Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Suzuki Beane by Sandra Scoppettone, ill. Louise Fitzhugh

On this most auspicious day in which the Newbery and Caldecott winners are announced (amongst many other fine and wonderful awards), I thought it might be a nice change of pace to do a cult classic. In other words, a book that never had a chance of winning a literary award a day of its life. This book, which I have in my possession was a gift from my friend and fellow co-writer on Wild Things, Peter Sieruta. It is not in print. Good luck finding a copy. But if you’d like to read it for yourself, you can find the full text online here.

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

Show Notes:

Much to my great delight, I found that Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy by Louise Brody contains the most thorough history of the creation and intentions behind Suzuki Beane I have ever seen. DO consult it, if you want to know more about this book and maybe not the Wikipedia entry which, for whatever reason, quotes me.

The Columbia Journalism Review has a wonderful piece called Hip: What’s In a Name? on the birth of the term “hipster”, that I highly recommend you check out.

You know how Kate is always claiming her tattoo in books? This one is mine.

Or, possibly, this:

And Kate’s tattoo would be Henry’s mother in the book. In some ways I feel like this was Fitzhugh’s artistic talent at its peak.

And just look at these eyes on Suzuki:

Meanwhile, love how Henry’s dad is either a Bond supervillain or The Most Interesting Man in the World:

Violet and Daisy by Sarah Miller is the book I mentioned that contains a dedication for Peter Sieruta. This book, a work of YA nonfiction, will be on shelves everywhere April 27th.

Should you wish to see it, the film I mentioned seeing recently was Mank on Netflix.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate