Let's Talk Illustrators #78: Cátia Chien

I had the pleasure of working with Cátia Chien about a year and a half ago over at All the Wonders when the team took a closer look Elaine Magliaro's Things to Do (I maintain that this is still one of the best features we put together!). So when her new book The Town of Turtle, written by Michelle Cuevas, came across my desk I knew without a doubt that I wanted to talk to Cátia about it. Now, four months after the book has been out in the world, I finally have a chance to share our conversation with you about a book that cannot help but lift the spirits of everyone who reads it. 

Crushes of the Week: August 12-18, 2018

This week's crushes:

1. Best Friends in the Universe by Stephanie Watson and Leuyen Pham (Orchard Books, October 2018)
2. A Pile of Leaves by Tamara Shopsin and Jason Fulford (Phaidon Press, September 2018)
3. The Dam by David Almond and Levi Pinfold (Candlewick Studio, September 2018)
4. A Cage Went in Search of a Bird by Cary Fagan and Banafshah Irfaaniyaan (Groundwood Books, May 2017)
5. Shapes All Around by Kate Riggs and Laetitia Devernay (Creative Editions, March 2018)
6. The Snow Lion by Jim Helmore and Richard Jones (Peachtree Publishers, October 2018)

     

CICADA

I've been waiting for Cicada by Shaun Tan for so long that I finally asked a friend in Australia to send a copy to me, and I'm so excited to talk about it here.

POTATO PANTS!

Potato Pants! by Laurie Keller is as earnest as the title suggests and, yes, the need for potato pants in this particular story is quite urgent.

BEYOND THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

Shawn Sheehy and Jordi Solano's Beyond the Sixth Extinction: A Post-Apocalyptic Pop-Up is a pop-up field guide to creatures and habitats we won't meet until the year 4847.

Crushes of the Week: August 5-11, 2018

This week's crushes:

1. Birds of a Color by ÉLo (Candlewick Studio, May 2018)
2. All the Colors I See by Allegra Agliardi (Tate Publishing (UK), June 2018)
3. Treasure Hunt House: Lift the Flaps and Solve the Clues... by Becca Stadtlander and Kate Davies (Lincoln Children's Books, August 2018)
4. The Case of the Missing Chalk Drawings by Richard Byrne (Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), November 2018)
5. Go West!: The Great North American Railroad Adventure by Pascal Blanchet (Wide Eyed Editions, April 2018)
6. Brick: Who Found Herself in Architecture by Joshua David Stein and Julia Rothman (Phaidon Press, June 2018)

   
 

Let's Talk Illustrators #77: Shelli Paroline and Braden Lamb

One Day a Dot: The Story of You, The Universe, and Everything by Ian Lendler, Shelli Paroline, and Braden Lamb is the epitome of a picture book/early reader comic hybrid. It has bright graphics and paneled illustrations reminiscent of early reader comics but with the length of a picture book, making it the perfect book for starting small conversations about a very rather large topic. I got a chance to interview Shelli and Braden about how they meshed these two illustration styles––not to mention their own illustration styles––to create the book. Enjoy!

Crushes of the Week: July 29-August 4, 2018

This week's crushes:

1. Girl on a Wire by Lucy Estela and Elise Hurst (Viking Australia, July 2018)
2. Lost in the Library: A Story of Patience & Fortitude by Josh Funk and Stevie Lewis (Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), August 2018)
3. Perfectly Norman by Tom Percival (Bloomsbury Children's Books, May 2018)
4. Seven Bad Cats by Moe Bonneau (Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, June 2018)
5. Otis and Will Discover the Deep: The Record-Setting Dive of the Bathysphere by Barb Rosenstock and Katherine Roy (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, June 2018)
6. Little Whale by Jo Weaver (Peachtree Publishers, October 2018)
7. Saffron Ice Cream by Rashin Kheiriyeh (Arthur A. Levine Books, May 2018)