Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Juneteenth Jamboree by Carole Boston Weatherford, ill. Yvonne Buchanan

Sure, we missed it by a couple days, but it’s never too late to lift a glass in honor of Juneteenth. I was determined to figure out what the very first Juneteenth picture book published by a major publisher was, and I think I found my answer. The kicker is that not only did this book come out in 1995, it was the very first picture book by future multi-award winner Carole Boston Weatherford. We discuss double space typing, the “cool aunt” concept, how to design an 80s kitchen, and a lot lot more.

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:

Interested in coming to Kidlit Drink Night at the upcoming ALA? Here’s the info:

The backsplash grape wallpaper is a dead giveaway that this book was originally published in the 1990s.

We try to be fairly cognizant of different art styles and being open to their techniques. But this little hand… please recall that this book was not made in the age of AI.

This section seems pretty clear. A man says he’s not sure whether to blame the mule, the messenger or the masters for not letting the people of Texas know that slavery was over. Uh… pretty sure it was the white people to blame in this particular case.

Here are the balloons that they (sigh) release at the end of the book. Note that this is the only time in the book that we get any kind of flashback to the past.

The driving around with an aunt book I mentioned was actually Tía Isa Wants a Car:

Full credit to Jerrold Connors. He truly did find the old Jon Klassen piece I Found a PDF of an Old Interview with Arnold Lobel.

Kate Recommends: Seven Dials on Netflix

Betsy Recommends: Welcome to Wrexham on Hulu

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate