Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown, ill. Alice & Martin Provensen
Our Margaret Wise Brown output on this podcast has, until now, been a bit on the scanty side. Sure, we did Goodnight Moon and Runaway Bunny but beyond that we’ve sort of left her out in the cold. All that changes today with this, our third MWB and what may be our very first Provensen deep dive. In light of the new life injected into Little Golden Books as of late, (thanks in large part to a very big pop princess) we tackle one of these very books ourselves. In this podcast, we discuss the types of cones that appear in cats’ eyes, the true color of bumblebees, why Greek goatherders resemble 80s businessmen, and so much more.
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:
For whatever reason, this book truly does break up sentences between two pages. My least favorite typographical technique of old picture books.
Should rivers be green? Kate has thoughts on the matter. Certainly in this book the rivers and oceans are both green. But with its 1949 publication date, all we can think about is Silent Spring.
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Years ago a woman took great issue with my saying that pink in picture books is associated with white people. Sorry, ma’am. I’m standing by that one. It shouldn’t happen, but it does.
Apparently prunes are poisonous to cats. Trust Kate to find the detail in this book that may lead to our lead’s demise.
Kate’s confused with the goat herder’s business jacket with the long tie. Surely this is common somewhere, yes?
Shoebill. That’s what is on the cat’s bed here. Clearly.
“Why is the cat in a bra?”
“You can’t have a topless cat in a children’s book? What are you thinking?”
“Well, why doesn’t the dog have pants?”
“At least he has a shirt!!”
Kate Recommends: Murder on Middle Beach on HBO Max.
Betsy Recommends: The substacks of Adam Rex and Andrea Tsurumi
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
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When I feel the need for a cry, I’ll either listen to a StoryCorps recordings or watch a YouTube video of people with color blindness trying on those corrective glasses that lets them see yellow or purple for the first time. Those videos never fail… when I see some hardened midwest farmer break down because the balloon his granddaughter is holding is more beautiful than he could ever have imagined, my tears will start flowing too.
But, NOW, however, I will only ever think of Kate’s fact checking in this episode and the poor color deficient kittens who will never know how beautiful the balloons their granddaughters are holding are. I’ll probably still cry, but the tears will be colored by a different kind of sadness.