






What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring Iacopo Bruno, Jamey Christoph, Kris Di Giacomo, & Christoph Niemann

h1 May 1st, 2015 by jules


“But Gordon’s most famous shot will be American Gothic. In the newspaper, the photo exposed to the nation the unfairness of segregation. Standing before the flag of freedom, cleaning lady Ella Watson holds the tools of her trade
and the hopes of her grandchildren.”
— From
Gordon Parks:
How the Photographer Captured Black and White America
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“The people, however, didn’t like to be told what to eat.”
— From
The Potato King
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“… Ben had a different idea.”
— From
Mesmerized
(Click to see spread in its entirety)


 


— From Enormous Smallness


 

Today over at Kirkus, I wax devotedly about reading aloud to children. Yet again. (I’m pretty sure I just used “wax” all incorrectly, but I’m just gonna leave it on account of not having had any coffee yet.) That link is here.

Since last week (here) I wrote about a small handful of titles (mostly nonfiction), I’ve got art from each book today. They are: Matthew Burgess’ Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings (Enchanted Lion, April 2015), illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo; Carole Boston Weatherford’s Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America (Albert Whitman, February 2015), illustrated by Jamey Christoph; Mara Rockliff’s Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France (Candlewick, March 2015), illustrated by Iacopo Bruno; and Christoph Niemann’s The Potato King (Owlkids, April 2015), originally published as Der Kartoffelkönig in 2013.

Enjoy the art …

 

Art from Mara Rockliff’s Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France, illustrated by Iacopo Bruno:


 


“The day Ben Franklin first set foot in Paris, France, he found the city all abuzz. Everyone was talking about something new …”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


(Click to see spread in its entirety)


 



 

Art from Carole Boston Weatherford’s Gordon Parks: How the Photographer Captured Black and White America, illustrated by
Jamey Christoph:


 


“When young Gordon crosses the prairie on horseback,
nothing seems beyond reach. But his white teacher tells her all-black class,
You’ll all wind up porters and waiters.
What did she know?”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Twenty-five years old and all but broke when a magazine spread about migrant farm workers inspires him to buy a used camera.
That $7.50 is the best money he will ever spend.”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Boiling mad, Parks vows to lay bare racism with his lens. He shares his vision with his boss, who points him toward his subject. Talk to her. She knows struggle. She is Ella Watson, a cleaning lady in the building where Parks works. She supports five children on just over one thousand dollars a year.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Over his long career, Gordon’s photos will run in Vogue and Life magazines — their first black photographer. He will write novels, make movies, compose music and poetry, and be hailed a Renaissance man.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 



 

Art from Christoph Niemann’s The Potato King:


 


“He ordered his soldiers to march to the village …”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


(Click to enlarge spread)


 


” … baiting the locals to steal the crop for their own gardens.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 



 

Art from Matthew Burgess’ Enormous Smallness: A Story of E. E. Cummings,
illustrated by Kris Di Giacomo:


 


“Inside an enormous city in a house on a very small street,
there once lived a poet I would like you to meet.”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“As Estlin grew, he drew many pictures from the circus of his imagination.
But even more than drawing elephants, trees, and birds, Estlin LOVED WORDS. …”

(Click to enlarge spread)


 



 



 


” … His poems were his way of saying YES.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“… E. E. lived at 4 Patchin Place for almost forty years. When asked why, he would reply: ‘because here’s friendly, unscientific, private, human. …'”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


(Click to enlarge)


 



 

* * * * * * *

ENORMOUS SMALLNESS: A STORY OF E. E. CUMMINGS. Text copyright © 2015 by Matthew Burgess. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Kris Di Giacomo. All images here reproduced by permission of the publisher, Enchanted Lion Books, New York.

GORDON PARKS: HOW THE PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURED BLACK AND WHITE AMERICA. Text copyright © 2015 by Carole Boston Weatherford. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Jamey Christoph. All images here reproduced by permission of the publisher, Albert Whitman and Company, Chicago.

MESMERIZED. Text copyright © 2015 by Mara Rockliff. Illustrations copyright © 2015 by Iacopo Bruno. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA.

THE POTATO KING. Text and illustrations © 2013 by Christoph Niemann. Published in North America in 2015 by Owlkids Books Inc. All images here reproduced by permission of Owlkids.





2 comments to “What I’m Doing at Kirkus This Week,
Plus What I Did Last Week, Featuring Iacopo Bruno, Jamey Christoph, Kris Di Giacomo, & Christoph Niemann”

  1. Wow, three of these are books I’d already made notes to myself to find — these spreads are just gorgeous.


  2. Beautiful! I especially love the elephant flying away with balloons.


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