I’ve Got Nothing Else This Week
May 25th, 2022 by jules
I’m Not Small: A Chat with Nina Crews
May 24th, 2022 by jules
See how tall I am when I stand on my toes?”
(Click spread to enlarge)
It’s a pleasure to welcome author-illustrator Nina Crews to 7-Imp today. She and I talk about her new picture book, released this month — I’m Not Small (Greenwillow) — and how she momentarily put down her camera to work in a new style. I’m Not Small is an empowering tale about a child exploring how all things in nature are relative. Stepping into the yard — “Sunshine! Daytime! Time to play outside.” — the young child experiences the thrill of doing so independently: “You’re a big kid now,” says mother. The child feels small next to the big tree but tall next to the dog, as pictured above. “I am big!” the child declares triumphantly after exploring creatures in the yard.
7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #795: Featuring Wanda Gág
May 22nd, 2022 by jules
The great and groundbreaking picture book artist Wanda Gág published The ABC Bunny in 1933, and it went on to win a Newbery Honor the following year. It’s an alphabet book, and it includes hand-lettering by Gág’s brother. Also, music for the text (“ABC Song”) is included in the back of the book in the form of a score. This was composed by Gág’s sister. Clearly, it was a family affair.
Last month, the University of Minnesota Press — Gág was a Minnesotan from an immigrant family — released a board book edition of the book. Though many picture books don’t translate well to board book form, I think this one works.
A Day for Sandcastles
May 20th, 2022 by jules
I’m always excited to see a picture book with a story concept conceived by JonArno Lawson. Lawson’s newest, A Day for Sandcastles (Candlewick, May 2022), is illustrated by Qin Leng. Even better.
Yoshi and the Ocean
May 18th, 2022 by jules
I’ve a review over at BookPage of Lindsay Moore’s Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle’s Incredible Journey Home (Greenwillow, May 2022).
That is here — it’s a remarkable story, this tale of Yoshi — and below are some spreads.
Enjoy!
7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #794: Featuring Matthew Cordell
May 15th, 2022 by jules
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 year.
And then, if you’re so inclined again, you can look below to see some spreads.
The Velveteen Rabbit: A Visit with Erin Stead
May 12th, 2022 by jules
(Click image to enlarge)
When I was a child, I read Margery Williams’s The Velveteen Rabbit (or How Toys Become Real), originally published in 1922, over and over again — so often that I can still recite the book’s first paragraph by memory. I remember feeling chilled by the description of Nana, who “ruled the nursery.” I remember her “swooping about like a great wind” and being short-tempered and careless with the toys. It was my first lesson in how an author can depict so much about a character via their actions alone. I remember the Skin Horse’s words. And I was mesmerized by the fairy.
A reader can certainly have a nostalgic longing for a book they read as a child, but is the book good? I am all the time talking to my picture book grad students about this — about not letting that kind of thing get in the way of evaluating a book on its merits. For me, this book endures. This is why I was excited to see that Erin Stead has illustrated the 100th anniversary edition of the book, released in April by Doubleday. Erin put it well in this NPR piece: “The part that we all remember about talking about what’s real – that really carries with you for the rest of your life with all of the relationships you have, all the friendships that you’ll make, and all the times that people aren’t necessarily kind to you. There’s a lot of insecurities. There’s a lot of figuring out how you belong. It’s hard to shake a story that’s that honest.”
The Waiting Place
May 10th, 2022 by jules
(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety)
You’d be hard-pressed to find a children’s book this year as driving, urgent, passionate, and deeply felt as The Waiting Place: When Home Is Lost and a New One Not Yet Found (Candlewick, May 2022), which comes from author Dina Nayeri and photographer Anna Bosch Miralpeix. The book chronicles Nayeri’s and Miralpeix’s 2018 visit to Katsikas, a refugee camp near Ioannina, Greece.
7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #793: Featuring
The Art of Alice & Martin Provensen
and The Provensen Book of Fairy Tales
May 8th, 2022 by jules
(Click image to enlarge)
I’m goin’ vintage today, you all. If you are fond of reading about picture books, illustration, the history of children’s literature, and (especially) the work of illustrators Alice and Martin Provensen (pictured above), I have two books here at 7-Imp today that will certainly pique your interest — each superb, spectacularly detailed, and lovingly designed.
The Tale of the Tiny Man
May 5th, 2022 by jules
laid its heavy head on his shoulder.”
Barbro Lindgren’s The Tale of the Tiny Man, illustrated by Eva Erikkson, is evidently a classic Swedish picture book. Lindgren wrote it in 1979, and it’s been read and loved for nearly 45 years and has even been adapted to the stage. Last month Gecko Press released a new edition, translated by Julia Marshall.
And o! The drama! The pathos! The desolation! The joy! It’s ALL THE FEELINGS. And if the children in your life ask you to read it to them over and over and then some more, don’t be surprised.
