Mechanical Fish, Building Dreams, & a Healing Bread

I haven't done a post on picture books for a long time so this is as good a time as any. Basically I will be featuring three picture books and the artwork in them. The first book is written by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Boris Kulikov.

Clink! Clankety-bang! Thump-whirr!  That's the sound of Papa at work. Although he is an inventor, he has never made anything that works perfectly, and that's because he hasn't yet found a truly fantastic idea. But when he takes his family fishing on Lake Michigan, his daughter Virena asks, "Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a fish?"—and Papa is off to his workshop. With a lot of persistence and a little bit of help, Papa—who is based on the real-life inventor Lodner Phillips—creates a submarine that can take his family for a trip to the bottom of Lake Michigan.

This review let me know about this book and illustrator.

Artwork from Papa's Mechanical Fish below:

(click on all the pictures to get the source of the image)

"Glub-glub-glub! Papa swims back to the pier. 
"It almost worked," he says."

The next book is written by Andrea Beaty and illustrated by David Roberts.

A hilarious, irreverent book about doing your own thing

Meet Iggy Peck—creative, independent, and not afraid to express himself! In the spirit of David Shannon’s No, David and Rosemary Wells’s Noisy Nora, Iggy Peck will delight readers looking for irreverent, inspired fun. 

Iggy has one passion: building. His parents are proud of his fabulous creations, though they’re sometimes surprised by his materials—who could forget the tower he built of dirty diapers? When his second-grade teacher declares her dislike of architecture, Iggy faces a challenge. He loves building too much to give it up! With Andrea Beaty’s irresistible rhyming text and David Roberts’s puckish illustrations, this book will charm creative kids everywhere, and amuse their sometimes bewildered parents.

Artwork from Iggy Peck, Architect below:

(click on all the pictures to get the source of the image)

"Young Iggy Peck is an architect and has been since he was two..."

"It all became clear to Miss Lila Greer, as she crosses that bridge over the stream. 
There are worse things to do when you're in grade two 
than to spend your time building a dream."

You can listen to the whole story here:

There's a second book with the same kind of theme called Rosie Revere, Engineer.

The last book I'm featuring is written by Nicola Winstanley and illustrated by Janice Nadeau.

A contemporary fable about a magical remedy for a baby who won't stop crying. Miriam is a baker whose bread is full of smells to make your nose twitch and tastes to make your tongue tingle. Miriam's own favorite cinnamon bread so delights Sebastian, a musician who enters her shop, that he buys it every day for a year and then asks her to marry him. After a baby is born to the happy couple, all is blissful until their bundle of joy begins crying. And crying. Only when the two are almost at wit's end does Miriam suddenly know, looking down at her baby curled up like a little raisin, exactly what she must do. A celebration of the bond between mother and child and an ode to the power of our senses, each delectable word and image of this beautifully told and illustrated story will be savored.

Artwork from Cinnamon Baby below:

(click on all the pictures to get the source of the image)

"Miriam loved to take the springy dough from the mixer 
and knead in all the tasty treasures with her warm, soft hands."

"One cool autumn morning a man called Sebastian was passing Miriam's bakeshop 
when her sweet smelling voice came floating through the window."

 "But when the baby woke up, it started to cry once more."

"Once the dough had started to rise, Miriam took it out of the mixing bowl and began to knead it. 
Thumping and pushing the dough to the rhythmless sound of the baby's crying."

Papa's Mechanical Fish - The artwork looks like it could be from a movie. It's so detailed and excuse the pun - inventive. I'm just in awe of this book.

Iggy Peck, Architect - I love that I was able to listen to the whole story about this book of literally building your dreams. The baby Iggy Peck picture reminds me so much of the Rugrats picture books I have stored somewhere. I really like that the pictures seem to be drawn on graphic paper towards the end.

Cinnamon Baby - This book just speaks to me. It's looks very french if you know what I mean. Very soft and whimsical. I've loved this story and illustrations from afar for a very long time.

I hope you enjoyed all the wonderful illustrations from these great artists!