Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

  I’m sending you to the Horn Book today to read, if you’re so inclined, my review of Philip Stead’s Every Dog in the Neighborhood (Neal Porter Books/Holiday House), illustrated by Matthew Cordell and arriving on shelves in June. Here’s the review. This is, hands down, one of my favorite picture books thus far this […]

  Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell ventures into the world of early readers with his new book, Cornbread & Poppy. Over at BookPage, I chat with him about this. That Q&A is here. And here is my review of the book. Below are some early sketches from the book as well as some final art. (Pictured […]

  It’s a pleasure to have a chat today with author-illustrator Matthew Cordell about his newest picture book, Bear Island (Feiwel and Friends, January 2021), a moving story about loss and working one’s way through the emotions involved. It’s a story that, as the Publisher’s Weekly review puts it so well, “respects grief’s slow pace.”

  I’ve a review over at BookPage of Caldecott Medalist Matt Cordell’s newest picture book, King Alice (Feiwel & Friends, October 2018). That is here. Today, Matt shares some sketches, studies, and final pieces from the book. I thank him for sharing.

— From Philip C. Stead’s The Only Fish in the Sea,illustrated by Matthew Cordell   “Zaha’s designs don’t look like other designs. Her buildingsswoosh and zoom and flow and fly. ‘The world is not a rectangle.’”— From Jeanette Winter’s The World Is Not a Rectangle:A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid(Click to enlarge spread)   “… […]

  This week in the world of social media, I saw these pen-and-ink drawings done by author-illustrator Matthew Cordell, and I love them so. I asked for his permission to share them here, and voilà! Here they are. Evidently, he made these drawings while watching his daughter slayin’ it, as he put it, at a […]

  When you find the news—both world and local—discouraging and you feel a lot like the characters look in the above illustration from Marsha Diane Arnold’s Lost. Found., illustrated by Matthew Cordell and released last month (don’t worry — things turn around for these guys), I turn to art. Because we all need art every […]

There is an abundance of adventure and humor and energy and style seepin’ right out of Philip C. Stead’s Special Delivery, illustrated by Matthew Cordell, which is coming to shelves in early March from Neal Porter Books/Roaring Brook Press. It’s the story of a girl named Sadie, who really wants to mail an elephant to […]

“[This is] me working on final art here. Surrounded by all things hello! hello! …studies, finished finals, bamboo pens, snacks.”(Click to enlarge) Last week at the Kirkus Book Blog Network, I chatted briefly with author/illustrator Matthew Cordell, pictured above, about his latest picture book, hello! hello! (Hyperion, October 2012). I’ve got the interview in its […]

“Tho’ I’m of a darker hue, / I’ve a heart the same as you. … /For love I’m dyin’, my heart is cryin’. /A wise old owl said Keep on tryin’. /I’m a little blackbird looking for a bluebird too. …”— From Renée Watson’s Harlem’s Little Blackbird: The Story of Florence Mills,illustrated by Christian Robinson […]