Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel

It’s PRIDE MONTH!!! And we’ve done many a fine LGBTQIA+ book during the year, sure we have. Yet this book series, while not considered queer during its initial publication, has since been embraced by the gay community and, as such, we seek to celebrate it here today. Of all the Frog and Toad books in the series (there are four) this was the only one to garner a Newbery Honor (NOT a Caldecott… and isn’t that interesting?). Today, you will witness a veritable plethora of fantastic videos celebrating this book (there will be ninjas). In the course of things Kate also determines that, “I am Toad.” Ain’t we all, kid? We discuss how Toad falls on the autism spectrum and which story is the one I love best of all.

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 the record, I stand by the Frog and Toad musical, A Year With Frog and Toad. It was nominated for THREE Tonys in 2003. You can find all the possible info you might want about it here.

I highly recommend that you read this New York Times article Arnold Lobel and Friends, which is utterly delightful in every possible way.

Port!

Let us note that “Go Home” is NOT one of the things to do that day. Mmm hmm.

“Are they goat creepy? No? Then that’s good.” I am referring, of course, to the fact that I am very grateful that the pupils in Frog and Toad’s eyes are horizontal, and yet, NOT creepy. Unlike some animals.

If frogs and toads cannot eat chocolate, would it be reasonable to assume that these are cricket flour cookies with flies? Methinks, absolutely.

Kate argues that this is a marvelous example of the very first steps someone takes when testing their bravery when it comes to coming out.

Interestingly, of all the Frog and Toad stories that I remember as a child, this stands out. Something about the eerie tone.

Meet the amphibian Liberace, everyone!

Clearly the Newbery committee thought it was okay, but could you just say “Shut up!” in an easy book/early chapter book today? It’s rare, I’ll say that much.

I make mention of a couple 90-Second Newbery Film Festival versions of these stories. Two from this book come immediately to mind. Enjoy!

And I totally forgot about this one:

We happen to mention that one of our listeners (Christina Hoover Moorhead) sent us a very rare photographic image of illustrator Harriet Pincus. Behold!

Kate Recommends: Fackham Hall (sorta)

Betsy Recommends: The Bride

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate