Fuse 8 n’ Kate: First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, ill. Judy Love

Since I was 98% sure that we’d already done The Kissing Hand, when Kate asked to do a first day of school book I discovered that today’s book was perfect as it came out in 2000. This book is huge with teachers and schools but isn’t a book that won a lot of literary awards or anything. My kids go back to school on Wednesday of this week, so the timing could not be better. With its M. Night Shyamalan-esque twist and fondness for slips and magenta clogs, this proves to be an excellent peek into the state of picture books circa 2000.

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Show Notes:

So is it a Midwest thing for kids to go to school before Labor Day? Or am I just making this up?

Kate thinks this lunchbox was uncool but that’s just because she didn’t remember mine. Compare: Which is less cool?

I argue that this book foreshadows its twist by showing how clean it is under this bed. No child would have that amount of floor space available, am I right?

Kate claims that this is her . . .

And this is her Penguinologist . . .

Dead giveaway. A slip. A doggone slip.

Who wore it better? Me as a child? Or “Sarah Jane Hartwell”?

(For the record, that’s Kate in the red dress in front of me.)

Please take a moment to thoroughly appreciate friggin’ magenta Dutch CLOGS with the blue tights and purple skirt that this girl is PULLING OFF! Kate declares her a queen.

But why are all these kids wearing hats? Is this Newsies?

I mention that another book did the exact same twist in its storyline. That book was Back to School Tortoise, which came out in 2011.

Betsy Recommends: Ted Lasso, streaming on Apple TV+.

Kate Recommends: The podcast Dark History

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate