Fuse 8 N' Kate

Is it just us, or did someone miss a trick by not creating a new version of Stone Soup for the post-lockdown era we currently live in? Sorry, we're just thinking out loud, but after Kate and Betsy read two different versions of Stone Soup this week (one by Marcia Brown and one by Jon J. Muth) it seemed to us that this story is a lovely metaphor for growing connections and community after harrowing times. In the meantime, it was listener Heather D. who suggested that we consider Stone Soup as a potential Thanksgiving title in the first place. She was suggesting the Jon J. Muth, but Betsy's husband expressed shock and horror that we had somehow not done the Marcia Brown version first. Why choose when you can do both? Today we compare and contrast a 1947 version with a 2003 version of the same story. We discuss how war in a region might easily make folks afraid of strangers, how soldiers attack their problem vs. monks, whether or not this is a technical trickster tale, and how that person who just gave salt got

For the very first time in the history of this podcast, we have taken a request... from a publisher. That's right! You know as well as we do that there are reprinted picture books coming out all the time. Well, New York Review of Books sort of specializes in that industry. Their Children's Collection division has a tendency to find old and shockingly beautiful titles worth bringing back to life. And this year, in 2023, they decided to do a book that is so lovely, so strange, and so original that when they asked if we might be interested in ever featuring one of their books, we accepted. And so, it may not be the most famous book we've ever done on the show, but we suspect that it may remain one of the most memorable. There are very few interior designer picture books, so we get into the weeds. And the most important thing of all? After you finish reading this you are fully convinced that the illustrator had fun with this book. We sure as heck did. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8producti

"There's no possible way to describe what you feel, when you're talking to your meal." - Into the Woods I've been waiting far far too long to do today's book. It was introduced to Betsy in graduate school, back in 2003, as an ideal storytime title. Today we consider Keiko Kasza's best known book and discuss what the Kool-Aid Man says, whether or not the pig is a classic trickster character, and if it truly is "a cute book about a pig with an adrenaline addiction and an out-of-shape fox." Bonus: Betsy only makes a single reference to the song "What Did the Fox Say", for which she should earn some kind of an award. Show Notes: For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/11/06/fuse-8-n-kate-my-lucky-day-by-keiko-kasza/

Happy Halloween! It's a day of celebration in more than one way. After all, starting today we FINALLY are able to start doing some Yuyi Morales books on our podcast! It's been 20 years since this little number came out and we figured what could be a better title to cap off our 2023 Halloween season than with Ms. Morales's first title? It's still in print but how does it stand up after all these years? Tricking death/the devil is a Halloween classic in folktales, so we found it particularly apropos for the day in question. We debate whether or not Senor Calavera is supposed to be death himself or not and talk about how different this book might be if it were published for the first time today. Maybe not our spookiest picture book of the season, but certainly one of the sweetest. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/10/31/fuse-8-n-kate-just-a-minute-by-yuyi-morales/

Let the record show that Betsy read through a slew of different Halloween-centric picture book titles before she alighted upon one that was appropriate for the season. Who knew that Tony Johnston and Tomie dePaola would be the answer to her prayers? Today we consider a book about, at its core, the difficulty of growing more than a single pumpkin in your pumpkin patch. Kate and Betsy, failed pumpkin farmers both, can relate. In today's podcast episode they talk Jawas, rain barrels, hairless leprechauns, and more. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/10/23/fuse-8-n-kate-the-vanishing-pumpkin-by-tony-johnson-ill-tomie-depaola/

Remember when Betsy said to Kate that she wanted to do a certain book for Mother's Day but would settle on doing it for the Halloween season instead? What book could possibly encompass those two holidays? Behold! The rare Mother's Day/Halloween crossover hit! Brought to you by the illustrator best known for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (though he'll always be the winner of the Longest Caldecott Award Speech to us), this is a marvelous combination of love for your mama and downright scares. What could be better? Today we discuss the man who typified the "controlled Jackson Pollock" look. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/10/16/fuse-8-n-kate-monster-mama-by-liz-rosenberg-ill-stephen-gammell/

In spite of the fact that Ed Young recently passed away and, traditionally, when a master of the picture book form passes away, we do one of their books on the show, we decided to keep him on the backburner while we do our first Halloween picture book of the season. And we are VERY excited about this because today's book came out in 2003, which means we can finally do it on this podcast (we have a 20 year rule on books we consider). It wasn't Krosoczka's first picture book but it certainly was early. With its glow-in-the-dark letters on the cover and funny birthday/Halloween premise, we submit to you today Annie Was Warned. It's out-of-print but NOT in our hearts, and we would contest that we should bring it back. Find the complete show notes for this episode here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/10/09/fuse-8-n-kate-annie-was-warned-by-jarrett-j-krosoczka/

Having recently read the new book Ready, Set, Run! The Amazing New York City Marathon by Leslie Kimmelman, illustrated by Jessie Hartland, Betsy was reminded of the old chestnut The Philharmonic Gets Dressed. Then, suddenly, it occurred to her that she and Kate had never ever done this particular book on our podcast. It also appears to be this podcast's first Karla Kuskin and first Marc Simont on the show. Show Notes: For the full show notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/10/02/fuse-8-n-kate-the-philharmonic-gets-dressed-by-karla-kuskin-ill-marc-simont/

It seemed only fitting that since last week's podcast episode dealt so directly with the beginnings of life, why not focus on the end this time around? I'll tell you this much, though. If you'd informed Betsy, prior to this recording, that a 1971 picture book would be one of the best books she ever encountered on death, she would not have believed you. But she probably should have realized something was up when I saw that The Tenth Good Thing About Barney was by Judith Viorst. Today we deep dive into how good a name "Barney" is for a cat, whether the mom is trying to subtly regift her yellow scarf as a dead cat wrap, and whether this family's sodium intake is too high. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/09/18/fuse-8-n-kate-the-tenth-good-thing-about-barney-by-judith-viorst-ill-erik-blegvad/

"Three dudes telling you how babies are made in 1968." The Fuse 8 n' Kate podcast focuses primarily on picture books of the past, but that focus means that we are subject to the past's limitations. Consequently, most of the books we've considered until now have been works of fiction. Well no more! Today we tackle one of our first nonfiction titles, this one dating back to 1968 and, we have no doubt, still circulating in libraries to this day. Yes, it's a book on human reproduction. So how did the denizens of the late 60s handle such a delicate topic for children? With cut paper, of course! We give credit where credit is due and shame where shame is most definitely due in this consideration of one of the more peculiar sex-ed picture books of the past. Buckle up! It's gonna be a bumpy ride. And if you didn't want to hear about paper cut dog penises today, then this may be the episode to skip. For the full episode please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/09/11/fuse-8-n-kate-how-babies-are-made-by-a

Featured today was DRUMMER HOFF. An odd mix of 1960s psychedelia meets Colonial woodcuts, in 1968 it was the ultimate Vietnam War bit of picture book commentary. NOT that the Emberley ever embraced that interpretation, but I am DANG sure the librarians had that in their minds when they selected it for a Caldecott Award. In today's talk we discuss our various interpretations of this book as well as what its ultimate contribution was to children's literature as a whole. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/09/04/fuse-8-n-kate-drummer-hoff-by-barbara-emberley-ill-ed-emberley

Betsy's a child of the Generation X movement and, as such, at some point in her early education, the song "Gonna Die With a Hammer in My Hand", adapted by the folksingers of the 60s, was something she was well and truly familiar with. That said, at no point in her childhood did she ever encounter a single picture book retelling of the legend of John Henry. And though he's one of the great American Tall Tale characters, Kate hadn't even heard of him! This will not stand. So in response to the recent Bookriot piece The 20 Most Influential Picture Books of All Time, we're tackling one of their inclusions. Now we've done many Jerry Pinkney books on our podcast already. We've done Mirandy and Brother Wind, Little Red Riding Hood, and the previous Pinkney/Lester collaboration Sam and the Tigers. Now we're tackling our first tall tale by the duo, and the one that earned at least a Caldecott Honor (though it was beaten by Smoky Night, which has NOT aged particularly well, we must say). For the full Show Notes pleas

Considering the fact that the movie of Lyle the Crocodile came out practically a year ago in October of 2022, it may seem a little late to be returning to this particular member of the family Crocodylidae, but what care we? This Lyle title was originally released in 1969. Remember that date. It puts the contents inside in a little bit of context. Today, Kate and Betsy discuss whether or not this lesser known Lyle title falls into the category of "forgotten gem" or "justly unmemorable bit o' fluff". We enjoy Kate's theory that Lyle's enemy in this book should by all rights be The Man in the Yellow Hat and we talk armless nuns, "piles of water," and the fact that the true moral of this story appears halfway through the book. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/08/14/review-of-the-day-lovable-lyle-by-bernard-waber/

Today's discussion centers around whether our featured book bears more of a resemblance to Eloise or Last Stop on Market Street (and not in a good way). By the end of the talk you will come to the conclusion that this may, in fact, be both the most capitalistic and least capitalistic book of all time. Special Bonus: The cruelest Kirkus review we've read aloud on any of our podcast episodes. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/08/09/fuse-8-n-kate-the-table-where-rich-people-sit-by-byrd-baylor-ill-peter-parnall/

When we're not talking about the unrealistic L.A. highway driving times in the Barbie Movie, we're discussing our favorite picture books and whether or not they're classics. I admit that we have done Helen Oxenbury on the podcast relatively recently, but due to its stature in the children's literature world, I felt that his was an egregious gap in our knowledge until now. Think of Farmer Duck as a variation on Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, but with a more revolutionary and less unionization tone. Power to the people (if the "people", in this case, are livestock). Come enjoy the happiest version of Animal Farm to date (now 100% pig free!). For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/07/31/fuse-8-n-kate-farmer-duck-by-martin-waddell-ill-helen-oxenbury/

Believe it or not, Syd Hoff's been in the news quite a lot lately. Not bad for a pronounced children's literature 1930s Communist, eh? You could be forgiven for not knowing a lot about Syd Hoff. Honestly, we'd managed to skate through a significant portion of my life remaining unaware of him apart from the fact that there was some racist stuff at the beginning of the original editions of Danny and the Dinosaur. Now that book series is being turned into a movie series and a book of his early Communist comics (which are, frankly, hilarious) are being reprinted with a new edition of The Ruling Clawss. Seemed to us like a perfectly opportune time to visit the dino in question. Show Notes: For the full show notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/07/24/fuse-8-n-kate-danny-and-the-dinosaur-by-syd-hoff/

Recently Betsy created a post of picture books that belie the idea that all picture book "classics" are by white people. Amongst these were books with Jewish content. But when you sit down and look at those titles you notice that most of these are Hanukkah-related titles. So at the suggestion of Lisa Brown we're doing the very last William Steig picture book that was ever published. This book was released in spring of 2003 and he died in the fall of 2003. Not too shabby. The man was a genius but how does this very last book hold up? We discuss it at length. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/07/17/fuse-8-n-kate-when-everybody-wore-a-hat-by-william-steig

Have you ever wanted to listen to an episode of our podcast but thought to yourself, "This is good, but what would it sound like with more background noise?" At last! Now you have your answer! At the most recent American Library Association Annual Conference in beautiful downtown Chicago, Illinois we bring to you the first LIVE recording of Fuse 8 n' Kate! And what book could be deemed worthy enough of this recording? That would have to be Hippos Go Beserk! by Sandra Boynton, published in 1977. The first of Ms. Boynton's books, the title has since been republished (and re-illustrated) in 2022. Today, we consider the original (Sandra Boynton's first book for children) and its updated edition to determine whether or not it deserves "classic" status or not. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/07/10/fuse-8-n-kate-hippos-go-beserk-by-sandra-boynton-live-from-ala/

We had the honor of recording a guest post earlier in the week with none than the irascible, charming Jerrold Connors! Jerrold is the creator of the massively creative Donut Project which contains hilarity and collage-created donuts. Jerrold is also the creator of what I would call the most interesting picture book biography of James Marshall I've ever seen. But, of course, Jerrold is a longstanding fan of our podcast, so he knew pretty well what kind of recommend. What ensues is an in-depth discussion of elements of a title that have, and notably have not, aged well. Show Notes: For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/06/26/fuse-8-n-kate-weslandia-by-paul-fleischman-ill-kevin-hawkes-with-guest-host-jerrold-connors/

NOT our first Mercer Mayer! Previously we did his book There's a Nightmare in My Closet but it's hardly the man's most famous book/series. Meet Little Critter! At last, he makes his debut on our podcast! The two books we're discussing today originally came out in 1975 and 1983 and then went on to spawn the series we know so well. So once again we have to ask: How come they're moderately well known but not household name known? Interested in how we made these podcasts, by the way? Well, I would like to note that our podcast will be recording at 2:30 CST on Saturday, June 24th in the School Library Journal booth on the ALA Conference floor. If you'd like to hear us do a show, stop by and see us! Show Notes: For the full show notes, please visit us at: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2023/06/19/fuse-8-n-kate-just-for-you-i-was-so-mad-by-mercer-mayer/