We don't play this up much, but this actually marks the first appearance of Chris Raschka on our podcast. And WHATTA debut! This taps into my love of all picture books in which the protagonist gets eaten. But for Kate, she hyperfixates on the very semantics of the word "sardine". How can you hope to become the thing that you already are? That little delve into the philosophical underpinnings of edible tiny fish is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to today's discussion. Suffice to say, we diverge WIDELY on our interpretation of this book. In face, we may be as different on our votes for this book as we have ever been.
For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/11/02/fuse-8-n-kate-arlene-sardine-by-chris-raschka/
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We don't play this up much, but this actually marks the first appearance of Chris Raschka on our podcast. And WHATTA debut! This taps into my love of all picture books in which the protagonist gets eaten. But for Kate, she hyperfixates on the very semantics of the word "sardine". How can you hope to become the thing that you already are? That little delve into the philosophical underpinnings of edible tiny fish is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to today's discussion. Suffice to say, we diverge WIDELY on our interpretation of this book. In face, we may be as different on our votes for this book as we have ever been.
For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/11/02/fuse-8-n-kate-arlene-sardine-by-chris-raschka/
This week Kate challenged Betsy to come up with a summer book to do on the podcast. And sadly, the book Betsy initially came up with was originally published in 2006 (and we have a 20-year rule on the books we can consider). Betsy found an alternative title instead, and it involves the combo of a Newbery Award winner (Hesse) with a Caldecott Award winner (Muth) (though we don't think either had won those respective awards when this book originally came out in 1999). It has been used in classrooms for years and years and years... but does it deserve to be called a classic? We discuss representation without firsthand personal experience and how well this book would fly with a publisher today.
For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/07/28/fuse-8-n-kate-come-on-rain-by-karen-hesse-ill-jon-j-muth/
Fuse 8 n' Kate
We don't play this up much, but this actually marks the first appearance of Chris Raschka on our podcast. And WHATTA debut! This taps into my love of all picture books in which the protagonist gets eaten. But for Kate, she hyperfixates on the very semantics of the word "sardine". How can you hope to become the thing that you already are? That little delve into the philosophical underpinnings of edible tiny fish is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to today's discussion. Suffice to say, we diverge WIDELY on our interpretation of this book. In face, we may be as different on our votes for this book as we have ever been.
For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/11/02/fuse-8-n-kate-arlene-sardine-by-chris-raschka/
