Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

“My mom and I bundle up together under the covers
in our new home in the country far from the sea.”

 
I’m sorry to do this to you, dear Imps, but I’m writing about a book today that won’t be on shelves till September. I try really hard not to do this — to write about books that you can’t get your hands on for a while. But for various reasons I’m sharing it today. It’s Julie Flett’s Birdsong (Greystone Kids), and it’s a beauty. Since I have a chance to share some art with you today, I thought I’d go ahead.

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— From Samantha Cotterill’s This Beach Is Loud!

 

— From Isabelle Arsenault’s Albert’s Quiet Quest

 

“The book is in your lap, or in your hands, or in someone else’s.”
— From Julia Denos’s Here and Now, illustrated by E. B. Goodale
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got the picture book debut from author-illustrator Joowon Oh.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Isabelle Arsenault’s Albert’s Quiet Quest (Random House, June 2019); Samantha Cotterill’s This Beach Is Loud! (Dial, June 2019); and Julia Denos’s Here and Now (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, September 2019), illustrated by E. B. Goodale. I’m following up here today with some art from each book.

Enjoy!

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“Margaret Wise Brown lived for 42 years. This book is 42 pages long. You can’t fit somebody’s life into 42 pages, so I am just going to tell you some important things.”
(Click to enlarge spread, which is sans text)

 
I’ve got a review over at BookPage of Mac Barnett’s The Important Thing About Margaret Wise Brown (Balzer + Bray, May 2019), illustrated by Sarah Jacoby. It’s a book in which every time Brown is mentioned (as one of my observant book club members noticed), the text says “Margaret Wise Brown.” Not just “Margaret.” Every single mention. I love it.

My review is here, and here today at 7-Imp are some spreads from the book. Let me add: If you are interested in reading this book, I also highly recommend you read this Q&A with Mac and Sarah at 100 Scope Notes, as well as Carter Higgins’s Q&A with Sarah at Design of the Picture Book.

Until later …

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I’m sending you to the Horn Book today. I reviewed Jessica Lanan’s The Fisherman & the Whale (Simon & Schuster, May 2019). If you’re so inclined to read it, the review is here at the Horn Book’s site. It’s a splendid wordless tale, this one.

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Early sketch and final spread: “There is one thing I really like, though . . . MATH!”
(Click each image to enlarge)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got some picture books looking for a little peace and quiet.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Miguel Tanco’s Count on Me (Tundra, June 2019). Today, I’ve some art from the book, and Miguel also shares some early sketches, reference images, etc. I thank him for sharing.

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“But after taking a nap, Duckworth was practicing his recorder
when the cobra slithered right up and …”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
In the mood for a send-up of modern parenting? If so, you can head over to BookPage for my review of Michael Sussman’s Duckworth, the Difficult Child (Atheneum, June 2019), illustrated by Júlia Sardà.

That review is here, and today at 7-Imp are some spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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Cover art
(Click to enlarge)

 
Hush, Little Bunny (Balzer + Bray, January 2019), written and illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist David Ezra Stein, is a new take on a traditional lullaby. And as many classic lullabies do, it reminds children that their caretaker is there to protect, comfort, and nurture — unconditional love in its purest form. Here, we have a small rabbit with its father, who plays with, protects, guides, feeds, and amuses his child — all told in the same sing-song rhythms as the lullaby upon which it is based.

David visits 7-Imp today to share some of his process images, as well as final paintings from the book. This is a sunny, light-infused palette with many full-bleed spreads that invite readers into the natural world to explore with the creatures. I love to see the energetic lines of David’s work. Let’s get right to it so that the art can speak for itself, and I thank him for sharing. (And be sure to scroll down to see Bun Bun.)

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“When the sun rose, the peppered moths dozed on lichen-covered branches.
Silent, still, they hid.
Someone else was looking for food.
Who was the best hidden? Who would survive?”
(Click to enlarge spread)

 
Over at Kirkus today, I’ve got a new book celebrating math by Spanish author-illustrator Miguel Tanco.

That is here.

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Last week, I wrote here about Isabel Thomas’s Moth: An Evolution Story (Bloomsbury, June 2019), illustrated by Daniel Egnéus. Here today at 7-Imp are some spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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Over at Chapter 16, I’ve got a review of Amy Chu’s graphic novel, Sea Sirens (Viking, June 2019), illustrated by Nashville art Janet K. Lee.

That is here, and here today at 7-Imp are some spreads from the book.

Enjoy!

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— From the poem “Kookoorookoo! Kookoorookoo!”
(Click image to enlarge and read poem in its entirety)

 
Blooming Beneath the Sun (Caitlyn Dlouhy/Atheneum, April 2019), featured here today, evidently sprung from illustrator Ashley Bryan’s love of the work of 19th century British poet Christina Rossetti. Gathered in this cheery book are thirteen of her children’s poems, ones that primarily celebrate animals and nature. A couple of lesser-known poems, “Mother Shake the Cherry-Tree” and “Lie-a-Bed,” feature families (the latter illustrated with a woman who seems to be working magic on a child). Most of the poems are Rossetti’s most accessible, child-friendly, nursery rhyme-esque ones — such as, “Who Has Seen the Wind?” (included below).

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