Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Nativity by Julie Vivas
Funny story. Usually when I type up the posts for this post I have the book by my side so that I can take photos of the images we’re discussing. But it’s the holiday season, my head is not screwed on correctly, and somehow in the course of things the book was returned to the library. No matter! I have been able to find MOST of the images we discuss here. Let’s see how I do.
Today’s book is sort of a favor to our mom. She’s always been very fond of this particular telling of The Nativity, and it remains a favorite to this day. And it’s so nice to return to Julie Vivas again! When last seen on our podcast we were looking at her book with Mem Fox called Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge.
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By the way, I begin by saying that this book is out-of-print. Turns out there’s a paperback edition (ISBN: 9780152060855) that’s absolutely in print and FINE! So no worries there. False alarm!
Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or your preferred method of podcast selection.
Show Notes:
“Hullo”. This is the angel that Kate sees as very down-to-earth. When first you see him his wings look completely intact . . .
. . . and then they don’t so much. Poor fella.
Coffee talk! Super frayed wing coffee talk!
So what’s your opinion on this one. Is this 9 months or 9 seconds. Debate it any way you like but I’ll tell you one thing. Mary right now? No sushi for her!
Regarding the donkey, they can see the funny side of this. I like that about them.
And she’s just SO happy about riding that donkey!
Okay, you gotta squint for this one, but if you look in the lower-right corner, it does kind of look like Joseph is pouring one out for his boys.
This is interesting. One of these guys may actually be the red-headed angel. Interesting choice, right?
See here’s the thing about giving birth. You don’t just lose that weight right away. It takes some time, and so getting on that donkey a second time is going to be just as hard. But really, until we recorded this I didn’t really realize that Mary had to SIT on a DONKEY right after giving BIRTH and . . . ow!
How cool is it that the angel knows how to hold the baby, by the way?
Thanks to the wonders of Google Books, you can actually find the selection from Censorship: A World Encyclopedia where the objections to this book are recorded here.
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 Kirkus, 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 BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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Joseph is waving goodbye to the Angel not to Mary on the last page – The Angel is up the top of the illustration in my copy. I did enjoy your commentary but since I am in Australia I would like to ask you not to attempt our accent. As you have discovered this book is in print. In 1987 The Nativity was short listed for our Children’s Book Council of Australia Picture book of the Year award. I love that you gave our book an 8. You are right the illustrations are so special luminous and gently funny. I’m Momo – my blog is called Momotimetoread because Momo, the book by Michael Ende, is an allegory about time and I think everyone, especially children need time for reading. I’m a retired Teacher-Librarian from Sydney Australia.