Betsy had been avoiding today's book, not because it isn't famous enough, but because it's on the simple side. 101 words simple, in fact. The sisters get a little silly in the course of things, but boy do they learn all kinds of things! Lawnmower parenting! How had Betsy not known about it all these years? Kate decides that the boy is secretly working for Monsanto. Betsy defends the parents, which Kate didn't see coming. Kate learns all about the germination cycle of carrots. And Betsy compares the boy to Buster Keaton.

Which is right.

Show Notes:

Betsy doesn't mention it on the podcast but this book came in at #100 on the Top 100 Picture Books Poll: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/05/16/top-100-picture-books-100-the-carrot-seed-by-ruth-krauss-illustrated-by-crockett-johnson/

In his essay Ruth Krauss and Me, Maurice Sendak praises ‘that perfect picture book, The Carrot Seed (Harper), the granddaddy of all picture books in America, a small revolution of a book that permanently transformed the face of children’s book publishing. The Carrot Seed, with not a word or a picture out of place, is dramatic, vivid, precise, concise in every detail. It springs fresh from the real world of children’.” Read more here: http://www.k-state.edu/english/nelp/purple/bibliography.html#sendak.krauss_and_me

And finally, here's the Carrot Seed song, so popular with many a storytime around this great nation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHxLfBSU-9E

For the full Show Notes, please visit with us at http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/09/23/fuse-8-n-kate-the-carrot-seed-by-ruth-krauss-ill-crockett-johnson/