Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Dear Mrs. LaRue by Mark Teague

Last week we cheated by doing a teacher favored picture book that was a mere 19-years-old. This week we’re doing a teacher favored picture book that is a FULL 20-years old instead! It occurred to me that we’ve never tried a Teague before. And since I’m coming up on my 20 year mark as a librarian, I can actually remember when this book was originally published. It was SUCH a huge hit at the time. As you’ll see, there are just loads of teacher resources out there. Kate likes books with details. Dear Mrs. LaRue has that. Will she like this book? Stay tuned!

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Show Notes:

Who wore it better? Kate? Or Mrs. LaRue?

King Kong’s Cousin is the upcoming Mark Teague title out this fall.

You are a picture book author/illustrator. You could name the hometown of your hero anything. Anything at all. And what do you go with? “Snort City”. I’m not going to lie to you. I truly believe that this was an inspired choice.

Kate always notices the small details others miss. Like, why does Ike have a framed picture of himself at the obedience school?

We’re confused by this part. The woman in charge of the school in the real version is Black and in the fantasy version the woman in charge is apparently white. Is this meant to be another person entirely? Choices were made.

Kate’s tattoo: One cute bat.

Kate looked it up and, indeed, there is such a thing as a Dyna Blender. Is this an in-joke? Usually when brands appear in picture books, that’s why. I’m going to choose to believe that this is an in-joke.

Kate wondered if kids would know about Alcatraz when they saw this reference in the book and I can attest that this very year there’s a picture book biography out called The Gardener of Alcatraz. So this makes for a fun pairing.

Turns out Kate isn’t a huge fan of the band U2. As such, she is ALL for this license plate.

Here is the page for the Teachers Pay Teachers where you can find umpteen bazillion lesson plans for this book.

Betsy Recommends: CODA

Kate Recommends: Moulin Rouge, now playing in Chicago.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate