how both books feature collective nouns for creatures (whether real or imaginary)? Woot! Good times.

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It’s been two years since my breakfast interview with author/illustrator Tricia Tusa, whose work I love so very much. She’s got a new illustrated title out, Once Upon a Baby Brother (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, June 2010), written by Sarah Sullivan, so I thought I’d share some spreads from it today. Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t had your coffee or hot tea yet, the art work of Sonia Lynn Sadler just might wake you up instead. Sadler has illustrated the picture book debut—Seeds of Change from Lee & Low Books (April 2010)—of author Jen Cullerton Johnson, a biography of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Wangari Maathai, a Kenyan environmental and political activist. In the 1970s, Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, an environmental organization focused on the planting of trees, environmental conservation, and women’s rights. Johnson, as noted in the back of the book, relies upon Maathai’s autobiographical writing (indeed, her own memoir) to bring us the story of her life — from her childhood in Kenya to 2004, in which she was awarded the “prestigious peace prize.” Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s another quick international art stop today, featuring two 2010 picture book titles illustrated by Australian artist Nina Rycroft, who has been honored by the Children’s Book Council of Australia. I need this first title to help wake me up, as I haven’t had the sweet brown lifeblood that is coffee. Yet.

That first very joyous picture book comes from Australian author Phil Cummings. First published in ‘08 in Australia, Boom Bah! was published here in the U.S. in March of this year. (Click on each image in this post to enlarge the spreads and see in more detail.) Read the rest of this entry »

Gianna Marino, my 7-Imp visitor this morning, debuted her picture-book work in 2005 in a book Kirkus called a “lively, engaging debut,” Zoopa: An Animal Alphabet (Chronicle Books 2005). Just when you think you’d seen every approach to alphabet books, along came Gianna with a fresh one in this wordless picture book, featuring a bowl of alphabet soup and a colorful menagerie of creatures surrounding it. In Spring of this year, Gianna followed the title up with One Too Many: A Seek & Find Counting Book, also released by Chronicle Books. This one features one flea, bouncing between farm animals, its path traced in a thin silver arc. Kirkus wrote, “Marino’s illlustrations are marvelously striking, positioning animals that are largely black and white, with a bit of sepia, against blue sky (that modulates to pink and then to night) and sandy barnyard,” adding that it’s “a rare counting book with wide appeal.” This nearly wordless title definitely holds some treasures for the eager, observant child reader.

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Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you. Whew. It’s already the first Sunday of August, and the first Sunday of each month is when I like to shine the spotlight on a student illustrator or someone otherwise brand-new to the field. Let’s get right to today’s featured illustrator, Ben Clanton, who—according to his site—has spent most of his time in Oregon and Montana classrooms. But he tells us a bit more below, so without further ado…Welcome to Ben:

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Hi, dear readers. I’ve got my work cut out for me this week. I’m coming up on a self-imposed writing deadline, and I’m also preparing for this, a presentation at The University of Tennessee’s Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature, in which I have one hour to talk about the best picture books thus far of 2010. Can you even try to imagine for one second how I’m having trouble narrowing here, dear people, since I love me my excellent picture books ever so muchly? But I’m having fun, and I think the presentation will be very fun, too. The best part is that I get to hear my former East Tennessee librarian colleagues—who are brilliant and will also be presenting—talk about books for other ages, and I particularly look forward to hearing about YA novels in the afternoon, since I’ve not had as much time for reading those on my own this year. (Good thing I love my picture books, right?)

So, for those reasons, I probably won’t be back here at 7-Imp until Sunday. But I promise to return for some kickin’. In the meantime, I’m leaving you this week with some collage illustrations from the great Ed Young. His latest illustrated title is by Brenda Z. Guiberson, who has been writing and illustrating children’s books for over 15 years. It’s called Moon Bear (Henry Holt, May 2010), a lyrical tribute to the Asiatic black bear, becoming rare in the wild. Read the rest of this entry »

Last year, Candlewick Press debuted its first imprint, Templar Books, a partnership with Britain’s Templar Publishing. So far, I’ve been super pleased with what titles Templar/Candlewick has brought to the U.S. market — some really unusual (read: weird…you know I love my weird picture books) stuff and lesser-known author/illustrators. Er, lesser-known to me anyway. And one of those is being featured today: In 2008, Kevin Waldron debuted as an author/illustrator with Mr. Peek and the Misunderstanding at the Zoo, and the first U.S. edition was released this May. I’ve got a couple spreads to show you today so that the art can speak for itself. Don’t you love the ’60s, sort of Inspector Clouseau vibe? Kirkus describes Waldron’s digitally-created art as “a delightful cross between Calef Brown and J. Otto Seibold.”

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Here’s a quickie illustration post this morning that falls into the Just When You Think You’d Seen It All category for the ‘ol tried-and-true tale of the Three Little Pigs. Steven Guarnaccia, the chair of the illustration program at Parsons the New School for Design in New York, brings us The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale, released by Abrams in March.

Hand this book to an architectural design junkie, and you will make his or her day. Read the rest of this entry »

Almost exactly one year ago, when Mac Barnett and Adam Rex visited the blog, Mac mentioned a book published in 1979, I believe it was—But No Elephants, written and illustrated by Jerry Smath—which Mac said he’d “probably read 4,000 times.” I noticed in the comments that, almost one year later, Smath himself stopped by the post to type:

“Mac,

Thanks for your kind words … now please see some of my other books, and my new illustrations in Lola: A Shrew Story.

Jerry Smath”

Well, it’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally got some of those illustrations to show today, and that’s because the author of that picture book, Ellen Weiss—who has written over 150 children’s titles—is here this morning to talk a bit about not only that book, but another of her new titles, also released this Spring, as well as to discuss what’s next for her. Read the rest of this entry »