Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Several weeks ago, I blogged about a few new picture book biographies that made me happy. I was eager then to tell you about the title I’m featuring today, but I wanted to wait a bit to secure some spreads from it to share with you. This is, hands down, one of my favorite picture books from this year, and it seems to have come out of nowhere and surprised me. It’s called The Secret World of Walter Anderson (Candlewick, September 2009), it’s by an author with whom I was not previously familiar, Hester Bass, and it’s about “the most famous American artist you’ve never heard of,” as Bass puts it. The book was illustrated by the one and only E.B. Lewis, whose work I’ve long adored.

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As many sites around the kidlitosphere today celebrate nonfiction titles (as they do every Monday), I am having a cyber-breakfast with author/illustrator Bonnie Christensen, pictured here, who has brought us a handful of engaging nonfiction titles over the years — either illustrating them or both writing and illustrating them herself. Perhaps best known for Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People (Alfred A. Knopf), for which she was given the Horn Book-Boston Globe Honor Award in 2002, she has illustrated fifteen beautiful books for young readers, her primary media being oils and wood engraving or dry point engravings, though she seems to have no fear and has also attempted such artistic adventures as old-skool fresco. (More on that below.)

You do remember the Woody-Guthrie title (rendered in mixed media) from 2001, right? I do. It blew me away. It was a dramatic and powerful tribute to someone whose music most of us know, whether we realize Woody was behind it or not:

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Jules: Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, our 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.

Featured this Sunday morning is Firefighter Ted, who sprung from the mind of one of my favorite picture book authors, Andrea Beaty (who, as I’ve said before, has this keen ability to get smack-dab into the center of a child’s way of thinking), and who is illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre, who stopped by and had breakfast with me last month, you may remember. You also may remember that, during April of ’08, our imaginative protagonist, Ted, decided to be a doctor:

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Welcome to my hybrid Poetry Friday (A Bit Early) and Picture Book post. I’ve got a poem to share, and because I find it tragic to post without art, I’m going to include a couple of spreads from a picture book, to be released soon, with art that makes me happy — and with art I think is fitting for this post.

This is from debut author/illustrator Susan Gal’s picture book, Night Lights:

More on the book below. But, first, my Poetry Friday contribution this week:

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If we needed even more validation that comic books are once again vogue and that librarians and teachers these days aren’t as shouty at kids as they used to be about reading the things, well, here we go…

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Jules: Blogger, illustrator, and first-time author/illustrator Elizabeth O. Dulemba is here this morning to tell us about the picture book she’s just written and illustrated, a bilingual title called Soap, Soap, Soap ~ Jabón, Jabón, Jabón. She’s very psyched about this and has embarked on a blog tour to talk about her excitement. The book, available as all-English or bilingual, takes this classic Appalachian Jack tale and gives it a new, contemporary, Spanish twist. The story now takes place in a small town with a protagonist named Hugo. I’ve got a bilingual copy and some spreads to share from it today. If these colors don’t wake you all up this morning, I don’t know what will.

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Happy Fall, ya’ll. This is my very favorite time of year, and I just want to revel in it. So I’m not going to say much here, I’m just going to share a lovely little jewel of a poem with you that evokes the beauty of the season, with just a wee tinge of melancholy over the winter to come. It’s “Ex Libris” by Eleanor Wilner:

By the stream, where the ground is soft
and gives, under the slightest pressure—even
the fly would leave its footprint here
and the paw of the shrew the crescent
of its claws like the strokes of a chisel
in clay; where the lightest chill, lighter
than the least rumor of winter, sets the reeds
to a kind of speaking, and a single drop of rain
leaves a crater to catch the first silver
glint of sun when the clouds slide away
from each other like two tired lovers,
and the light returns, pale, though brightened
by the last chapter of late autumn:
copper, rusted oak, gold aspen, and the red
pages of maple…

Click here to read the rest. Enjoy.

Looking for more? Becky’s Book Reviews is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday round-up.

Here are my two good things about today:

First, I get to hear Mary Oliver do a reading tonight at Belmont University. An exclamation mark here would hardly contain my happiness about this.

Secondly, I’ve got some art to share with you from Hilary Leung. This is, evidently, his picture book debut, though he’s a graphic designer and illustrator whose work has been published all over the world. This is from a little book from Kids Can Press (September ’09) called The Legend of Ninja Cowboy Bear by David Bruins, first-time author. The book’s charms and dry humor won me over. It’s about three friends—you guessed it: a ninja, a cowboy, and a bear—whose unique talents come between them one day. They very simply start to wonder who is better than the other, and all kinds of competitions are arranged to see who will excel. The book closes with a statement about how we each have our special talents; I think, without that, kids will have figured this out from the engaging tale itself, but the book is so winning in every other way that even that heavy-handed ending starts to look sort of old-skool adorable to me. And, really, the book had me at its premise: That a bear, a cowboy, and a ninja hang out every day. In the opening spread, they’re reading together, painting, playing board games, rockin’ out, flying kites, and looking for shapes in the clouds, the ninja all decked out in his black ninja gear and the cowboy kickin’ it with his best Lank Thompson smile.

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You all know I’ve mentioned Terrible Yellow Eyes (TYE) here before, right? It is the brainchild of Cory Godbey, and it is the spot in cyberspace where various artists are contributing their own works created as a tribute to Where the Wild Things Are.

I featured one of Bill Carman’s contributions to TYE a while back. Turns out he’s contributed another piece, which I secured permission to share today.

And, if you live in the L.A. area, note that Gallery Nucleus will be having a Terrible Yellow Eyes exhibition (with Cory as guest curator) from September 19 to October 6. Here’s all the info on that.

How much do I wish I could go to that? A lot. Think the exhibit will make its way to little ‘ol Smyrna, Tennessee? Doubt it. (Hence, my post title.) But those of you in L.A. can go and report back. Yes? Yes!

Here is Bill’s new piece, all framed for you: Read the rest of this entry �

Good morning, all! I have two kickin’ announcements for my fellow Illustration Junkies of the world:

1. Matt Phelan is stopping by this morning for a breakfast chat! See the post below. He is sharing lots of beautiful art work to wake you up this morning. As well as strong, non-negotiable coffee.

2. Author/illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka has this to share this morning:

Mr. Tomie dePaola is turning 75! My wife, Gina, and I wanted to do something special for him, let him know just how much he is loved. We reached out to our children’s book illustrator friends and asked if they would make an image to honor Tomie. On September 15th, on his actual birthday, we are launching Three Kisses for Tomie with the first round of art. Many artists have promised art later in the year, and we will continue to update the site throughout the year, as we get new art in. Here is a sneak preview of what you will see:

This is seven kinds of fabulous is what it is. You can see even more over at Three Kisses for Tomie: An All-Star Tribue to Tomie dePaola, launched today. Enjoy!

And: Happy birthday, Tomie!

{Illustrations used with permission of Jarrett J. Krosoczka.}