Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Wretched Stone by Chris Van Allsburg

While doing another Chris Van Allsburg picture book may seem like a relative no-brainer around the Halloween season, maybe there’s a reason we hadn’t done this particular title before. Unlike The Stranger, The Widow’s Broom (which I mistakenly call “The Witch’s Broom” on the podcast), or even The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, this particular title feels less like a tribute to the uncanny and more like a failed 1991 diatribe against television. The monkey sailors have NOT aged well, and it just sort of feels like a lesser Van Allsburg. But let’s dive into the ins and outs of this potentially creepy title.

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:

We’re including this solely to alert the @pipesinkidlit Instagram account.

This is a legitimately creepy image. Naturally in 2024 you cannot have apes or monkeys wearing men’s clothing in a children’s picture book, but back in the 90s few objected.

What baffles us particularly about this lesson (TV = bad) is that for 1991 that’s a pretty old message. Thirty years earlier you know who tackled the same thing in a book? Pogo! (And well worth finding if you can locate it)

Kate Recommends: Will and Harper

Betsy Recommends: Evanston’s first community powwow.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate