Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Moon Jumpers by Janice May Udry, ill. Maurice Sendak

Deep in the heart of February, it’s not uncommon for folks to start yearning for warmer days and summer nights. While shivering in Illinois, Kate and I dip into some early award-winning Udry and Sendak. Why did Sendak win a Caldecott Honor for this title? We deign to find out. There are ghosts and giants and a cat with a face Kate would tattoo on her arm tomorrow, if she could. There are also long discussions of how precisely these four children of approximately the same age are all related to one another.

Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, PlayerFM, Audible, Amazon Music, or your preferred method of podcast selection.

Show Notes:

This is such an interesting book for so many reasons, and here, right from the get-go, you have something interesting. TWO, count ’em, TWO title pages.

Kate calls these “quote unquote mountains. They’re just triangles, Betsy.” And then ….

BAM! Gorgeous owl!

This, right here, is the cat that Kate would make her tattoo in a red hot minute. She calls it her “Monday tattoo”, because it is a tattoo that you should have on a Monday.

Gen X. We read this:

We think this:

Let the proto-Wild Rumpus begin! Can you spot the kid we think is Max’s predecessor?

Wondering how the boys ended up sharing a bed, while the girls get their own? Because they’re made of drool, folks. Drool.

Kate Recommends: Champion at the Lyric in Chicago

Betsy Recommends: The Greatest Night in Pop

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate