Fuse 8 n’ Kate: The Mysterious Tadpole by Steven Kellogg

Oh ho! We haven’t done a Steven Kellogg re-illustration title since Pinkereton, Behave! back in 2021! This is particularly strange to me as The Mysterious Tadpole was always, without a doubt, my favorite Kellogg picture book when I was a child. For various reasons we were never able to discuss it on Fuse 8 n’ Kate… until today! We consider the original 1977 edition of this book versus the 2004 update. Now I must warn you that this episode sort of jumps into me and Kate talking about cicadas (again), partly because they’re awesome, and partly because the first part of this episode acquired some odd sound issues, so we had to cut out the very first part. Apologies! In this episode we discuss whether or not Alphonse became less cute in the new edition, why the parenting in this new edition is so angry, and why Kellogg felt it necessary to enroll his tadpole in obedience school.

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:

Pince nez vs. goggles? Sorry, new edition. We have to go with the original on this one.

“I wouldn’t call it a kilt.” Check out the hot mess on Uncle McAllister over here. We’re having a hard time not just staring at it for hours. Diamonds? On a kilt? He must be from that part of Scotland where they construct tile flooring.

We may need to talk at length about how views of parenting have changed between 1977 and 2004. Maybe Kellogg is making a statement about parenting in the new millennia but the parents in these books have definitely gone through a shift. Where before they were open and accepting, now they are judgey, worried, and sometimes downright resentful.

Of all the elements that Kellogg kept intact from one version to another, having a live hornet’s nest in a child’s classroom? That’s apparently timeless gold, people. No notes. Why change?

While we do find it odd that the dad is now showering with Alphonse in the new version, what we find even stranger? The fact that the shower curtain splits in the center in the new one.

Personally, I miss the Scampi Brothers. That’s one change to the book that makes me sad.

And here we come to what is clearly the primary reason that this book was re-illustrated. I mean, this is pretty clear. All you need to do is look at the first image versus the second.

Kate Recommends: Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan

Betsy Recommends: The current production of Hadestown now starring Ani DiFranco! Also, Mercer Labs

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