Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Carol of the Brown King by Langston Hughes, ill. Ashley Bryan

Just in time for Christmas! So I was on the lookout for Christmas books we hadn’t done before and you know who we’ve never presented on this podcast? Langston Hughes! Heck, we’ve done James Baldwin, but we’ve never done Langston Hughes. Oddly, we’ve done shockingly few picture books over the years around Christmastime that involve baby Jesus. Today we consider an author who was blacklisted in his day and turned to writing books for children to make ends meet. This particular book was also never really intended to be a children’s book. It’s a series of poems that were adapted into a book format instead. How well does it hold up over time aside from the goodness of its mere existence? We intend to find out.

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Show Notes:

This is how Kate announced to me that she was pregnant. She asked me if I could return this book to the library.

Yeah. I did NOT get it. At all.

I was only told as early as I was because she needed me to clean out her cat box. If you’d like to know more about why I had to do that while she was pregnant, read this remarkable 2024 book:

Kate, for the record, has some experience riding camels. She has two points to make about this image. First, where are the reins? It’s a tad bit difficult to ride these animals without reins. Second, there’s only one hump. So… dromedaries then? I’m amazed I didn’t tell Kate my own story about seeing a camel being walked around Christmastime in New York City when I worked there (it was near Radio City Music Hall).

A book that definitely hasn’t been out yet, but that ties into today’s discussion of the three kings’ gifts, is the remarkable Linda Sue Park title The Third Gift. If you’re looking for a great Three Kings picture book, I can’t recommend it enough.

Kate points out that Mary and Joseph’s look changes in the course of things, but maybe it’s the next day. The Nativity story takes place over the course of several days, right? We actually get three views of them in total.

Kate points out that Baby Jesus looks at least a year old, but I’d like to point out that the Renaissance painters ALSO made him look a bit older.

The book that Barack Obama read that I couldn’t recall was Santa’s Gotta Go by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Courtney Lovett.

We put out the call for someone to draw us as a grape and a marshmallow, and Priscilla Alpaugh came through! Check out this beauty.

Kate Recommends: The new seasons of Is It Cake? and Queer Eye

Betsy Recommends: Lifeboat, directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate