Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Mr. Gumpy’s Outing by John Burningham

Apologies for this delayed posting of today’s podcast. I spent last night watching the world’s most disappointing Oscar Award Ceremony and it sucked the life out of me for a little while. Today, Kate argues that the true title of this book should really be “Mr. Grumpy”, that Forrest Gump has some similarities to the text (that one’s a stretch), and I commend the book’s excellent use of the term “squabble”. Kate also says that Mr. Gumpy should have told the Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly to shut her mouth and all would have been well, while I wonder if Mr. Gumpy’s lines only sound rude when Americans say his lines.

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:

We’re not entirely certain where these children came from. As Kate says, “They’re just random flying children.”

Kate finds a huge difference between different images in this book. Interestingly, she doesn’t like the cat or the dog, but loves the pig, calf, and goat. I’m baffled by the difference.

Is this a rooster? All chickens by combs, but the tail seems rooster-ish.

As a general rule you should probably say no to a cow when they ask to get on your boat. I mean, that’s a pretty good rule to follow, don’t you think?

The goat reminds Kate of the work of Lane Smith, and I can see where she’s coming from.

I also love the degree to which she’s disturbed by the fact that all the mouths on the humans are closed. If you’re in a boating accident and all the humans go down without a peep, something is desperately wrong.

There’s something very James Marshall-ish about this cat. We speculated as to whether or not it was holding a piece of cheese or a cake. I say cake. Some delicious cake with strawberries or currents or something red and sweet and small inside. And we also love how it’s holding onto that food for dear life. Claws OUT!

How long did tea time take? The moon is up! That’s a solid tea time.

Kate Recommends: Ted Lesso

Betsy Recommends: Neil Patrick Harris’s Instagram account

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate