{"id":1606,"date":"2009-03-18T00:01:16","date_gmt":"2009-03-18T06:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1606"},"modified":"2009-06-28T13:47:48","modified_gmt":"2009-06-28T19:47:48","slug":"seven-questions-over-breakfast-with-emily-gravett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1606","title":{"rendered":"Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Emily Gravett"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"EmilyOne of my favorite contemporary illustrators is here today. And I mean one of my TOP-FIVE favorites. With my love of hyperbole aside, I say that British illustrator Emily Gravett<\/strong><\/a> is one of the most exciting writer-artists at work today who creates books for children. When she released Monkey and Me<\/strong><\/a><\/em> in the UK in ’07, The Sunday Times<\/em> wrote that the title “marks out the exceptional from the mediocre.” I’d say that about all her books thus far. The Irish Times<\/em> called her a magic-weaver. Her work is daring and one-of-a-kind and oh-so slightly subversive, some of my favorite elements in a picture book. <\/p>\n

Remember when she hit the scene with the multimedia wonder that was Wolves<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (released by Simon & Schuster in the U.S.), the poster child for postmodern picture books of 2006? Turning a traditional narrative on its head, she told the imaginative, suspenseful tale (which also managed to be terrifically informative) of a rabbit with his nose firmly stuck in a nonfiction title about wolves, a book whose subject matter has stepped off the page with a snarl and an appetite, unbeknownst to the rabbit. And the alternate ending? Well, it vies for Best Picture Book Ending Ever. Truly. The book was not only critically-acclaimed, but it also made approximately seven bajillion kidlitosphere bloggers go berserk with glee. Wolves<\/em>, which started out as a college project, also won Emily the 2005 Kate Greenaway Medal<\/strong><\/a> and a 2007 Boston Globe\u2013Horn Book Honor<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n

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I still remember Betsy Bird’s spot-on review<\/strong><\/a> from ’06: “Some kids will dig it. Others will stare at it with undisguised confusion and then demand a seventy-fifth reading of The Giving Tree<\/em>. In the end, Gravett has done the near impossible. She’s created something amusing, disturbing, and never seen before.”<\/p>\n


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“An adult wolf has 42 teeth. Its jaws are twice as powerful as those of a large dog.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Since then, Emily’s released seven more titles (only some of which have made it over here to the States), and each one excels on multiple levels: 2007’s Orange Pear Apple Bear<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, which includes just five words, four of which are in the title (“a quietly brilliant book,” wrote Elizabeth Ward at The Washington Post<\/em>); Meerkat Mail<\/strong><\/em><\/a> with its “deftly brushed watercolors” (Kirkus<\/em>); Little Mouse’s Big Book of Fears<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (“the visuals are endlessly startling and fascinating. I keep running my hands along this book’s pages, trying to find the boundaries of what Gravett has devised,” wrote Daniel Handler<\/strong><\/a> in The New York Times<\/em>); and many more. <\/p>\n

Emily’s newest title here in the States is The Odd Egg<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, what Publishers Weekly<\/em> called a “witty salute to both nature and nurture.” I love it, and I won’t tell you the plot so that it can unfold in all its spontaneity and wit and wonder for you. However, I do hereby officially tack it on to the Straight-Talk-About-the-Food-Chain<\/strong><\/a> registry that Adrienne Furness<\/strong><\/a> and I began last year. <\/p>\n

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Spreads from<\/em> The Odd Egg<\/strong><\/a>
(Simon & Schuster, January 2009)
Click on the images themselves to see larger versions.<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

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Emily’s here for seven questions over breakfast. “I normally have toast (vegemite on brown-marmalade on white),” she told me, “but on a Sunday I love baked beans on toast with cheddar cheese on top. Mmmmmm. Washed down with a cup of tea (Earl Grey with soy milk).”<\/font> So, let’s get the basics from Emily while we set the table for our most unusual toast breakfast. (Hey, I’m always up for a new culinary adventure.) I’ll bring her some Earl Grey tea, and I’ve got my cup of coffee. I thank her kindly for stopping by to chat and share her art work, too. <\/p>\n

And quick note: I’ve linked several of these images to larger versions of the files at blaine.org (7-Imp’s host). For those images, I’ve made note under each to click on the image itself to see a magnified version. To miss the details in Emily’s work would be a shame. <\/p>\n

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7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Are you an illustrator or author\/illustrator?<\/font><\/p>\n

Emily<\/font><\/strong>: Both, although I always feel more comfortable saying illustrator.<\/p>\n


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From <\/em>Monkey and Me<\/a><\/strong>
(Simon & Schuster, 2008)<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

7-Imp<\/font><\/strong>: Can you list your books-to-date?<\/font><\/p>\n

Emily<\/font><\/strong>: <\/p>\n