Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Apple Pie Fourth of July by Janet S. Wong, ill. Margaret Chodos-Irvine
Ha ha! I am pleased to announce that with its 2002 publication date we are finally able to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day with a book that I’ve been sitting on for years. It can be exceedingly hard to find books for this particular holiday. Even better, our consideration of this book marks the very first time we have ever done a Janet Wong or Margaret Chodos-Irvine. Ms. Wong hasn’t published since 2015 and Margaret Chodos-Irvine hasn’t since 2006, but in their heyday this book marked a dream pairing. It’s not our first picture book to mention pie recently (remember Enemy Pie?) which means Kate’s weary, wary, and woozy. Will this book win her over? Let’s see!
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’s that Janet S. Wong website I gush over for such an extraordinarily long amount of time.
Kate points out correctly that I usually hate it when lines are broken up between pages, but I feel like in case Wong is doing it for a dramatic page turning effect. My problem with it is usually just that it’s unintentional or done without thought. This book? Not an issue.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Clown alert!!! And it doesn’t have a face. It just has a nose. “The Clown Without a Face” would, you must admit, be a great creepy picture book title.
Without knowing Ms. Wong’s history as a poet, Kate picked right up on the fact that she is poetical. This is Kate’s favorite passage. I love the different ways you can read this.
The book is made entirely in cut paper, so how cool is it that you can see the reflection of the fireworks in the kid’s eyes?
Janet S. Wong explains why she wrote this book on TeachingBooks.net. You can see her explanation here.
For the record, this was not the first Wong/Chodos-Irvine collaboration. That honor falls upon Buzz.
Kate Recommends: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SLJ Blog Network
You’re A Superhero! | News
From Policy Ask to Public Voice: Five Layers of Writing to Advance School Library Policy
Not Just Greta: True stories of youth acting to fight the climate crisis, a guest post by Meera Subramanian
Elisha Cooper Visits The Yarn!
ADVERTISEMENT
Referring to “Kate’s favorite passage” and ” I love the different ways you can read this” I offer my thoughts. In the past it was the custom for many Jewish Americans to eat Chinese food on CHRISTMAS. I’m not sure if this is still happening. After the Supreme Court decision yesterday our understanding of the meaning of July 4th may never be the same.
How thrilling to see this — thanks so much for the Independence Day shout-out! Please point colleagues to my newer website, https://janet-wong.com/ (where you’ll find some of my recent books mentioned, including the “& MORE” versions of Good Luck Gold and A Suitcase of Seaweed). I haven’t been doing a very good job of spreading the word about my recent work, but Sylvia Vardell + I have created 20 books since 2012, with CLARA’S KOOKY COMPENDIUM OF THIMBLETHOUGHTS AND WONDERFUZZ (a journal-style anthology of funny poems, whimsical questions, and odd facts) coming from Pomelo Books in September!
Oh, I always love it when the creators reach out.
Take care, Janet (+ Betsy and Kate).
Oo! Updated news is always a good thing. Thanks for directing us to your new site (though, as I say on the episode) I do like that old one quite a bit). I’ll be reading this on our next recording, you betcha!