Fuse 8 n’ Kate: Anatole by Eve Titus, ill. Paul Gadone

June 5, 2023 by Betsy Bird

June 5, 2023 by Betsy Bird 2 comments

In today’s podcast Kate expertly cut out the earlier part of the show where I presented a book to her only to find that we’d done it already. 20 minutes later I was back, and the book I had in hand was today’s title, Anatole by Eve Titus, illustrated by Paul Galdone. This is our first Titus and our second Galdone (we did The Tailypo for Halloween one year). We talk about why Anatole never reached the same heights of fame as such series as Madeline or Eloise, why this is the less famous of Eve Titus’s fictional rodents, and this book’s connections to Ratatouille. This is a Post WWII-France where if you want to feed your family you have to create your own job in the marketplace. Some of us can relate.

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

Source Notes:

Here’s the BBC’s 100 Greatest Children’s Books of All Time. The very very white list. Many a fine book is on here BUT . . . whaaa?

In case you doubt me, there was indeed an Anatole TV series. And its animation was . . . abysmal:

Oh no! Improper knitting needle placement! *sigh* Well, Paul Galdone is in good company here. Dr. Suess and P.D. Eastman alone performed the same sin.

A lovely inclusion for that Instagram account @newspapersillustrated

While we acknowledge that “Paul Galdone” is a great name for a children’s bookstore, this is a weird move on the illustrator’s part.

Compare, if you will, the cheeses with Anatole’s rating system vs. the three-dimensional cheeses at The Rabbit Hole in Kansas City. Pretty close!

Kate Recommends: Season 7, episode 2 of Queer Eye.

Betsy Recommends: The Wisconsin Dells, particularly the waterpark Mt. Olympus and the ride Medusa’s SlideWheel.

Filed under: Fuse 8 n' Kate

Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

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