Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan

I’m a cheat. A dirty cheat, but for Ashley Bryan I will break ALL the rules! Though normally we limit ourselves on the Fuse 8 n’ Kate podcast to books that were published at least 20 years ago, I am going to have us look at a book today that is (restrain your gasps) 19 years old. Worth it. I mean, who could possibly fault me? Ashley Bryan was a living saint of children’s literature. Now, I can tell you that while I was working on this podcast episode I had this picture book out and my son happened to see it. “Hey! I know that book!” Turns out, his school has used it multiple times with him in both his art and library classes. I’d say that’s a pretty good testimonial right there. Kate points out that with the current racist responses to the Black Little Mermaid, our choice of book today is timely in its cry of “Black is beautiful!” We get into a discussion of what can be considered assimilation or cultural appropriation and things get interesting. Give it a listen!

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:

Kate found the old Laura Ingalls Wilder Award medal to be terrifying. “It looks like Chucky wearing a wig… She’s like a zombie child!” Perhaps you can see why.

A fun way to show that black encompasses all the colors of the rainbow. I like how the colors are shooting out from him like rainbow lasers.

50 points to anyone who shows a live action version of the Show Claws Slide.

I love the theory that the whole reason Ringdove called all the birds together in the first place was so that it could take Blackbird aside like this and ask for a special favor. Like Blackbird is the godfather or something and it’s his daughter’s wedding. You may kiss the claw.

This is where I point out how difficult it is to do what Ashley Bryan has done here. So many different kinds of nests!

This bird clearly got the best paint job of them all. The rest of you can all go home.

Betsy Recommends: Bluey

Kate Recommends: Harley Quinn

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate