Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Robert the Rose Horse by Joan Heilbroner, ill. P.D. Eastman

I was in my library’s children’s room the other day and a staff member saw me looking perturbed in the easy book section. When she asked what I was looking for I confessed that what I really needed was a copy of Robert the Rose Horse. Though in the business for many years, she’d not heard of that particular P.D. Eastman collaboration with Joan Heilbroner, and could you blame her? I myself would have probably have missed it if (A) I hadn’t had children that I read to and (B) I hadn’t stumbled on the mighty useful “Big” beginner books from Random House that combined many of Seuss’s “I Can Read” titles into a single volume. Today’s title comes to us via The Big Red Book of Beginner Books, and it truly lives up to expectations. I promised Kate we’d do a goofy book. I may have actually overdelivered.

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:

I got all my thymus and T-Cell information from this information from Radiolab and its episode My Thymus, Myself.

If this image of Robert’s mom knitting like this bugs you as much as it bugs me then feel free to read my posts on The Scourge of Skyward Knitting Needles here and here and here and here and here.

Have You Seen This Dog? Which is to say, have you ever seen a P.D. Eastman book where you haven’t seen this dog?

NACB = Not a COVID Book.

This vet? Brother of the guy from Fish Out of Water. Compare!

I love how rich guys in books always wear stuff like sashes. If you’ve got it, flaunt it.

This is like the movie Get Out but with horses. These horses have dead eyes.

Plus, this guy is holding a friggin’ riding crop. Run, Robert! Why are you still here?!?

Talented man, P.D. Eastman, but the guy simply couldn’t draw a butt without making them square shaped. It’s weird, dude.

Oh boy. This is Robert hitting rock bottom. Those eyes. They haunt you.

Could be robbers. Could be beatniks. It’s a toss up.

Ugh. Guns in easy books. Not even picture books.

So Kate noticed this little guy in the crowd scene. He seemed to stand out in some way. She asks me, point blank, “Is this P.D. Eastman.” Let’s compare and contrast. I’d say the odds are good:

Getting some major vibes of the end of How the Grinch Stole Christmas with this shot.

If you’re curious, I too highly recommend Cynthia Kadohata’s A Place to Belong.

Kate Recommends: Throwing Axes

Betsy Recommends: The show Baking Impossible

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate