Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (or "7-Imp," if you're in a hurry), created in 2006, is a children's literature blog that features the work of authors and illustrators and is primarily focused on contemporary illustration and picture books. Think of it as a salon where book creators stop by, after getting a cup of cyber-coffee, to share their craft—and where illustrators wake us up with art.
Lauren Castillo is one of my favorite illustrators. I fell in love with her style, which to me is in many ways reminiscent of the work of the late Margot Zemach, back in 2007 when her first illustrated book was released, Emily Jenkins’ What Happens on Wednesdays. And Castillo seems to get better with each book.
The Troublemaker, her newest book, brims with mischief. A young boy, holding a plush toy raccoon, tricks his sister by stealing her stuffed ...
My favorite thing about parenting, hands down, is reading aloud to my daughters. I get excited about it the way I see other parents get excited when their child takes dance or finally makes the football team. I used to post status updates on Facebook about what we were reading. Though I did it out of sheer enthusiasm but also, selfishly, to get suggested titles from other parents, I stopped doing it so often. I worried I was annoying. (Welcome ...
The book tells the story of the discrimination young Sylvia and her siblings experienced after moving from Santa Ana to Westminster, California, in the summer of 1944. When Sylvia’s Aunt Soledad attempted to enroll them in the local public school, the school system ordered the children to attend the “Mexican school ...
Know what picture book I’ve heard a lot about this year that I hadn’t seen a copy of myself until recently? (Thankfully, a dear friend sent me a copy for a birthday gift.) Early this year, Nancy Paulsen Books released Maira Kalman’s Thomas Jefferson: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Everything. I kept hearing and reading very glowing remarks about it from friends and colleagues. And my house is swimming in new picture books and F&Gs (what are, essentially ...
The element of surprise. You stumble upon a lot of picture books that handle this phenomenon rather clumsily or hurriedly, but there are some that pull it off with ease and with a subtlety that serves the story as a whole in really masterful ways.
One of my favorite new picture books for very young children does this, LeUyen Pham’s A Piece of Cake, which will be on shelves in a couple of weeks. It tells the story of ...
If it just so happens that you’re reading this and you’re not familiar with the picture books of author-illustrator Jason Chin, I will admit to a moderate amount of glee in being the one to introduce you to his books. Rather, I can only urge you to find them, but I can tell you with assurance that when you do find and read them, you’re in for a treat.
As you can see here, Jason has illustrated a handful ...
The title of Chris Raschka’s latest picture book, The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra: The Sound of Joy Is Enlightening, tells you two things. First, if you’re a music-lover, you’re in for a treat, especially given that delicious subtitle, and secondly, this isn’t your typical picture book biography. Rather, given that it’s a cosmobiography, you can tell that the subject matter—in this case, Sun Ra himself—is terrifically unconventional.
And then the book’s first page goes straight to showing you ...
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