Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Smoky Night by Eve Bunting, ill. David Diaz

“This is definitely not a boring book.”

Here at Fuse 8 n’ Kate, I’d like to clarify a few points before we start to discuss today’s podcast. First and foremost, this podcast was recorded approximately two weeks ago, well before the events in California right now started to occur. It would not, in a million years, have occurred to us that a discussion of the events that take place in Smoky Night would happen in the same spot as the current political situation. To be perfectly frank, more than anything else I wanted to talk to Kate about the book within the context of #MeToo. After all, with the recent discussions of Neil Gaiman and whether or not to strip him of his Newbery Medal following his own recent allegations, it seemed timely to consider our other cancelled children’s literature award winner. In this podcast we attempt to delineate, as clearly as possible, the difference between a riot and a protest. We discuss whether or not this was a book that was trying to be Do the Right Thing for kids (and failing), and whose lens this story is shot through in the end.

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:

If you’re curious, here is the David Diaz book and the book that was re-illustrated in lightning quick style:

As Kate points out, the kid in this book never asks why people are rioting, which we’d argue is fairly pertinent. We highly recommend that you check out the post Smoky Night: Misguided Effort to Help Kids Understand Rodney King Events from Social Justice Books for a better context on how this book is problematic. And honestly? If you want a better book on why these things happen then honestly I’d recommend Why? by Taye Diggs, illustrated by Shane W. Evans.

Kate points out that behind some of the paintings in this book are examples of objects mentioned in the narrative. Cereal and rice. Dry cleaning bags and hangers. And I mention that for this reason, the book sometimes ends up feeling more like a natural disaster title rather than anything else.

Kate Recommends: The 2-part documentary on HBO MAX Pee-Wee As Himself. Here’s the trailer:

Betsy Recommends: Visit me in Princeton, NJ on June 27th at 11 a.m. WITH Andrea Tsurumi presenting Pop! Goes the Nursery Rhyme for the first time, together! Along the way I fully entend to eat a pork roll/ Taylor ham, as featured on The Sporkful in this episode.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate