Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
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Our vision for this blog, founded in August 2006, was pretty simple: We planned to talk about the books we read. And we did. We read lots of different kinds of books. And we wrote about them, whenever we could, in the hopes that we could a) let you, the reader, know about a book that you might like to read, too, and b) inspire discussion about said books.
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
Hello from the past! I’m drafting this post early in the week (last week, that is), because we’re off to take our oldest daughter to college. But I’ll be back on Sunday (today, that is). Pictured here is a work-in-progress image from one of my favorite illustrators, Sergio Ruzzier. Sergio says this is from ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
I’m taking off this week — I have a daughter to take to college — but will return on Sunday. I leave you with this excellent piece at The Hechinger Report, written by teachers Christie Nold and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca: The wave of state legislation and school board policies restricting what educators can and can’t ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
“‘You!’ She wraps me and Bess in her special hug, and we share something that is bigger than my pocket, bigger than Bess’s ear, maybe even bigger than me or Zora.” “I know big sisters. Zora, the boss, she’s mine.” That’s Lee, Zora’s little brother, in Michelle Edwards’s Me and the Boss (Anne Schwartz ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
Author-illustrator Jeff Mack takes on some big questions in his newest picture book, Marcel’s Masterpiece: How a Toilet Shaped the History of Art (Henry Holt, August 2022): “How can we tell when something is art or when it isn’t? Who gets to decide?” And he poses these questions by way of this one: “Can ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
“Kahlil wanted to believe in all religions and all people. …”(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety) Today I’ve got some spreads from Hope Is An Arrow: The Story of Lebanese-American Poet Khalil Gibran (Candlewick, July 2022), written by Cory McCarthy and illustrated by Ekua Holmes. This picture book biography spends ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
“Nina has two grandmothers who live on opposite sides of the world. …”(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety) Nana, Nenek & Nina (Dial, August 2022) is the debut picture book from author-illustrator Liza Ferneyhough. It is the story of Nina, who has a Nenek and a Nana who, as you ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
— From Rachel Vail’s Sometimes I Grumblesquinch,illustrated by Hyewon Yum “Friendship sits down beside you when you trip and fall.”— From Tina Oziewicz’s What Feelings Do When No One’s Looking,illustrated by Aleksandra Zając and translated by Jennifer Croft(Click spread to enlarge) Over at BookPage, I had the pleasure of writing about Rachel Vail’s ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
I promise I’ll be back with art on Thursday, but for now I direct you to the Horn Book’s website if, by chance, you missed their wonderful ALA coverage. If you go here, you can read things like 2022 Caldecott, Newbery, and Coretta Scott King speeches (including a profile of the late Floyd Cooper ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
One of Chuck’s early illustration tests Illustrator Chuck Groenink visits today to share some early sketches from Tanya Rosie’s Mum, Me, and the Mulberry Tree (Candlewick, July 2022), a book that both author and illustrator dedicate to their respective Mums. I love that the publisher kept the “Mum” in this book instead of Americanizing ..read more
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
1y ago
“‘I’ve had it with kindergarten!’ Bea Jones said to her fatheras he was sitting down to breakfast. …”(Click spread to enlarge and read text in its entirety) Here’s a post to celebrate 40 years of the work of author-illustrator Amy Schwartz by way of taking a look at her debut picture book, which has ..read more