Fuse 8 n' Kate

In honor of Pride this month, we figured it would be a good idea to check out one of the first big-time LGBTQIA+ picture books published in America. We've already covered Heather Has Two Mommies in a previous episode, so what's left? Well, if Heather Has Two Mommies came out in 1989, Daddy's Roommate followed just a year later in 1990. It was on ALA's top 10 banned list from 1990-1999. Researching...

Kate gave Betsy a tricky challenge this week. She wanted her to find a book worth discussing that was pertinent to the times in which we live. So, after a great deal of soul searching, Betsy decided to focus on a book by a Black author. Even better, a book that was ahead of its time when it came out and may only find its true audience today. And few books for kids tackle the issue of police brutal...

For whatever reason, Kate and Betsy spoke for a whopping 45 minutes about today's book. Somehow, Kate (who is our editor on all this) cut it down to mere 28 minutes, which is a feat worth remarking. The sisters tackle whether or not "Helen Palmer" was or was not Dr. Seuss (the answer is far more complicated than you might think). They delve into what kind of reputation Mr. Carp must have to be on...

Kate and Betsy haven't done a cult classic picture book in a while. Really, the ultimate compliment any book can receive from its fans is that their love allows it to see life once more, decades after publication. This was one of the rare titles from the 1950s republished by the publisher Enchanted Lion. Betsy has always been a big fan of this book, but as we have learned time and time again, just...

Today's 1981 classic turned out to be a surprise to Kate. She, like many people in America, had no idea that Jumanji was a picture book before it was a movie (or two, or three). Thanks to her read, a lot of questions about this book were cleared up. For example, there is the fact that the parents must be going to a matinee (which explains why the kids eat dinner after their return later). And did...

"I'm giving myself extra points for doing this springy book in spring . . . which I did not realize until this moment. Patting on the backy of me!" Prior to today's episode the only Jerry Pinkney title Betsy and Kate had done on the podcast was Sam and the Tigers (as part of their Little Black Sambo round-up). As for Ms. Patricia McKissack, they'd never even done a single one of her books to date....

Because it was recently Betsy's birthday, she got to choose a book that was her favorite when she was growing up. And let us say this about Tasha Tudor. The Queen of England herself is second only to Tasha Tudor in terms of corgi love. Tasha was the original corgi lover. The sisters spend a great deal of time trying to explain some of the oddities of the book by saying, "It's New England!" Like it...

Seems to us that bats are shouldering a great deal of the blame for our current COVID-19 crisis. Considering the fact that their P.R. wasn't all that great to begin with(Batman aside), Betsy decided this week's episode would combat this problem with the most famous bat-related picture book in America. It doesn't hurt matters any that this entire episode is pretty much just an excuse for her to pos...

True Fact: The longest book written in the English language is the easy book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss. Other True Fact: That first fact is untrue, but it's certainly what Kate believed in her heart when she finished reading that book during this recording. While many people remember all too well the title of today's book, its plot (such as it is) remains, for many, a my...

In honor of Tomie dePaola, who left us last week, Betsy wanted to do one of his possible classics. The show had already done Strega Nona, but one other book might qualify for "classic" status. Trouble was, all the libraries are closed and Betsy couldn't get a physical copy of this book. Happily, Overdrive offered this ebook for borrowing. The title totally threw Kate off, and Betsy couched it by s...

For WEEKS Kate has been bugging Betsy to find her a celebrity picture book. The catch was that Betsy was insisting that the book be considered a "classic". So she asked the listeners what the most classicky classic was and they managed to come up with today's book. Published in 1996 this definitely falls within the 20 year rule (a.k.a. don't read anything that's younger .... in theory) so they wen...

Since Betsy's library is all closed up and she has no access to the books inside, she wasn't able to do a celebrity picture book with Kate this week. Such is the state of the world in which we live today. Not to worry! In this episode you will find a multitude of plover adjacent ideas, thoughts about developmental issues and when it's right to seek help vs. let things work out on their own, and wh...

To help out families stuck in their homes with small children, avoiding COVID-19, people have been creating videos of people reading picture books. And WHAT, I ask you, is a better readaloud than this storytime classic? Nothing, I tells ya! Nothing! Kate gets introduced to Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury for the very first time. Imagine showing someone, who has never seen this story performed for...

Having survived a bout of pestilence and plague (read: lice and flu), Betsy was still in an oddly upbeat mood in this week's episode. And why not? Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is, by its very definition, an upbeat book! It is also one of those rare "classic" picture books where the author(s) and illustrator are separate. Kate, as is expected, finds a 100% legitimate mistake in the art that nobody in th...

Were you British, you might find it downright odd that Betsy and Kate have chosen to do Raymond Brigg's wordless picture book in March. That is because in Britain this title is generally considered a Christmas classic. Here in the States not so much. You may also not expect that Betsy's conversation with Kate about this book will devolve into a very long and intense argument over whether or not Fr...

Betsy was wracking her brain to figure out what the best possible candidate might be as a contender for classic picture book status with an #ownvoices Indigenous creator. Generally speaking, when fishing for classics, Kate and Betsy like to look at books that have been out for 20 years. Today's title was published in 2000. Now the question of the day with this podcast is whether, in light of the t...

Generally speaking Kate and Betsy prefer dead people. Dead authors. Dead illustrators. But boy howdy do they like it when they have them come on as guests, so put a hash mark in the "Live" column. Back on October 30, 2017 Betsy made Kate read Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds (listen to it here: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2017/10/30/spooky-october-infused-fuse-8-n-kate-creepy-carrots-by-...

With the full and present knowledge that monkeys in children's literature are problematic to the extreme, Kate and Betsy tackle a book that involves a kind of animal that is professed to be a monkey but is, in fact, an ape, much like the problematic-in-his-own-way Curious George(seen on a previous episode). When Betsy was a new mom, she used today's book endlessly with my kids. Yet it was only rec...

Having successfully predicted one of the Caldecott Honors in a previous episode, Kate is quick to pop Betsy's puffed up ego right from the start of this week's recording. And good thing too, since the book being discussed is none other than that Reading Rainbow classic A Chair for My Mother. Betsy talks about some of the good narrative choices made by this book, while Kate talks about some of the...

"I have a big red dog. Accept the reality in which I live." Betsy had been avoiding Clifford all these years. Why? Because she always remembered the book as dull. So you've gotta hand it to Kate. Thanks to her the two find far more to talk about concerning Clifford than you ever thought possible. From Emily Elizabeth's fashion sense to why you wouldn't want to camp under his jowls to the logistics...

If you get your kicks out of Kate and Betsy disagreeing about books, today's episode may not be for you. Each year Betsy presents Kate with 2-3 Caldecott contenders. Which is to say, they discuss books that may or may not win the Caldecott Award (which will be handed out a week from today on Monday, January 27th at 8:00 ET here: http://ala.unikron.com/). This gives the two of them a chance to disc...

How old are we all that Trashy Town is 21 this year? Is it just us or does that seem like a very large number? Continuing to attempt to find storytime classics that librarians love, Betsy has Kate take a look at this readaloud classic. And, if you recall, Kate does not always take to storytime books. Many questions are raised in the course of the proceedings. Does Mr. Gilly work for the city? What...

This past weekend Betsy took a trip to the Chicago Children's Museum with her kids, and lo and behold she stumbled upon a Mo Willems exhibit currently showing. She marveled at how the show cleverly integrated elements of the artist's books with honestly good, interactive stations. In a nod to Mo's background in animation, for example, kids can turn (oddly sturdy) cranks which flip pages featuring...

It's the last day of Hanukkah and what better way to celebrate than with one book split into two parts? In 1990 Eric Kimmel adapted a story he'd written for Cricket Magazine to a picture book format and called it The Chanukkah Guest. Then, in 2013 he took that same Cricket Magazine tale and turned it into the slightly different Hanukkah Bear. One story. One author. Two different versions. Are they...

Today's book is sort of a favor to Kate and Betsy's mom. She's always been very fond of this particular telling of The Nativity, and it remains a favorite to this day. And it's so nice to return to Julie Vivas again! When last seen on this podcast we were looking at her book with Mem Fox called Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (found here: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/04/22/fuse-8-n...