Stay ConnectedTwo sisters, one in L.A. and one in NYC, both move to the Chicago area and start a podcast. The premise? Picture books and are they really that great? Join Kate and Fuse 8 (Betsy Bird) as they track down a picture book “classic” each episode and try to determine if it deserves to remain in the canon of children’s literature.
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Can you believe it! Can this really be happening? It has taken years but at long last Kate and Betsy have hit their 400th episode of our podcast Fuse 8 n' Kate!!! Their Quatercentenary! Now they've had a variety of special guests in the past. Jon Scieszka. Aaron Reynolds. Lucy Knisley. But today they're bringing on their sister podcast (brother podcast?) from SLJ. That's right, the hosts of The Yarn, Travis Jonker and Colby Sharp, are joining us for the biggest recording to date. We needed to find a book worthy of such a moment. What's a groundbreaking title that challenged assumptions and made everyone say at the same time, "What really IS a picture book?" Our answer seemed obvious. At Colby and Travis's suggestion, there could be only one. You can see the full show notes here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/02/23/its-our-400th-episode-fuse-8-n-kate-welcomes-colby-sharp-and-travis-jonker-from-the-yarn-to-discuss-the-invention-of-hugo-cabret/
In a dual celebration of Black History Month and Valentine's Day, Betsy figured the logical connection came in the form of Eloise Greenfield's Honey I Love. But which version? Turns out that there's the original book, illustrated by the Dillons (Leo and Diane, obviously) and then the titular poem from that book was republished as a book in and of itself a bit later. Now initially Betsy envisioned this episode as a dual book review via Kate. What became almost immediately clear was that the best book to consider (for our particular podcast) is the more recent 2003 version of this poem. Why did we choose it? And why do we think it's worth noting? We discuss Betsy's issues with Ash Wednesday, baby teeth, messed up babydolls, and much much more. For the full Show Notes, please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/02/16/fuse-8-n-kate-honey-i-love-by-eloise-greenfield-ill-jan-spivey-gilchrist/
Poor Betsy had a bit of a mix-up. In her defense, she had her reasons. Anyone who is familiar with the Children's Literature Association Phoenix Awards may be aware that they reward children's books that didn't receive major awards when they first came out, but 20 years later they can now. And Not a Box by Antoinette Portis is the most recent winner of the 2026 Phoenix Picture Book Award. Pretty cool, right? So Betsy figured it would be an ideal book to do with Kate this week... without ... checking..... the pub date. Yeah. Turns out, Not a Box came out in 2007, not 2006. So, technically, we are breaking our 20 year rule. But only because Betsy trusted the Phoenix Picture Book Award committee to also do their homework. We're sure they had their reasons. We just should have done our own home work as well. Good thing it's a fascinating book. For the full Show Notes please see them here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/02/09/fuse-8-n-kate-not-a-box-by-antoinette-portis/
At last! We finally pounce upon the third and final David Wiesner Caldecott Award winning title! Having already covered Tuesday and The Three Pigs (which we promptly forgot that we'd already discussed) it seemed only fitting that we'd move on to the third title in The Wiesner Triumvirate (and can you believe that it's 20 years old?!?). Today, it's all about the fish. Fish and photography, baby. We discuss how hot fluorescent pink is the official color of the 2026 Caldecott winners, definitions of both "flotsam" and "jetsam", how digital prints at Walgreens are immune to inflation, and the difficulty of conveying a storyline this complex solely through pictures rather than words. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/02/02/fuse-8-n-kate-flotsam-by-david-wiesner/
Initially, this was supposed to be an entirely different episode altogether. I had somehow managed to convince myself that we hadn't done The Three Pigs by David Wiesner on this podcast before. In truth? We did that precise book on May 13, 2024 (so, yeah, not actually all that long ago). My bad, folks. My bad. In a pinch we had to find a replacement and, because Kate is now mother to a small child, we had title on hand that (A) I love and (B) we've never done before. We discuss this teeny tiny board book which, we would like to point out, ALSO has three pigs on the cover! It was fate to do this title. For the full Show Notes please go to https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/01/26/fuse-8-n-kate-moo-baa-la-la-la-by-sandra-boynton/
Every year, Kate and Betsy do one Caldecott prediction post for their podcast. Betsy hands over THREE books that she thinks are contenders. Then the two discuss and predict which ones might win the big awards. They usually manage to get at least one Honor (and last year they got two!). This year we're pretty confident that at least one of these three books will win something on Monday. Trouble is, Kate never seems to have the same reactions to these stories that Betsy does. Listen up and you'll see why. Get ready for a discussion about the significance of cardinals, font sizes, and how one of these books is clearly sponsored by Big Monday. For the full Show Notes, please read on here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/01/20/fuse-8-n-kate-caldecott-contenders-2026/
In preparation for the upcoming holiday (on Monday) we are FINALLY tackling what I (spoiler alert) consider to be the one, the only, the BEST book on MLK ever to grace a picture book page. Published in 2001, we right a great wrong and finally tackle this most eminent of titles. Along the way we talk about why the heck it lost to another book for the Caldecott Gold (I've a theory that the true winner was, what Betsy likes to call, a "compromise book"), its beauty, its legacy, and more. Please see the full Show Notes here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/01/14/fuse-8-n-kate-martins-big-words-by-doreen-rappaport-ill-bryan-collier/
Happy New Year! We start 2026 off with a puzzle: How can four people all work on the same picture book at the same time? And why? What's the process, and how on earth do you embroider every page? When Kate told Betsy she wanted a New Year's book, she failed to specify precisely what kind of New Year's. And since the Vietnamese new year of Tet occurs in January/February, Betsy took that as permission to finally tackle this fascinating 2003 publication. We go over our past predictions and resolutions, Tet, bananas, embroidery, and what a "leather mouse" might be. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/01/05/fuse-8-n-kate-ten-mice-for-tet-by-pegi-dietz-shea-cynthia-weill-to-ngoc-trang-and-pham-viet-dinh/
It's a Christmas book! It's a Hanukkah book! It's a Christmas AND a Hanukkah book! And a Patricia Polacco book as well. She's back, baby. Will Kate be charmed by the message of this inclusive title or will other elements win out in the end? We discuss the grammatical components of when one "thrills", continuity errors, kosher menorahs, and more! For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/12/22/fuse-8-n-kate-the-trees-of-the-dancing-goats-by-patricia-polacco/
On the first day of my podcast my true love gave to me... Jan Brett! Yes, we're in the thick of the holiday season now, and what better way to kick off our holiday picture booking than with, not simply a Christmas classic song/book, but a classic picture book creator as well! Brett last appeared on our podcast in an episode on The Mitten. Since then she's been strangely AWOL from our discussions. All that changes today, as we talk about why anyone would put a wig on a bird, what a "milk parties" might consist of, whether a "lord" needs to capitalize their title, and so much more. For the full Show Notes, please read on here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/12/15/fuse-8-n-kate-the-twelve-days-of-christmas-by-jan-brett/
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