Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Tooth-Gnasher Superflash by Daniel Pinkwater

By gum, if there’s one thing this children’s literature podcast I host with my sister needs it’s more Reading Rainbow books from the days of yore. And if that’s something I need to go out and find, then surely I will. I was inspired to give this particular book a go after I saw the model of its vehicle on display at Kansas City’s The Rabbit Hole. In this episode we discuss the prevalence of the same “a” sound, why this has a Popemobile top, xenomorphs, and extra car features that create duplicate children.

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Show Notes:

Here is the background information on Daniel Pinkwater’s website about this book. Sure as heck sounds like he didn’t write this section himself, but I have no beef with that.

Here’s what the Superflasher looks like at The Rabbit Hole, should you care to visit. Pretty cool, right? Honestly, though, I do hope a future iteration will let you push the buttons yourself.

And the winner of 1981’s Best Author Photo Contest is…. Daniel Pinkwater. If you can name what that creature is with him, I salute you!!

Here was Kate’s first indication that perhaps this book was not going to be strictly realistic in its visual images.

Jaws comes out in 1975. This book comes out in 1981. COINCIDENCE??

By the way, props to mom for sitting in the backseat with FIVE small children.

I see this image of Mr. Sandy in the backseat and this is the meme that immediately comes to mind for me:

This was 1981. We didn’t need seatbelts for FIVE children all at once. That would be madness! By the way, Kate claims that this outlines exactly why she has never learned to drive. Because people on the road are NUTS!

Fair play, terrifying dino head. It looks like a xenomorph to me. Anyone else see it?

Here’s the goofy part. We suddenly ended up with an EXTRA Popsnorkle child in this car. Has anyone ever noticed this before? Where did that kid come from?!?

At this point, the mushrooms Mr. Sandy took an hour ago finally kicked in.

The two Leo Lionni pieces mentioned in our letters section include the book Between Worlds: The Autobiography of Leo Lionni, as well as the article Leo Lionni’s Unfinished Business by his daughter Annie. And we received a late suggestion from Judy Weymouth suggesting Leo Lionni: Storyteller, Artist, Designer. Try them all!

Kate Recommends: Donating to Planned Parenthood

Betsy Recommends: The terror that is Character AI. With all the talking hamburgers you could possibly want.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate