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/
Kicking off October with Edward Gorey just seems obvious at this point in time. After all, since he died 25 years ago, there are a lot of celebrations happening in his honor this season. Naturally, since he did quite a few "picture books" (a term we use in the broadest sense) it seemed logical to tackle his best known work. Is it for children? Not intentionally, but Betsy makes the case on the show that there are picture books out there that are not intended for children but that kids find anyway and grow to love (Uncle Shelby's ABZs, anyone?). Today's book is a "cult classic picture book" in precisely that sense. This is our fourth alphabet book on our podcast (we forgot we did Eating the Alphabet when we recorded this) and our second Edward Gorey (after The Shrinking of Treehorn). We discuss how this was clearly Wednesday Addams's favorite book when she was little and how Gorey's rhyming is on point!
Please note that we do have a trigger warning at the beginning of our discussion. This book does mention children dying.
Full Show Notes are visible here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/10/06/fuse-8-n-kate-the-gashlycrumb-tinies-by-edward-gorey/
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/
