Award-winning children's author and illustrator Chris Gall says he’s been drawing pictures and writing stories for as long as he can remember. In addition to his widely published commercial illustrations, he authored and illustrated the enthusiastically received Dinotrux, which introduced the prehistoric metal monsters that now return in Revenge of the Dinotrux.
Here Gall talks about the latest antics of his cranky creations.
Find more muscular picture books for boys.
Tell me about the inspiration for Revenge of the Dinotrux? Had you planned to do a sequel, or was it a “back by popular demand” thing?
I had ...
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I’ve expressed on more than one occasion my love for international picture book imports. They are always exciting to see, breathing life into the contemporary American picture book landscape.
Read the last Seven Impossible Things on 'Squid and Octopus.'
And the Dutch? Well, Dutch picture book creators are always, it seems, doing interesting and beautiful things with picture book text and art. Case in point: If you love picture books and haven’t seen Ronald and Marije Tolman’s award-winning The Tree House, get to your nearest library or bookstore as fast as your feet can possibly carry you ...
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If you live anywhere in the South (or even if you don’t) and love picture books, and the traveling gods allow for it, there’s a very special exhibit you won’t want to miss. I haven’t seen this exhibit yet myself, but I feel compelled to tell others about it. Exhibits of such beauty deserve such rooftop yawps.
The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) in Raleigh currently has on display the work of author/illustrator and storyteller Ashley Bryan, who has led a long and distinguished career in children’s literature and whose work draws, in ...
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Somewhere, a wolf is howling. Jean Craighead George, author of over 100 books, mostly about the natural world and mostly for children, has died.
Find more books by Jean Craighead George.
It seemed that the world had just begun to pull itself together and move on after the death of Maurice Sendak last week when we learned of the passing of another literary lion. Like Sendak, she was one of Ursula Nordstrom's geniuses, another sad coincidence.
It was Nordstrom who took on Julie of the Wolves, which was inspired by a trip the journalist took to Barrow, Alaska, to ...
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There’s no shortage of picture books or beginning readers about Two Best Friends.
James Marshall’s George and Martha series, and Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad are but two classic examples of literary duos that will never be forgotten. And my favorite duo from recent years? Cowboy and Octopus from Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith. IF ONLY we could see more from this unlikely pair. In a 2010 7-Imp interview, Scieszka did say, “I do have a bunch more Cowboy and Octopus stories that I wrote, just because I loved those two guys and how they interact. Could ...
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The littlest one on the left—that's my mother as a toddler with her two older sisters. For the past 80-plus years, reading has been how my mother defined herself. Now 82, she spends most of her time back in her youth, remembering growing up with a mother who loved books in a household stuffed with them.
Read more new and notable children's books this May.
When I remind her of what I do, she says, "Oh, my mother would have loved hearing about your job. She just loved getting books for us." The classics, of course: Alice ...
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Did you feel the earth wobble this morning? Maurice Sendak died, as we all must. But his contributions to the world were more than most of us can hope to make, and the loss hits hard.
From the boisterous ebullience of his illustrations for Ruth Krauss' A Hole Is to Dig to the gleeful subversion of In the Night Kitchen, from the gothic foreboding of Outside Over There to the plaintive, determined innocence of his illustrations for Tony Kushner's Brundibar, he delighted and provoked, often at the same time.
See all of Maurice Sendak’s books reviewed by Kirkus ...
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Celebrity chef and Food Network star Tyler Florence had already written a number of books for adults before he decided to create what we called “a children’s ode to the know-where-your-food-comes-from movement.” Tyler Makes Pancakes! features young chef Tyler and his dog Tofu, who invite youngsters to learn more about the ingredients of a tasty homemade breakfast.
Find more picture books about food and cooking.
What prompted you to write a children’s book?
We are huge readers in our house. There are shelves of children's books in every room, so I feel like I did a lot ...
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I like to look past our North American shores and see what picture-book creators on other continents are doing. Now seems like a good time to take a look at two titles Tara Books is releasing this year to be published in May and June.
Read the last Seven Impossible Things on books for big boys.
By way of explanation, Tara Books is an independent publisher based in South India. Working with creative people all over the planet to make picture books for both children and adults, they aim to bring readers “unusual and rare voices in art and literature ...
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He’s back. Rocket, that is. And many readers will be happy to see him.
In 2010, author/illustrator Tad Hills brought picture-book readers the joyous tale of Rocket, a white dog who learns to read—and his teacher, a little yellow bird—in How Rocket Learned to Read (also in App form). This story, a genuinely touching, never cloying tribute to reading and the people who inspire it, became a New York Times bestseller and garnered all kinds of glowing reviews and awards to boot, including the Irma Black Award.
Read more new and notable books for kids this ...
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Kate Coombs may be known for her middle-grade fantasies (The Runaway Princess and The Runaway Dragon) and picture-book fairy tales (Hans My Hedgehog, illustrated by John Nickle, etc.), but as it turns out, poetry is her first love.
Water Sings Blue: Ocean Poems, her fifth book and first poetry collection, includes 23 delightful ocean poems—some serious, others brilliantly playful and light—set alongside Meilo So’s suggestive watercolors just teeming with the hues, movement, and wonders of sea and shore. Though she now resides in Utah, Coombs says some of her fondest childhood memories come from time spent at ...
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There’s great value in well-crafted picture books that address that stage in childhood in which the child stubbornly refuses help and must do everything “my byself,” as my own daughter used to say during her own obstinate toddler stage.
Here are two new picture books that do this up right.
Read the last Seven Impossible Things on picture books that celebrate the Earth.
With his loose-lined cartoon art, Adam J.B. Lane gets right to the point on the first page of Stop Thief! with one toddler’s declaration that he’s all grown-up. “I AM A BIG BOY ...
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Earth Day is upon us, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to mention four spring picture books that get the green thing right.
Let’s get straight to it then.
Read the last Seven Impossible Things on 'A Hen for Izzy Pippik.'
I.C. Springman describes herself as a “small-house person in a McMansion-loving world.” She wrote More for her grandsons in the hope that “one day there will be enough for all” in our consumer-driven world. That may make you wonder if you’re in for some preaching, but fret not. This isn’t an explicitly moralistic ...
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Let me say for the record, though I feel sure it’s been said many times before, that Leonard Marcus is a national treasure.
A world-renowned and highly acclaimed author, historian, critic and speaker, Marcus is responsible for some of the most beloved books in children’s literature. It’s not likely, for instance, that you’ll run into someone who studies and cares about children’s books who doesn’t own a much-loved, spine-battered, oft-referenced copy of Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom, complete with too many dog-eared pages to count. This comprehensive bibliography at his site could ...
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Middle school librarian by day, poet and avid quilter during her off hours, Cynthia Grady presents “the threads that weave the fabric” of an enslaved life in I Lay My Stitches Down: Poems of American Slavery.
This evocative first collection of poems, which we called in a starred review, “a powerful grouping of thought-provoking poems and brilliantly designed paintings,” also features gorgeous artwork by Coretta Scott King and American Book Award–winning artist Michele Wood (I See the Rhythm, 1998, etc.).
The synergy between Wood’s ornate, lushly colored paintings and Grady’s finely hewn syllabic verse is so powerful ...
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I’ve nearly broken my toe in stumbling over the number of new picture books stacked in my home. I do my best to keep up, but sometimes I stop and remember a totally winning newer title I’ve read that slipped through the cracks—and then ask myself why I haven’t written about it.
A Hen for Izzy Pippik is one of those books.
Read more from children's books blogger Seven Impossible Things on the beauty of memorizing poetry.
Released in March by Kids Can Press, this story from Canadian author Aubrey Davis is based on an ...
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If you notice that the next couple issues of Kirkus don't appear on time—or at all—here's why: business cards.
We are all getting new business cards, which is great. But in addition to the usual elements (name, address, telephone number, etc.), we were asked to add a very personal datum: our favorite book.
"ONE? Favorite? Book?" I protested. How on earth could I be expected to select one single title from among the grillions that I have read and loved over the 40-plus years of my reading life?
Read more of our favorite books this month ...
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National Poetry Month is upon us, and one way that former Children’s Poet Laureate Mary Ann Hoberman would have us celebrate is by memorizing some poems. And I couldn’t agree more.
I may be in the minority here. Many teachers and school librarians feel swamped enough and may not feel they have the classroom time to devote to children memorizing and reciting poems, but it’s actually good for the cognitive development of young children. There’s also a particular kind of magic in giving oneself over to the rhythms and music of verse. I still remember with ...
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With Step Gently Out, the stunning first-time collaboration between poet Helen Frost and nature photographer Rick Lieder, proponents of the odd separation of author from illustrator in children’s publishing are hereby put on notice.
The marriage between word and image in this gorgeous picture book melds one poem encouraging young readers to explore insect wonders of the natural world with breathtakingly intimate photographs captured only with the aid of natural light. Its success is both organic and the result of Frost and Lieder’s creative union from their project’s inception. We had the privilege of speaking with these ...
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As I once wrote at my site, I’m sorry for the field of economics but happy for children’s literature that once upon a time J. Patrick Lewis jumped careers.
That’s right. Lewis was an economics professor for 30 years before devoting himself to full-time writing.
Read more books by J. Patrick Lewis.
And that’s lucky for us. Lewis has earned wide acclaim for the vivid language and lyrical writing of his poetry, written in a wide-range of styles; his clever wordplay; his passion for visiting schools and working with children; and his work that consistently “respects ...
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