Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Owl Babies by Martin Waddell, ill. Patrick Benson

I didn’t want to have a whole conversation about elongated eye tubes. I really, really didn’t, but that’s the price you pay when you show my sister Owl Babies. Today we tackled the ebook edition of the picture book (rather than board book) version of this title and it makes for an interesting read. We end up wondering about where the gutter falls on certain two-page spreads, and discuss repetition in picture book texts and what this book has to do with working mothers.

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 says that this is what her dog looks like right now thanks to all the fireworks.

One problem had with the book was the height difference between these siblings. So I broke out my pseudo-falcon knowledge to justify a lot of the differences here. As I say, “Maybe Bill is standing in a hole.” We don’t know! We can’t see his feet!

“Kid! Contribute to the conversation or get back in the hole!” This forest scene sort of reminded Kate of Where the Wild Things Are with its pen work and forest scene. Plus, Benson did some really nice nighttime scenes.

This is the problem with ebooks. Where did the gutter go on this two-page spread? It’s gorgeous without the gutter!

I’ve never seen this before. You get to the end of this ebook and these are the books that they recommend. It amused me HUGELY that they recommended Hoot Owl, Master of Disguise, which I happen to love, personally.

Josh Funk is correct. Splash Mountain will indeed be redone.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore was, I believe, an Oscar-winning short animated film. You can see it here:

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate