We don't care what any of you say. Sweet potatoes shall never cross these Thanksgiving plates of ours. To celebrate the season, though we all know it's pared down terribly this year, Kate requested a Thanksgiving picture book classic. We got some great suggestions from our readers all of which Betsy is placing on the back burner for next year. That's because this year she's doing a book circa 1971. In the course of things, Kate creates a shocking backstory worthy of V.C. Andrews while Betsy deep dives into Agatha Christie territory and starts speculating about how the incipient murder would take place. In other words, Thanksgiving fun for the whole family!

Show Notes:

Betsy could not be more pleased. After mentioning on the podcast that she suspected that as a child she saw a film based on Wendy and Harry Devlin's book about a witch, she looked it up on YouTube, found it, and in the show notes it says "The life of a witch is disrupted by the arrival of a boy and his mother. The intruders' presence makes her struggle to adjust to the modern world, and to change from bad to good witch. Based on the book 'Old Black Witch' by Wende and Harry Devlin." Apparently it was playing in elementary schools in the 70s as well as the 80s. One wonders when it was finally retired: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkDmt8YsZN4

Aw, heck. It's almost Thanksgiving. Here's a little treat. The Thanksgiving Song Betsy asked Kate to sing (and we MIGHT point out that on the spot she was able to sing this song verbatim, which is remarkable): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLQyjpHiM5A

Betsy wasn't kidding about The National covering this song, by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KExughc7RE0

And you can see the Addams Family version of a Thanksgiving song here, which Kate alludes to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7v-LQsQKoY

Here is Christine Taylor-Butler's piece on Gender Inequity: Caldecott by the Numbers. #KidlitWomen. And a big thank you to Sarah Brannen for pointing out the disparity in the sex of the creators we feature on our podcast: https://christinetaylorbutler.wordpress.com/2018/03/01/gender-inequity-caldecott-by-the-numbers/

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2020/11/23/fuse-8-n-kate-cranberry-thanksgiving-by-wende-and-harry-devlin/