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I am scared too.”<\/em>
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I should probably open a kicks post, dear readers, with an image that is not as intense as that very first one, but I really love that spread from Shadra Strickland<\/a><\/strong>. It’s quite moving, yes? This comes from Shadra’s latest illustrated title, written by debut picture book author Ren\u00e9e Watson<\/a><\/strong>. And then, below that, we’ve got an illustration of Ella Fitzgerald from illustrator Sean Qualls<\/a><\/strong> to scatter some joy; that comes from Roxane Orgill’s<\/a><\/strong> forthcoming picture book biography of Ella Fitzgerald. Both Shadra and Sean have new illustrated titles out and<\/em> have both been featured at the blog before—each multiple times—so I invited them over this morning for a show-us-what-you’re-up-to-now post. <\/p>\n And, since there’s quite a bit of art this morning, let’s get right to it. <\/p>\n First, Ren\u00e9e’s and Shadra’s title: Released by Random House in June, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is the story of four fictional Ninth Ward children—Michael, Keesha, Adrienne, and Tommy—caught in Hurricane Katrina. Using intimate first-person voices and told in free verse, Watson alternates between the perspectives of the children, describing their lives before, during, and after the storm, and—as the Kirkus<\/em> review points out—the book very much personalizes the entire disaster. And sugar-coated it is not. Watson lays out with honesty how, in the words of Michael, “Katrina turned New Orleans inside out,” how families were displaced, and how lives were taken. Says Michael:<\/p>\n Katrina took away my drawings, You may remember that Shadra was named the Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator of 2009, just weeks after receiving the Coretta Scott King\/John Steptoe New Talent Award in January 2008 for her illustrations in the picture book Bird<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Zetta Elliott<\/a><\/strong> (featured here<\/a><\/strong> at 7-Imp in ’08). A Place Where Hurricanes Happen<\/em>, Shadra told me, “was truly a labor of love. Ren\u00e9e and I will be in New Orleans on Tuesday to promote the book. NBC Nightly News<\/em> is doing a segment on the fifth-year anniversary of Katrina and will include snips from our books and signings.” Shadra adds that we can see the book’s trailer on her YouTube channel<\/a><\/strong>, as well as a research video from one of the neighborhoods she visited in ’09.<\/p>\n Here are some more spreads (without the text):<\/p>\n Roxane’s title, Skit-Scat Raggedy Cat: Ella Fitzgerald<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, is what Publishers Weekly<\/em> calls an “unforgettable portrait of an artist whose faith in herself carried her when little else did.” To be released this week (I swear, I don’t even intentionally time these things this way) by Candlewick, there could have been no better complement for the book than Sean’s jazzy art. This is a biography of Fitzgerald, “a rough-tough raggedy cat on the outside, but inside she was milky and silky and soft and shy,” orphaned at the age of fourteen, just when she had determined to make herself famous one day. Orgill takes readers up to her life at the age of twenty-one when “A Tisket, A Tasket” became a hit for her. Her life story is extraordinary, and I don’t want to say anymore, should you want to discover this one for yourself. Except to say it’s written with warmth, pizazz, and affection. Publishers Weekly<\/em> writes, “many virtues distinguish Orgill\u2019s writing: precious fragments of historical detail, flirtations with the flash of the spoken word (‘He had a drumroll like a burst of gunfire’), and, most of all, heart (‘This young lady\u2019s got a gift she\u2019d like to share with us tonight,’ says an emcee when Fitzgerald falters at an early performance. ‘She\u2019s just having a little trouble getting it out of its wrapper’).”<\/p>\n And Sean’s art? School Library Journal<\/em> writes, “Qualls firmly establishes himself as a leading illustrator of jazz biographies for children. He uses rich reds and blues to illustrate the history of this quintessentially American art form, just as he did for Jonah Winter’s<\/strong><\/a> Dizzy<\/a><\/strong><\/em>…and Carole Boston Weatherford’s<\/a><\/strong> Before John Was a Jazz Giant<\/a><\/strong><\/em>…. His mixed media of acrylic, collage, and pencil capture the richness of Fitzgerald’s life and song.” Here are a couple more spreads to speak for themselves:<\/p>\n<\/a>
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\nmy markers and my paper.
\nShe even took some of my neighbors away.
\nThere are numbers and words written on
\nMrs. Johnson’s house.
\nI ask my mother what they mean.
\nShe tells me Mrs. Johnson isn’t coming back.
\nShe’s gone forever.
\nThings aren’t what they used to be.<\/em>
\nI miss the people who are gone.
\nEven the neighbors whose names I never knew.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/p>\n<\/a>
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But that’s only the bad side.”<\/em>
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