Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“And, today, she is nervous about her first day of school.” “When everyone’s watching, I hide. I hide like the cat alongside the big chair.I scrunch myself down and pretend I’m not there. When everyone’s watching, I hide.”(Click to enlarge spread)   Today over at Kirkus, I write about why I’m reading a lot of […]

“The cloud of animals roused and rushed into the night. They weren’t mice at all.They dipped and dived and surfed the air. They squealed with delight.”(Click to enlarge) “My grandpa’s name is Frank. Frank lives at our house, and he’s always around.” “Grammy Lamby left the next morning,but not without giving Larry the secret handshake.”(Click […]

In honor of tomorrow morning’s big award announcements from the American Library Association—I am inordinately excited to hear who the Caldecott winner and Honor winners will be—I am featuring the illustrator who is very familiar with the Caldecott, to put it mildly, and who, some argue, has a chance at winning it yet again this […]

“In burning sun, / in blinding snow, / there stands the mighty Buffalo. /His temper short, / his suffering long — / once was sixty-million strong. /In burning sun, / in blinding snow, / behold! The mighty buffalo!”(Click to enlarge slightly.) At his web site, children’s book author David Elliott writes, “Books are…about language: its […]

“Four happy bears / on four small chairs. / Not a bear / has to share.” It’s time to take a Sunday once again to appreciate those illustrators who can entertain the youngest of children through picture books without also inducing headaches, brought on by excessive cuteness, in those adults reading the illustrated titles to […]

“Princess Hyacinth floated. Unless she was attached to something, or weighted down, she just floated—up, up, up.”(Click to enlarge.) You all know I like to shine the spotlight on up-and-coming illustrators here at 7-Imp, but I also like to keep up with some of my favorites. So, I went asking for some spreads from new […]

Jules: This is one of those Sundays in which we’re really featuring a book (as opposed to, say, an illustrator stopping by to share something new or not-seen-before), this one a (mostly) wordless picture book, entitled Jukebox, published by Kane/Miller this year (originally published in France in ’07), and created by French illustrator David Merveille […]

Let me hear it for David Almond, my friends. I really don’t think there’s anyone else quite like him writing for young adults today. He’s an extraordinary storyteller, creating stories memorable for their originality and striking in their beauty and mystery. His latest title is My Dad’s a Birdman (Candlewick; April ’08), an illustrated novel […]

Jules here, piping up to talk a bit about my valentine reads for this week, the ones to which I say, Be Mine. And if you yourself are in the mood for some stories about that complicated thing called love, then here are two recommendations for you. First, there’s David Levithan’s new short story collection, […]

Jules: Many thanks to author/illustrator David Ezra Stein, who sent us a 7-Imp exclusive this weekend, an image from his forthcoming picture book, How to Be Nice. It will be released in Fall ’08 from Putnam.