Fuse 8 n’ Kate: My Lucky Day by Keiko Kasza

“There’s no possible way to describe what you feel, when you’re talking to your meal.” – Into the Woods

I’ve been waiting far far too long to do today’s book. It was introduced to me in graduate school, back in 2003, as an ideal storytime title. Lord, it must have been brand new at the time. Yes, this was a book I encountered in my Children’s Literature Programming class at the College of St. Catherine, while in pursuit of my Masters of Library and Information Science. As such, I’ve an inordinate fondness for it. I tell you this and, in doing so, it’s a bit of a spoiler regarding today’s podcast. Today we consider Keiko Kasza’s best known book and discuss what the Kool-Aid Man says, whether or not the pig is a classic trickster character, and if it truly is “a cute book about a pig with an adrenaline addiction and an out-of-shape fox.” Bonus: I only make a single reference to the song “What Did the Fox Say”, for which I should earn some kind of an award.

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:

How different is a manicure from polishing those sleek, in-grown weapons attached to the ends of your fingers?

Speaking of hands, I’ve read this book approximately 100 times and this is the first time I ever noticed that the fox’s oven mitts read, “Foxy Cook” in repeat.

Does… does the fox make his own … jam?!? This dude is SO talented! He could totally live off the grid. He’s like an orange furred Martha Stewart.

“If ever there were a Monday and/or a Friday image, it should be this.” And I point out that every massage artist in the world should have this on a shirt/poster.

As Kate points out, the images on this wall may be depicting an aspirational image of this fox, and the reality falls short. After all, as Kate points out, a lot of what the fox is doing in this book is what parents do for their own children and THEY have to remain standing at the end of the day!

What Kate Took Away From This: Predators have multiple hobbies. For example, this bear apparently plays golf, but you’d only know that by looking into the gutter of the book.

Kate Recommends: The podcast The Chilling

Betsy Recommends: The podcast It’s Been a Minute and, specifically, the episode about Britney Spears.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate