The name of the game here is A Break From Brats. I wanted to get Kate out of the realm of bratty children’s book protagonists, so I thought the world’s greatest friendship pair was the way to go. But before we get to that, we do a rundown of the best and worst picture books we’ve ever looked at. Sorry that I didn’t include the color coded list we’re using for reference in this post. As for the rest of the show, Kate writes down morals for every story in this book, and her interpretations aren’t entirely canon. For my part, I get to wax loquacious on my horizontal pupil theory of children’s literature. Could I ask for anything more?

Listen to the whole show here on Soundcloud or download it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or your preferred method of podcast selection.

Show Notes:

– By the way, the Eric Carle exhibit was turned into a catalog, available for purchase. You can find Seeking a State of Grace: The Art of Arnold Lobel at the Eric Carle Museum’s bookstore.

– I just want to say with sadness that apparently with the publication of The Merry Spinster, The Toast no longer hosts Daniel Ortberg’s magnificent Children’s Books Made Horrific. So I wasn’t able to provided a link here. Life is disappointment.

– Dragonfly eyeballs. More cartoonish than your average Lobel animal.

– Couldn’t find an ideal video of it, but here’s the original Broadway recording of the Toad looks funny in a bathing suit song.

– Sorry, I disagree with Kate on this one. I think Toad is bearing up very well here. Brave face.

– I’m still not convinced on that whole “snail mail” debacle. Wikipedia is hardly a go-to resource for accuracy.

– This isn’t an ideal recording, but this singer is the strongest Snail I was able to find on YouTube, so in it goes:

– As I mentioned, this book came in at #15 on the Top 100 poll.

– The Aaron Zenz version of Frog & Toad is, by far, superior to almost all others:

– Still, I harbor an affection for this delightful French-ish version of The List:

– What actually won the Caldecott in 1970? A Story A Story, retold and illustrated by Gail E. Haley. A book that might be viewed as slightly problematic these days.