Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
This is one of those cases where the weather determined the subject of this week’s podcast. And there are few picture books out there snowier than this old Keats classic. Easily considered one of the Top 5 picture books in the nation in terms of fame and popularity, Kate had nevertheless not really even heard of it. If this podcast does nothing else it will be a shining example on how to educate a little sister. What’s the sororal equivalent of mansplaining? Sisplaining maybe. If that was a job, I’d be a rich woman by now.
Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or your preferred method of podcast selection.
Source Notes:
– Here are The Snowy Day stamps
– Here’s the Christmas special with Boyz II Men.
– The disappearance of Peter’s legs.

– The red Telletubby’s name was Po, by the way. We are geniuses. And that was true about Lloyd Alexander being a big time fan of them.
– I love the idea that this television snow is a different kind of snow.
– If you’re curious about this book, you should certain read my post when it hit #5 in my Top 100 Picture Book Poll.
– Here’s one of the controversial images in the book featuring the mom.
– Here’s how people used to dress for the Newbery/Caldecott Banquet. This is the snazziest picture in the history of children’s literature.
– Further information! Here’s the link to The Ezra Jack Keats Foundation
– And here’s the link to The Ezra Jack Keats Award
– This statue of Peter is actually one of my favorites:
– Such a cool picture. These are the fibers I was talking about:
– Here’s A Poem for Peter by Andrea Davis Pinkney:
– Yep. The Welsh straight-to-video movie of The Little Engine That Could has lots of info here.
– And here is The Order of Odd-Fish by James Kennedy, in case you somehow missed it.
– By the way, I know I already mentioned this on a recent Video Sunday, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to put it here as well. Illustrator Vanessa Brantley Newton spends a good amount of time talking about Keats, this book, and what it meant to her as a child:
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– This Tablet Magazine article by Marjorie Ingall called Missing is about Ezra Jack Keats, his religion, and his work. Read it through, don’t skimp, and stay on for that killer ending. How that particular unpublished manuscript hasn’t seen the light of day remains a mystery.
– And I can NOT believe I failed to mention this to Kate but about five years ago now the ALSC blog celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the Caldecott Medal with this killer post about Caldecocktails. Check out this truly beautiful Snowy Day:
The recipe is:
The Snowy Day
2 oz vanilla ice cream
2 oz brandy
1 oz half and half
Maraschino cherry
You think THAT’s good? You should try the Lon Po Po.
Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate

About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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Wonderful roundup — thank you for including me. (And I am all about that cocktail.)
Listening on the treadmill tomorrow, but about that posh Caldecott lineup (and aren’t we glad corsages went away?) —THAT’S MADELINE L’ENGLE!!!!!!!
Darn tootin’.
I’m so delighted Kate enjoyed “The Order of Odd-Fish”! Keep up the good work with the podcast! (And hey, when can I come back on??)
Anytime, man. Anytime. We’ll figure out some way to work you back in, you betcha. Shoot. We just recorded the next one and you would have been perfect for it! Ah well. Next time.