Fuse 8 N' Kate

"I'm sorry, you're PROUD? What are you 'proud' of exactly? Your family owned slaves, killed Native Americans, fought for the Confederacy, and almost killed a parrot! So I don't know what you're proud of!!!" Those of you familiar with today's book are whistling under your breath and saying quietly, "Here we go." Those of you unfamiliar? Prepare to meet the very first book on this podcast to receive the lowest rating we have ever assigned. If we could give negative numbers, we would. Inarguably the most offensive Caldecott Award winner to date, Kate requested that we do a stinker and Betsy? Betsy overdelivered. Show Notes: As far as Betsy is concerned, this post on the blog Collecting Children's Books is the seminal text on They Were Strong and Good: http://collectingchildrensbooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/they-were-strong-and-good-enough-for.html For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2022/04/11/fuse-8-n-kate-they-were-strong-and-good-by-robert-lawson/

The other day a documentary film crew came to Betsy's library. They were creating a movie on American picture books through the decades and, at one point, they needed some b-roll of some of the better known picture books out there. So they hit the usual titles like Harold and the Purple Crayon and Millions of Cats. They worked in some Perez Y Martina and Stevie. And then they asked if they could do Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young. That got Betsy to thinking that, crazy as it sounds, she and Kate have never done that one. Has it aged well in the intervening 30 years since it was first published? Find out! Show Notes: Here is Ed Young's very good website. Check out the full run of his books, particularly the oldest ones: https://www.edyoungart.com/ For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8producti.wpengine.com/2022/04/04/fuse-8-n-kate-seven-blind-mice-by-ed-young/

Oh, Danny Boy! St. Patrick’s Day is nigh and Betsy is feeling pretty smug about the fact that she actually reserved a St. Patty’s Day title (sorta) weeks in advance so that she’d have something to do with Kate. And voila! Justification! Kate loves it! It helps that it stars a “Kate” and our Kate recently tried (and failed) to dye her hair the color on this cover. In any case, today we delve a bit into Mr. Talbott’s influences but mostly have a high old time discussing cow side-eye, cats singing Danny Boy, and why this ending rules. Show Notes: This was the best Betsy could find when Kate asked for cats singing Danny Boy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5N68I2bsZM Kate Recommends: The "What's More Punk Than the Public Library" t-shirt, which you can find here: https://mtpfriends.bigcartel.com/product/what-s-more-punk-adult-t-shirt Betsy Recommends: The three library videos she's been working on for the past year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng5G9XLZIeI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01oq0KpNzYo&t=2

This week it's time for a CULT CLASSIC!!! If last week's book was incredibly well-known, this one is not, but it is FABULOUS. And, as you will learn, it utterly and completely charmed Kate, which is tough to accomplish. Consider it a book about feeling embarrassed and worried about your parental units in equal measures. Are you ready for the weirdness? Then enjoy småpapporna galore! Show Notes: Kate Recommends: Come From Away, the musical -https://www.broadwayinchicago.com/show/come-from-away-2020/ Betsy Recommends: The Bologna Book Fiar - https://www.bolognachildrensbookfair.com/en/home/878.html Care to listen to the book in its original Swedish? Well you can see it in its entirety here. And the title, oh yes oh yes, is Else-Marie och småpapporna: https://youtu.be/Y3rSzEG5US0 And here is Pija herself being interviewed about the book!! Anyone care to translate the best parts for us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRxogNkwRRg And is she still making books? She is! Just check out this interview from Octo

While we've been doing some superb picture books as of late, but it's been a while since we've done a particularly famous one. So for a small change of pace we're doing a Big Name today. The kind where your library might have nine copies in its main location. And, bonus, it's not one by Seuss. Peggy Rathmann giveth again to us today with the irrepressible Officer Buckle and the adorable Gloria. We expected many things to occur during our talk but we did not expect for this podcast to devolve into such long conversations about bananas. It may amuse you to hear that Kate made Betsy banana bread at their next Game Night after we recorded this. Sheesh. Show Notes: Betsy calls Peggy Rathmann "the Gary Larson of picture books". Why? Ms. Rathmann walks away from a marvelous picture book career to live with John Wick. Not even kidding about that. And as Betsy mentions on the podcast, there was a piece in On Pasture called Meet Someone Making A Difference to Agriculture and the Climate. So, basically, she's saving t

We just had a blast last week with our Valentine's Day picture book Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch, so where next to go? Clearly, this would be the best time to turn our sights upon the upcoming President's Day. So what better book, I ask of you, could we do than Caldecott Award winner So You Want to Be President? Penned by Judith St. George (who was doing non-fiction for kids in the 70s when it was a particularly uncommon job) and illustrated by David Small (of Long Road to the Circus fame), we determine what has aged well with this book and what is glaringly missing (no mention of how many presidents owned slaves?!?). We also speculate about the fact that it won a Caldecott Award the same year as 9/11, but months in advance and how it sort of prefaced a whole wave of nationalism that would occur later. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2022/02/14/fuse-8-n'-kate:-so-you-want-to-be-president?-by-judith-st-george,-ill-david-small/

You know, for as long as this podcast has been going on, we have never attempted to find a classic Valentine's Day book. It's a tricky proposition. We've done some pseudo-appropriate books like The Pigs' Wedding and The Marzipan Pig. But Betsy thought maybe we should try something love-related that is not hog-related. "It's about a human and it's about love . . . and he's balding. Three for three." This is a book that allows us to question what love truly is. Is love when people only appreciate you for what you can do for them? Or is it something more? Come join us for a journey through cheese and mustard sandwiches and brownies (not together). Stay, if only to hear how Kate reads the line, "I do believe somebody loves me after all," (you'll adore how she does it). Show Notes: Hector Elizondo reads Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch (a.k.a. the storytime you didn't know you needed): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGAS_Aj85cA Interested in Aaron Becker's trailer for his latest board book? Look here: https://bl

The 2022 ALA YMA Awards were filled with firsts. The first Caldecott Honor or Award winner that's posthumous! The first LGBTQIA+ Honor and Stonewall Honor co-winner (to say nothing of its National Book Award Honor)! And all this reminded Betsy of a "first" from the past. Who was the first Black African-American winner of the Caldecott to win the Award two years in a row? That's right, we're returning to Leo and Diane Dillon. The first Caldecott Award going to a Black man was for Leo and Diane Dillon's Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears. But the SECOND Award went the very next year to the Dillons' work on Ashanti to Zulu: African Traditions. We consider this second Dillon win and find time to indulge in a discussion on why the Sibert Award should be renamed the Cyborg Award (as is right). Show Notes: The bird mentioned in this book but that neither Betsy nor Kate could remember is (naturally enough) the honeybird. This is a bird that leads different animals to sources of honey so that it can have a taste.

Every year Betsy presents Kate with three Caldecott contenders. And not to brag, but this show has had a pretty good track record. Betsy only shows her three titles, but in 2021 the two discussed We Are Water Protectors which inevitably won an Award and in 2020 they discussed Going Down Home With Daddy, which won an Honor. Will their streak continue? Or will they do as poorly as they did in 2019? Only time will tell. Now let us all chant together: "Beret That Snake!" "Beret That Snake!" "Beret That Snake!" Show Notes: Be sure to follow the ALA Youth Media Awards here on Monday, January 24th at 8 CST. Link to my Pre-Game Show to come. Stay tuned: https://ala.unikron.com/ Kate Recommends: HomeChef - https://www.homechef.com/the-best?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=brand&voucher=3GA90&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoY-PBhCNARIsABcz770QP3kdVq85ul-A2BfrgPeq2aJY1mBPjpiiWmi4kgBOpCMj8syU-eAaAjpxEALw_wcB Betsy Recommends: The 99% Invisible episode Mini-Stories: Volume 13 section on The Jazz Cup: https://99percenti

Maybe Betsy figured that this would be an easy win with Kate since her name is already in the title. So far, Betsy has failed to locate Kate's request of an older picture book classic that contains anyone wearing a mohawk. Perhaps this comes as a close second? And as we say in the episode, the art in this book suggests so much backstory. We discuss inappropriate bidet designs, the first appearance of birth control pills in a picture book, faux Birks, and more. Show Notes: Betsy just wanted to report in that while she did search high and low to find some sort of online version of Bob Graham's French comic strip Les Belles Histoires, nothing came up. Search engine fail! Kate Recommends: Streaming the old Hercule Poirot episodes starring David Suchet on YouTube for free. Betsy Recommends: Buzz Spector, the conceptual artist, will be presenting at the Rockford Art Museum in Rockford, Illinois in early February. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2022/01/10/fuse-8-n-

Happy New Year! It's a new year, but the same old blog, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Today we kick off with a book that we describe on this episode as, "Handed to me in the good faith that we wouldn't like it." A friend alerted Betsy to that old 1999 picture book Hooway for Wodney Wat. Published before bullying became the issue in our schools that it is today, her friend said that this title may not have aged particularly well in the intervening 23 years. Or, as we say at one point, "If your book makes fun of a speech impediment, maybe don't write that book." Today, we're looking at our first Lester/Munsinger collaboration and its take on rhoticism. Show Notes: If you're looking for that particularly good book about stuttering that Betsy mentions in this episode, please check out I Talk Like a River by Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith: https://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2020/08/27/review-of-the-day-i-talk-like-a-river-by-jordan-scott-ill-sydney-smith/ Betsy Recommends: Don't Look Up,

"The Secret Garden meets Donnie Darko". Kate would like to warn you that Betsy is a bit of a "Debby Downer" in this episode. This may have something to do with the fact that her immediate family came down with COVID and she had to cancel their trip to DisneyWorld. Of course, you can't keep a good talk about odd picture books of the past down! In the episode the sisters discuss everything from whether or not the bunny in Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present betrays Maurice Sendak's love of Mickey Mouse (and suggests he was more of a Bugs Bunny fan)to his pack-a-day voice. Show Notes: Good old Slap Happy Larry takes a real deep deep dive into Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present discussing everything from whether or not Mr. Rabbit is a Pooka or owes anything to that great big invisible rabbit Harvey: https://www.slaphappylarry.com/mr-rabbit-lovely-present-sendak-zolotow/ Betsy Recommends: The podcast Sawbones - https://maximumfun.org/podcasts/sawbones/ Kate Recommends: Fear City on Netflix: https://www.netflix.c

Merry Christmas Eve! By gum we're going to do at least one holiday book this month, if it kills us. Heck, for that matter, why not go local? You see, Kate and Betsy both live in Evanston, Illinois and it just so happens that one of the most famous Christmas songs out there started its life as a children's book by an Evanston author! Yes indeed, we doing a deep dive into Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer today circa 1939. And not just any book, but a reprint of the original story (pre-song and pre-television adaptation) that was handed out for free in department stores all those years ago. How does it hold up to modern scrutiny? Only one way to find out: Show Notes: Kate would like to correct her earlier statement that this scene is set in Chicago (though Chicago is mentioned). That said, here's the scene she refers to, early on in our show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxtLxqBolJI FURTHER CORRECTION: At one point in the podcast Betsy says that Robert L. May wrote the book for Marshall Fields. She then almo

Hanukkah ends today and do you know what happened? We missed our chance to do a Hanukkah picture book on the show (and I've one on order but it won't come in in time). So, feeling guilty, I thought we should do a good Jewish children's picture book classic. And to my horror, somehow it took us 207 episodes for me to realize that we didn't do today's book. Are you ready to hear us right a great wrong? Because it's Simms Taback time! Yes, the man who designed the world's first Happy Meal is here with a GOLD Caldecott Medal. "Look at how it gleams in all its goldy goldiness!" Kate digs deep into the Sholom Aleichem references and we both thoroughly enjoy how well Simms sticks that ending. Enjoy! Show Notes: Yeah. You know you want to hear the song they sang in the Weston Woods video (which, I should note, according to Kate is NOT the same tune as the one printed on the sheet music at the back of the book): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZ37_s7X3jA For the full Show Notes please visit: https://blogs.slj.com/

Starring . . . MOM! Yes indeed. Susan Blackwell Ramsey herself has come to guest star. Thanksgiving arrived and Kate had the brilliant notion that she and Betsy should take advantage of their #1 fan and finally do one of her favorite picture books (the one they've always avoided). So, if you've ever listened to our podcast and thought to yourself, "These two ladies sound too similar. I wish there was a THIRD voice that sounded a lot like both of them to join in," then your prayers have been answered! In short, if you'd like to hear two daughters ribbing their mom, this is the podcast episode for YOU! Show Notes: Mom and Betsy discuss a Slate article that provides a rather magnificent rundown of the history of Donald Hall's poem and its transformation into a book. It does not, however, include the info about his Caldecott Room loo: https://slate.com/culture/2018/07/how-donald-hall-changed-ox-cart-man-from-the-poem-to-the-childrens-book.html Here's the Reading Rainbow episode where Lorne Green reads Ox-C

After his recent death, Betsy wanted to do a book with Kate that paid homage to Jerry Pinkney. But having already done Mirandy and Brother Wind and Sam and the Tigers, why not go in a different direction? Jerry was a huge fan of fairy tales, and Little Red Riding Hood has always stood out as one of his more interesting books. Setting the book in winter was a fascinating choice, maybe even a challenge, for the artist. The storyline is very faithful to the original Grimm tale with some notable changes. This book is peak Pinkney. But is it classic enough in the end? Only one way to find out. Show Notes: Betsy mentions in the course of the show that a big influence on Jerry was cartoonist John J. Liney, who worked on the "Little Henry" comic strips. William H. Foster, author of the book Looking for a Face Like Mine: The History of African Americans in Comics offers this piece Henry: Not Black Like Me to argue that the strip was less racist than its contemporaries. Not sure if the examples he cites completely ba

Thinly veiled racism! Drug-sniffing monkeys (that are actually apes)! Roving hoards of wiener dogs! A Cervantes-esque arc! Oh, we have just loads to talk about in this episode, that's for sure. More questions are raised than answered in this latest episode of Fuse 8 n' Kate and that's okay. We return to the world of Curious George with all its peculiarities. There's a lot to discuss here and we're ready for it. Show Notes: Be sure to check out this year's fabulous picture book, Strollercoaster. Yay, crediting spouses that color! This is the moment when I need to praise Furious George by Michael Rex, which is the only picture book to make perfectly clear what's really going on in this and other Curious George books. We do urge you to seek out and read The Unexpected Profundity of Curious George by Rivka Galchen for The New Yorker which touches on many of the issues we've mentioned here: https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-unexpected-profundity-of-curious-george For the full Show Notes please

Now starring special guest, Ian Lendler!! Author of 2021's new picture book Nia and the New Free Library, and creator of such books I've adored as The Fabled Life of Aesop and the Stratford Zoo comics, to name but a few. Once in a while we'll have a guest on. Of course the challenge is for our guests to come up with potentially "classic" picture books that we haven't done already. But when Ian and I talked about having him on the show, the book he mentioned was Bill and Pete, a.k.a. a book that I myself didn't really know all that well. Now we already did Strega Nona and Oliver Button is a Sissy, so this will make our third Tomie dePaola book to date. But that's okay. We loved that guy. And now we get to talk about the weird dynamic between these two friends, its David Lynch-esque dream sequences, and how this is, as Kate calls it, "Bill and Pete's Excellent Adventure". Show Notes: Here's where you can find the Strega Nona is a Not a Communist post we mentioned: https://www.gawker.com/culture/strega-nona-i

The final Halloween-inspired episode of October is always a bittersweet time. And once more, pity Betsy's sister. Betsy happened to notice that there's a Clifford the Big Red Dog film out in theaters at the moment and it got her to thinking. Clifford = creator Norman Bridwell. And didn't Norman Bridwell do a Halloween book of his own once? One that Betsy happened to remember from her own childhood? Alas for Kate, this means that the show is doing a THIRD witch and broom-related picture book in a row. We're in a witch rut! We can only do witches!! Show Notes: -It's not fancy, but if ever you want to create a Witch Next Door cupcake, here's the recipe: https://sprinklesofhistory.com/witch-next-door-cupcakes/ -Kate Recommends: Muppets Haunted Mansion: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14602326/ - Kate Also Recommends: The Haunted Mansion Game: https://www.funko.com/shop/details/disney-haunted-mansion-call-of-the-spirits-game - Betsy Recommends: Evanston Public Library's 101 Great Books for Kids: https://www.epl.

"If this really is the ghost of the broom, I hope it hacks the men to pieces!" The search for potential Halloween classics continues!! This week Kate and Betsy turned their eyes back to good old Chris Van Allsburg. Previously seen on a Halloween-centric episode of the show with The Stranger, he has returned! This book is from 1992, and it's had a relative amount of success. What Kate and Betsy end up loving about it, though, is how female-centric it is. It's all about women helping women helping women. Look at how the men in the book are even treated. A fascinating tale that passes the Bechdel-Wallace Test with flying colors. Show Notes: Please, if you get a chance, you MUST check out Slap Happy Larry's relatively recent blog post The Widow’s Broom by Chris Van Allsburg Picturebook Analysis. This will occupy you all day, and is a great deep dive into the subject matter: https://www.slaphappylarry.com/widows-broom-chris-van-allsburg-picture-book/ If you're interested in this claim that there's a bog not fa