Spooky, October-Infused Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt and Tony DiTerlizzi

At first it was difficult to come up with good Halloween-appropriate picture books. And then someone reminded me of this book. That I didn’t think of it myself is just a crying shame. What a perfect book to do for October! It is now officially the oldest text we’ve done on the podcast, if not the oldest book. And best of all, this is Kate’s favorite book so far! Who knew? All it took was a little devouring of the protagonist. I guess I should have seen it coming.

Listen to the whole show here on Spotify or down load it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or your preferred method of podcast selection.

Show Notes:

• No apologies. Frank Morgan was marvelous in The Good Fairy. Clearly a man that benefited from a good strong mustache.
• Hunger Games fanart with cats. Toldja so.

• And this is what it looks like when you take the cover off of 10th anniversary edition of The Spider and the Fly.

• Here’s the link to Tony Diterlizzi’s website, where you can find all kinds of additional information. Scroll down and you’ll see a plethora of Spider and the Fly related links. I actually printed out the Christmas ornament art and then forgot to give it to Kate when we were recording. Arg!
• The fly and her cinematic double Clara Bow:

• Mounted insect heads. How could I have missed them before? Look behind the fly on the left and right. Also . . . is she tied up with an adorable little bow in front?

• The legs of the spider, looking particularly Jack Skellington at that moment:

• The spider doing his best to resemble Raul Julia. With fez:

• The Spiderwick Chronicles. Remember these?

• I’ve always thought she looked a bit like Shelley Duvall. Just me?

He’s siiiiiinging in the rain!

• The sad fate of the little umbrella flower. Which, when you think of it, is a bit twisted. The only one who could have put it there was the spider himself. Did he bury her with a tombstone? Whatta fella.

• I should note that even though I say kids don’t clamor for this book, my 3-year-old requested it just last night.
• Wow! This Go Your Own YA podcast is great! They’re really just starting out but already they’ve covered Patricia McKissack and Lois Duncan. Check them out here.

• Nothing At All by Wanda Gag

• The Funny Thing by Wanda Gag. Oh sure. It looks cute.

• Apologies. It’s actually The Apple Dumpling Gang. Please don’t rake me over the coals.
• Though there has been much clamor for it, Hocus Pocus has never actually made it to Broadway. It has, however, been made into a parody musical.
• The Center for Teaching Through Children’s Books: Here’s a list of resources provided by the recent Indivisible Institute from many of the speakers. One stop shopping.

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