Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems

This past weekend I took a trip to the Chicago Children’s Museum with my kids, and lo and behold I stumbled upon a Mo Willems exhibit currently showing. I’ve seen plenty of similar exhibits in my day, but what stood out to me about this particular one was how it cleverly integrated elements of his books with honestly good, interactive stations. In a nod to Mo’s background in animation, for example, kids can turn (oddly sturdy) cranks which flip pages featuring his characters doing an array of different things.

Of course, by complete coincidence Kate and I had just finished recording our episode on Knuffle Bunny Too. It’s been a while since we’ve done a particularly famous book, and I figured this would be the perfect way to kick off the new year. Mind you, longtime listeners might remember that Kate has never been the biggest Mo Willems fan out there. She wasn’t particularly enamored of Knuffle Bunny the first. How would the second fare?

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:

Kate appreciates how tired the dad is in this shot. I appreciate that she appreciates this. Tired dads rule.

Here’s where Kate’s weird detective skills come into play.

So apparently the Clever Barber Shop is located at 869 9th Avenue. Kate said that address was in Manhattan, but I wasn’t so sure. I mean, I’ve seen plenty of NYC businesses that claim to be on more popular streets and amend their addresses accordingly. So I had to look up and see whether or not there is or is not a Clever Barber Shop at that address that is ALSO in Brooklyn and near 9th Avenue but not ON 9th Avenue. And there are Clever Barber Shops in Brooklyn . . . but not that one. Behold:

Kate was apparently right on this one.

I like that the parts of this book Kate admires the most involve exhausted people. For example, she gives Mo points for making this mom look exhausted too.

I’ll give her this much, though. That is a little weird that the board behind Sonja says these two occupations.

Knuffle Bunny never really moves but Mo gets a lot of mileage out of the tiny changes made to the bunny’s pupils.

This is Kate’s evidence that Trixie would have definitely noticed the bow on the bunny’s head in this shot.

That look translates roughly to, “Nice try, sucker.”

Extra points for the slightly wobbly reflection in the mirror.

And finally, this is the shot I explained about. Mo took this shot in the wee early hours of the morning.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate