MORE 'FUSE-8-N-KATE' POSTS
This week, Kate delves real deep into the marital status of dear Mr. and Mrs. Bird here (including Mr. Bird's "extracurricular activities", if you get my gist). We discuss how this is like a "very small version of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds" (their reign of terror is swift and tiny). We wonder about color layering, and we get to sing the "Toldja So" song.
I can say with complete confidence that this was the first picture book about a Black kid on the autism spectrum I had ever seen when the book was first published in 2010. Recently Kate saw a list from Black Education Matters listing several books that featured Black children with disabilities and she asked if any were possible for our podcast. And lo and behold, we found one,
This old lady may be devouring the local flora and fauna at a prodigious rate, but SHE HAS A PLAN! At least we think she does. We cover a book that celebrates that classic elderly ability to unhinge your jaw.
Kate hates clowns. Naturally, that meant I had to find her the sweetest wordless clown picture book ever created. The results? Let's just say she doesn't have a clown conversion in the course of this show.
I wanted to do a little something different with today’s selection for my podcast. Today’s book has been on Publisher Weekly’s top selling picture book list for 240+ weeks. Even so, it is not a household name here in America by any stretch of the imagination. I’d been seeing its name on these bestseller lists […]
On this week's show we discuss the strength of Imogene's neck muscles, you get to hear an impromptu jingle for the Emergency Hat Service, I manage to work in a tiny reference to Gregor Samsa, and we marvel at Imogene's good nature.
When we consider classic Latinx picture books that would qualify as #ownvoices, only a few have been covered on this show. Today's book seeks to add to the canon of children's literature.
Between its shiny Sydney Taylor Book Award on its cover and a storyline that has aged magnificently over the last 32 years, Kate and I discuss one of Patricia Polacco's best known works.
Today Kate and I dig deep into a book that certainly contains the world's most short-sighted escape plan. The Great Escape, this is not.
If you were born in the late 70s or early 80s, the odds are good that somebody you know read today's book to you. This all ties in quite closely to current discussions of picture books with racist elements that sit blithely on shelves in children's rooms anywhere.