Too Late?

Troppo Tardi, text by Giovanna Zoboli, illustrations by Camilla Engman, Topipittori Publishing, September 2010







You can find this post here, on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast!





Copyright© text and images by Casa Editrice Topipittori 2010. Images have been reproduced with the permission of the Publisher. All rights reserved.

A NICE new!

Dear readers,

since the new is now official on the other side of the ocean, even if I may sound self-centric, I'm writing to announce a new New that regards me. I hope you'll enjoy it....

About a fortnight ago Jules, blogger at the amazing Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, and I have decided to start a collaboration that will see me posting - more or less regularly - on her blog. I will mainly treat European picture books and illustrators. We had planned on doing much more than this, though resources are limited and time stingy, we therefore decided we would be happy with what we can afford to do!

I'm obviously really satisfied, I've always loved Jules' (and Eisha's) blog, it was love at first sight. Thanks to Jules I started thinking of a blog on my own, even if I'm conscious I'll never reach her incomparable talent. When she asked me to collaborate with her I couldn't believe it! Though, this is how it is.

I start lighthearted, my head reaching clouds level and slightly trembling legs but I'm more than happy to start this new adventure. You will be able to read my posts for 7Imp in the translated pages, for the English page I shall put an alert post with title and link to the page on 7Imp.

Here below you can read the presentation Jules made for me, she has been too good:

http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1993

and also the kind words by Betsy Bird, on her A Fuse#8 Production:

http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2010/09/09/fusenews-its-a-mouse-its-a-monkey-its-a-blue-footed-booby/

Now I am speechless!

Thanks, once more, for your attention!

Ugly, dirty and Bad

Whom an I talking about? Kids of course.


If you believe kids like being combed, washed, wringed, wrapped in laces and left posing still like mummies to show all their childish charms, then I suggest that you change article. Why, are you wondering? Because I’m about to talk about real kids, those who hate washing teeth and feet, those running around wild like ferocious little animals, screaming and champing at the bit, those for whom days are pure adventure. Shortly: common kids.

Is it a negative influence? Maybe. Even though, for me, there’s nothing more negative than hiding reality under the semblance of fake perfection. Therefore, here and now, I admit my preference for those stories where kids are treated frankly, with no pedagogical pretensions, with no final supposedly respectable little morals that give satisfaction to grownups but leave nothing to them, the real books' addressees.

And so, in those days of muggy hot, let’s immerge ourselves in a series of refreshingly fun stories.

Hattie the Bad, by Jane Devlin, illustrations by Joe Berger, Dial Publishing, 1st April 2010



Bad or good? What is best? Being terribly ‘bad’ and continuously reproached by adults, or becoming so good so as to win the prize for the "Best-Behaved Child Ever” and have no more friends to play with? Maybe reality lays in the middle or, maybe, being truth to one’s real nature is the only possible solution even if, for some, this is inconvenient. Hattie somehow reminds me of the kids from the series Our Gang, always ready to plot terribly brilliant and unacceptable ideas alike. She has no Pippi’s plaits but two little pigtails bursting with liveliness from every tuft and a poor, unfortunate, brother she’ll keep trying to get rid of.

Shortly, an exhilarating story, not necessarily politically correct but this is the best part!

For more in-depth reviews, you can visit:

Kids Lit  - http://kidslit.menashalibrary.org/2010/08/12/hattie-the-bad/
Pink Me - http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2010/04/hattie-the-bad-review.html
Nochilas A. Basbanes - www.nicholasbasbanes.com/essays/children/10april.phtml

And Joe Berger’s Site - http://joeberger.squarespace.com/hattie-the-bad/

The Boss Baby, by Marla Frazee, Beach Lane Books, 31st August 2010

"From the moment the baby arrived, it was obvious that he was the boss." In this first line what will happen to the poor parents is already quite clear: nothing different than what happens in real life though! After all a baby has urgent needs that, like it or not, we can’t ignore. And so our poor lives take on totally knocked over rhythms: no more dinners with friends, mo more theatres nor movies, over with safaris in the savannah and peaceful sleep. The whole world ends up spinning around paps and terrifying night awakenings! Gulp! And who’s in chief of Diaper Operation? Him, the little screaming, teeth-less, tyrant! A fun picture book on the market very soon.

Here is Marla Frazee’s site - http://www.marlafrazee.com/ very interesting, it contains as well considerations upon illustration, techniques and tools, sketches and storyboards and much else.

And some nice interviews:

7Imp - http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1783  together with Liz Garton Scanlon
Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup - http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/141989.html
Cynisations - http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2007/09/illustrator-interview-marla-frazee-on.html

Mostly Monsterly,  by Tammy Sauer, illustrations by Scott Magoon, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books (31st August 2010).

Published the same day of The Boss Baby, here we have Mostly Monsterly: from the story of a monstrous little tyrant with harmless looks, to the story of a monster hiding behind her dreadful looks a kind heart. After all when you have sharp teeth and nails, pointed ears, greenish skin and a necklace with a skull for pendant, the entrance to the "Monster Academy" is guaranteed. What happens though if, behind those looks you have a delicate soul? How to handle with classmates who prefer to amuse themselves uprooting trees and eating snakes when, deep in your heart, you love cuddling animals and cooking cakes? Will Bernadette, the leading character of Tammy Sauer's new book, be able to find a solution?

Here’s the book trailer:

And some reviews:
Miss Print - http://missprint.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/mostly-monsterly-a-picture-book-review/
School Library Journal -  http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/reviews/pretograde4/885579-319/preschool_to_grade_4.html.csp  (search SAUER)

And an interview with the author:
Writing for Kids While Raising Them - http://taralazar.wordpress.com/2009/03/03/tammi-sauer/

Least but not last the sites:

author, Tammy Sauer: http://www.tammisauer.com/Mostly_Monsterly.html
and illustrator, Scott Magoon: http://www.scottmagoon.com/Site/ScottMagoonsWebsite.html


From France with fury, comes the first volume of a very promising graphic novel:

Les Sales Histoires de Félicien Moutarde, 1. La Naissance de Félicien Moutarde, by Fabrice Melquiot, illustrations by Ronan Badel, Publisher L'Elan Vert, 17th May 2010


The volume includes four chapters:

- La naissance de Félicien Moutarde
- Félicien Moutarde assassine sauvagement Bambi
- Le premier amour de Félicien Moutarde
- Félicien Moutarde a des super pouvoirs super pourris*

Félicien Moutarde says about himself: "Je suis un garçon vraiment pas gâté. Le plus étrange dans cette affaire, c'est que je suis quand même très heureux d'être en vie..."** An opposite superhero, in the style of Kick-ass to some extent: not exactly charmant, where others have super-powers, he affirms having all possible faults and super-weaknesses. A little misanthropist who would happily slap about the other kids playing in the park, who has an ironical and harsh sense of reality and hates tedious stories. He somehow reminds me of the book series Billy Brouillard by Guillaume Bianco, sharing that same demystified vision of life and a taste for noir that perfectly matches the illustrations, with their light strokes and grotesque feeling. I admit it: I love him already!

Here you can find some reviews, in French:

La Soupe de l'Espace - http://www.soupedelespace.fr/leblog/les-sales-histoires-de-felicien-moutarde-t1-la-naissance-de-felicien-moutarde/
France Culture - http://www.franceculture.com/emission-fictions-enfantines-les-sales-histoires-de-f%C3%A9licien-moutarde-de-fabrice-melquiot-2010-05-16
L'Express.fr - http://www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/les-sales-histoires-de-felicien-moutarde-la-naissance-de-felicien-moutarde-t-1-par-fabrice-melquiot-ill-de-ronan-badel-80-p-l-elan-vert-13-euros-des-8-ans_904119.html
Citrouille, Librairies Sorcières - http://lsj.hautetfort.com/archive/2010/08/16/les-sales-histoires-de-felicien-moutarde-tome-1-la-naissance.html
Passion du Livre - http://www.passiondulivre.com/livre-89598-les-sales-histoires-de-felicien-moutarde-volume-1-la-naissance-de-felicien.htm

From the author's site, Fabrice Melquiot: http://www.fabricemelquiot.com/article-felicien-moutarde-50316772.html


Well, this is it for today!




* - The birth of Félicien Moutarde
   - Félicien Moutarde wildly kills Bambi
   - Félicien Moutarde’s first love
   - Félicien Moutarde has dreadful super powers

** "I'm a kid who's hardly ever cuddled. The strangest thing in this whole story, is that I'm all the same happy to be alive."

When dreams come true

There are magic moments in life and this is one of them.

Things hardly happen just thanks to ourselves alone: behind every little step we make there's us, of course, but there are also those people who have faith in us, and who support us.

Yesterday I came back from Macerata, where I went to prepare some news that will appear on the blog in the next few months. I voluntarily decided to remain disconnected from the rest of the world: no e-mail, no facebook or similar, in short: media blank.

These last seven days I've been cuddled, spoiled and assisted by wonderful people whom I want to send my sincere thanks: Nora and Gigi, Ale, Mauro and Michela, Giorgio, Samanta.

I have met marvellous people, I shall not reveal their names for the moment but I will tell you more about them soon enough. I have met young illustrators full of strong will and hopes whom I send all my affection and support.

In short, I made my fuel with amazing humanity and memories that I will keep with care: if richness in life consists in encountering people, then I've been very lucky.

Once I got home I had other surprises, very nice ones as well, I just hope my awakening won't be too hard after all this...

The first nice new was when I found out that Nora (another one from the Nora I mentioned up above), author of the blog La Felice Stagione, has signalled The Tea Box, in its Italian version, together with other blogs for the Dardos prize, thank you very much Nora for this!!!

The second has to do with nonetheless than Betsy Bird, the one and only, whom in her incredible A Fuse #8 Production made a blog alert for my little box, despite all my language imperfections of which I am absolutely aware and all the rest. I JUST FELL OFF MY CHAIR!!!! To accompany the alert, Betsy picked one of the illustrations from La Governante by Sara Gavioli... I just hope this be a little premonitory sign for Sara!

The last not so new new, but always Impossibly-Good-New, is the confirmation of a virtual and long distance friendship, with Jules at her beautiful 7Imp: if you don't know it already I warmly suggest you to take a look at it, you'll discover wonderful things! She was there when I started and she is the one who gave me immediate credit, I will never thank her enough for this!!!! I shall say nothing about our secret plots, you never know, all I can say is that we are actually confabbing or just telling? Secret! AHA!

I shall not take a minute more of your time, one last THANK YOU to you all whom, with patience, keep reading my blog!

The Quiet Book & The Loud Book!

The Quiet Book, by Deborah Underwood, illustrations by Renata Liwska, Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (April 2010)


First of all I must say that I've been following Renata Liwska's work for quite some time now: since when, just for a fortunate chance, I bumped into her blog and fell in love with her illustrations. Her way of portraying animals has a certain nostalgic and retrò style, a soothed sweetness that recalls to mind the scent of long gone moments. Memories of precious instants, connected more to senses than to precise reminiscences, come to mind: like when you walk along a road and, suddenly, your nostrils open wide up, fatally attracted by that one smell, the one you hadn't been smelling for ages but that, in one second, brings back to your mind all you thought you had forgotten!

The author of this book started with a simply brilliant idea: how many sorts of silence do we know? True there are many kinds: there's a delicate one, a threatening one, a sweet and intimate one, one that makes you fall asleep...

Well, not only this fantastic book has reached position number five in the New York Times Children's Books Bests-selling List, but soon there will be a sequel titled

THE LOUD BOOK!

I can't wait to see it!

If you are curious now, here is a list of reviews on THE QUIET BOOK:

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast - http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1924 where you can as well take a look at some spreads from the book, a NOT TO BE MISSED one: as usual Jules is incomparable!

Bookie Woogie - http://bookiewoogie.blogspot.com/2010/05/review-67-quiet-book.html real fun!

The Picture Book Junkies - http://pbjunkies.blogspot.com/2010/04/quiet-book.html

Kidoinfo - http://kidoinfo.com/ri/the-quiet-book-is-a-new-classic-for-bedtime/

Lesa's Book Critiques - http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com/2010/06/quiet-book-by-deborah-underwood.html

Fizzwhizzing Flushbunker - http://fizzwhizzingflushbunker.blogspot.com/2010/05/get-this-book.html

Books for Kids - http://booksforkidsblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/softly-softly-quiet-book-by-deborah.html

 
 
Let me signal as well:

Renata Liwska's blog, the illustrator: http://renataliwska.blogspot.com/
 
and Deborah Underwood's website, the author: http://www.deborahunderwoodbooks.com/

Boom by Mark Haddon

Today I shall shortly tell you about one of my favourite book writers: Mark Haddon. Yeah, the one of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time".

Though I shall not talk about that book, instead I will tell you about BOOM!

I know, I'm late: in fact the book came out at the end of 2009! Well, to be precise it was first published in 1992, as this is the revised edition of Gridzbi Spudvetch! that was published at the times by Walker Books Ltd.

The new edition of this book has been released by David Fickling Books (September 3rd, 2009) and it comprises 208 pages. The text has already been translated and published in Italy, by Giulio Einaudi Editore, at the end of 2009 in the Supercoralli collection. Here is the Italian cover:

Mark Haddon, if ever needed, reconfirms his talents: he's incredibly versatile and ironic, he can easily play with words and - in this specific case - he even invents a new language and surreal sceneries that take us to other dimensions. The book is really nice, well built, the main character well outlined. It's as well a text that is suitable for more than one reading key, it's therefore right for different ages... as well for those adults that have no prejudice regarding kids lit!

But who, better than its author, can tell you about this book? Let's listen to Mark Haddon:

If you want to take a sneak-peak of the book you can go here: http://rhwidget.randomhouse.co.uk/flash-widget/widget_lg.do?isbn=9780385616294&menu=0&mode=1&cf=336699&cb=FFFFFF

You're not convinced yet? My alert is not enough? No problem, here is a series of reviews:

The Telegraph newspaper - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/6202582/Boom-by-Mark-Haddon-review.html

Book Aunt - http://bookaunt.blogspot.com/2010/04/review-of-boom-by-mark-haddon.html

Pink Me - http://pinkme.typepad.com/pink-me/2010/06/boom-by-mark-haddon-review.html

Kidsread - http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/9780385751872.asp

This is the author's website: http://www.markhaddon.com/

Hope you'll enjoy it!

Big Red Lollipop

Big Red Lollipop, by Rukhsana Khan, illustrations by Sophie Blackall, Viking Children's Books, March 2010.

I'm an only child, I therefore never experienced having a brother or a sister, though I know very well all the little bullying that kids make one another, this is why I've immediately loved this wonderful book by Rukhsana Khan.

Besides my personal life, the true reason why I decided to tell you about this book is dual: first of all the author has a very interesting personal story, cruel, always current and present in the books she writes; secondly because I particularly love the illustrator, Sophie Blackall, unluckily she is not as famous as she should be here in Italy.

Rukhsana Khan was born in Pakistan, in Lahore, but her family moved to England before and then to Canada. And it was in the country of Maple Syrup and Niagara Falls, that little Rukhsana and her family were forced to endure the worse humiliations due to their ethnical difference. This was as bad as the author tells she had no friends for a long time and, consequently, turned into reading. Kahn furthermore asserts that these difficulties made her a writer. For sure such events marked her life forever, though they seem to have left no trace of grudge in her, just like Rubina, the main character in Big Red Lollipop.

Sophie Blackall comes from Australia, she now lives and works in New York. We don't know much about her, except that on her Missed Connections* she enjoys giving us little Polaroids representing urban life, that she loves collecting a bit of everything and that her studio is quite messy. We know as well that, after working in a shoe-shop and in a robot company, she recently collaborated with pop star Mika for the making of the booklet that accompanies his Songs for Sorrow and for part of the illustrations for his last album, The Boy Who Knew Too Much. She furthermore illustrated the cover of the beautiful novel When you reach me, the last masterpiece by Rebecca Stead. As Betsy Bird, on her A Fuse #8 Production Blog*, rightly points out, the first spread of Big Red Lollipop seems to be recalling the cover of When you reach me.

How these two distant worlds could have met, giving birth to such a nice book, is a mystery I'm happy not to be able to reveal. After all, the most important new in this post is Big Red Lollipop: the story of two sisters and a birthday party. The story of Rubina - the elder - who loves to keep things to enjoy them only when the right moment comes, and Sana - the younger sister - who thunders around like an earthquake and tramples everything on her way, careless of what her actions will cause. It's as well a story about forgiveness, of understanding and Brotherhood, in the true meaning of the word.

Sophie Blackall's illustrations are delicious, as usual delicate and refined, standing out on a white background. In these images the artist's ability in capturing characters' expressions is central: Blackall seems to be able to have her characters express way beyond the text, underlining the unsaid, widening the thematic the author deals with.

In short, a book you shouldn't miss.

You can read some interesting reviews on the following pages:

The Planetesme Plan - Blog http://planetesme.blogspot.com/2010/06/big-red-lollipop-picture-book.html
Kids Lit - Blog http://kidslit.menashalibrary.org/2010/03/09/big-red-lollipop/
*A Fuse #8 Production - Blog http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2010/05/14/review-of-the-day-big-red-lollipop-by-rukhsana-khan/

Here you can read two interesting interviews with the author, Rukhsana Khan:

Magazine CM by Manitoba University - http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/profiles/khan.html
and Papertigers - http://www.papertigers.org/interviews/archived_interviews/rkhan.html


Here below her site and blog:

Site - http://www.rukhsanakhan.com/index.html
Blog - http://blog.rukhsanakhan.com/

and Sophie Blackall's site and blogs:

Site - http://www.sophieblackall.com/
Blog - http://www.sophieblackall.blogspot.com/
*and Missed Connections Blog - http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com/ (don't loose it if you love tiny metropolitan stories!!!!)


Amid the many books Sophie Blackall has illustrated, you can also find:

and

her first and only (SOB!) book that was published in Italy by Motta Junior, under the title Il Sogno di Rosso Ciliegia.