Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle

I wanted to do books in honor of the recently deceased Eric Carle and Lois Ehlert, but then Kate went and got married and I had a writing retreat the week after that. Now we are back! Kate’s got a ring, I’ve got a manuscript (sorta), and we’ve got a book from Eric Carle to discuss. A book with nudity! A book that’s been banned more than once! A book that includes neat little details. And stay tuned and see if you can catch something new in our closing credits.

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:

For the record, my third favorite children’s author/illustrator name right after Robert Quackenbush and Sara Pennypacker is Mary Quattlebaum. Apologies for not being able to conjure your name up in the spur of the moment, Mary.

Here’s the Literary Hub breakdown of that fake Eric Carle info that was making the rounds right after his death.

And here is the interview where Eric Carle talked about A Week With Willie the Worm.

Did this book get banned because this child is wearing no pants? Of course not. I love his robe. I also love that if you put a comma between the author’s name and the title, you get to tell him what to do.

Insufficiently sassy sun alert! I’d call this more of an “absently bemused sun”, were I to label it.

And here you have the blatant (some have called) “pornography” of the book. As Kate paraphrased from the text, “I don’t want fugly people! I want a handsome couple!”

Here, as promised, is a smattering of the creative ways in which people on the internet have clothed this duo. This book is like a paper doll for uptight adults. The first gives her a bit of a shapeless dress. I wouldn’t call it unattractive, but I think a nice belt or sash could really improve everything. I don’t know what to think of his jeans, though. Something wrong going on there, that’s for sure.

First off, I love that whenever anyone clothes the couple, they leave the dude shirtless. Now in this case they’ve given the woman a much cuter little yellow dress. Awfully short, but not unattractive. Nice that he gets matching shorts, don’t you think?

If any of you librarians out there could check your own copies, I’d be happy to post any additional “clothed” couples you find.

Okay, I did NOT see Kate’s adoration of Carle’s clouds coming. Shoot. Guess I should have done Little Cloud with her, eh?

Betsy Recommends: Growing your own asparagus and the existence of orzo rice.

Kate Recommends: The board game Century Spice Road.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate