Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Finn MacCoul and His Fearless Wife by Robert Byrd

With St. Patrick’s Day on the horizon it’s time to dive into the stack of Irish-flavored picture books next to my bed and find a brand new one. And lord, if you want something Irish, this book fulfills that desire tenfold. Now, for those of you who listen to the Fuse 8 n’ Kate podcast regularly, you’ll know that Kate likes three particular things in her picture books: 1. Ireland. 2. Strong women. 3. Lotsa details in the art. With that in mind, is it surprising that she adored this? In this episode we discuss Little Shop of Horrors, the fact that single men have a hard time determining the ages of small children, and why this should really have been called Oona MacCoul and Her Baby Man.

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:

Here are the adorable Little Shop of Horrors cupcakes I alluded to in this episode. Wook at their widdle teeths!

As I mentioned before, Byrd when positively wild with the tiny details in this art. My personal favorite? The small druid fairy line in one of the scenes. Why is it there? Who cares! Just enjoy it!

While I expected many things in this book, men riding whales with aplomb was not one of them.

Who is making a Size 58 shoe for these guys? Who are their cobblers? Who are their tailors? There’s just so much we don’t know.

As Kate rightfully points out, this book could also have served as a good Thanksgiving book. Look at all the turkeys!!!

Kate gives some fascinating info about the harp you’ll see the Irish Free State Government using vs. the Guinness harp. Apparently Guinness got their trademark in early, so the Irish harp has to face the other way. Who knew?

Gotta love an illustrator who knows how to show teeth flying from the head of your antagonist.

Full credit to Robert Byrd for doing some amazing backmatter work on this title. Great inclusions of texts he got this story from.

Kate Recommends: The non-profit S.A.F.E. House Nevada

Betsy Recommends: The podcasts The Sporkful and Knock, Knock, Hi!

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate