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PODCAST

Fuse 8 n" Kate

Betsy Bird and Kate Ramsey

Two 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. Profile image by Andrea Tsurumi

kids & family

All Episodes

00:29:42

Episode 366 - The Going to Bed Book

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/06/09

The Queen of Board Books is in the house! I would argue that to be the board book king or queen, you need to work primarily in the genre of board book. And Sandra Boynton is that queen. Fight me. Now I agree that Moo, Baa, La La La might have been a better book to do today, but don't worry. We'll get to it eventually. Today, we look at one of my favorite Boyntons. It has everything! Running around! Evening exercise! Hidden pigs! We discuss the role of bedtime books for small children and whether or

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00:26:03

Episode 365 - Diary of a Worm

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/06/02

Back we return to the words of Doreen Cronin! We'd done her Click, Clack, Moo in the past (and Duck for President too), but not her other massively successful picture book series. This is also our first Harry Bliss book to boot. We go through all 18 different journal entries of this title and discuss its finer aspects. Along the way we speculate about dated elements like playing marbles and hats with fake arrows going through them. We discuss the history of this specific series. Finally we learn

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00:24:51

Episode 364 - Wolves

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/05/27

With Kate newly mommified, we try out recording our podcast with baby in tow to see how it goes. So if the episode is a little burbly this time around, you'll understand why. Along the way we also decide to do our VERY FIRST Emily Gravett title. Her debut no less! In reading it, Kate has to deal with this unexpected Kate Greenaway Medal winner and all that that entails. Now we know that a lot of you have been asking us to do Orange, Pear, Apple, Bear for some time. Be patient, my lovelies. We can't

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00:30:23

Episode 363 - Mr. Lunch Takes a Plane Ride

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/05/19

Periodically on the podcast we'll consider picture books that could be called "cult classics" in some manner. You know the type. Who Needs Donuts? The Lonely Doll. That sort of thing. They're books that may not be a part of the cultural zeitgeist but for a significant contingent of readers, they mean the world. Bill Canterbury was recently interviewed on Betsy's site in conjunction with the release of his new picture books, and he later sent me some suggestions for the podcast. As such, we thought

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00:27:18

Episode 362 - Baseball Saved Us

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/05/12

It's baseball season! And baby season! Kate just had a baby (her first!!) almost a month early, and now that she has her brain back in order, we're finally tackling a baseball picture book for the spring. Now to our minds, this book is significant because as a work of historical fiction, it was one of the first picture book titles for kids to address a moment in American history that we, as a nation, are not proud of. It's definitely our first Lee & Low book, and spurned on many other books for

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00:30:20

Episode 361 - Martha

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/04/28

Recently Kirkus Reviews came up with their own list of the Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far). And it seemed to Betsy that it would be a good idea if we tackled one of those books that neither of us knew. Looking into it, they included the 2005 title Martha by the illustrious and highly talented Gennady Spirin. This autobiographical title was never placed in the nonfiction section of any library, but it would fit in there perfectly by today's standards. Listen as we repeatedly mispronounce

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00:29:59

Episode 360 - It's Not Easy Being a Bunny

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/04/21

"I want to do something with my life, but with minimal effort." "He's the hero our children need today." Today, there is a mystery at work. For the past two years this 1983 beginner book publication has hit #1 on the Publishers Weekly list of top selling picture books around Easter time. But why? What caused this particular P.J. Funnybunny book to become quite so popular again? We endeavor to find out as we tackle today's title. It's not very Easter-y, but I guess bunnies will be bunnies. Along the

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00:29:26

Episode 359 - Leonardo the Terrible Monster

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/04/14

It's been a day or two since we did a Mo Willems book on the podcast (and you can believe I'm counting down the days until one of those Elephant & Piggie books turns 20). What absolutely kills me is that we did today's title in complete ignorance of the fact that it was recently adapted into an incredible looking stage production in D.C. with a Chicago-based theater company.... which just closed. Doggone it. This book is interesting for a number of reasons. First off, Mo Willems had already done a

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00:30:33

Episode 358 - I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/04/06

Kirkus released its list of the Best Picture Books of the 21st Century and we wanted to do one of the books they included! So Betsy went to GREAT LENGTHS to get her hands on today's book. Folks... she had to go all the way.... to Skokie. That doggone beautiful library system. But it was worth it! Our very first Lauren Child is on the podcast! We talk about how Charlie and Lola were the Bluey of their day, weird Girl Scouts, and we'll tell you that our own picky eating definitely comes to the

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00:31:34

Episode 357 - Llama Llama Red Pajama

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/03/30

It's the 20th anniversary of the publication of Llama Llama Red Pajama, and you know how we've chosen to celebrate? With none other than Anna Dewdney's own daughters, that's how! Berol and Cordelia Dewdney join us as we explore a Llama Llama book for the very first time. For the full show notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2025/03/31/fuse-8-n-kate-llama-llama-red-pajama-by-anna-dewdney-with-special-guest-stars-berol-and-cordelia-dewdney/

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00:29:05

Episode 356 - Ducky

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/03/23

Remember when I was constantly trying to find picture books with tidal waves in them for Kate? Somebody somewhere (forgive me for not writing it down) suggested we try good old Ducky from 1997. It's been a day or two since I picked up the book, so I gave it a whirl and discovered that it would definitely be an interesting title for the old podcast here. As such, we're talking rubber ducks, plastic waste, cut paper, and shark sympathy on the old podcast today. Also, this has GOT to be our most

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00:31:10

Episode 355 - Fin M'Coul

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/03/16

Happy St. Patrick's Day! You know, this year our library decided to reassess their holiday section and in the course of things St. Patrick's Day got booted from the roster. Why? Because, to be perfectly frank, the number of decent St. Patrick's Day books that come out for kids in a given year is next to none. Smaller than small. For that reason (and because we've covered SO MANY of the usual suspects on our podcast already) Betsy decided to turn once again to the classic fable of Finn McCool or Fin

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00:27:37

Episode 354 - The Maggie B.

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/03/09

Kate gave Betsy a challenge and Betsy.... kinda met it? We've somehow managed to do two picture books in a row on the podcast that involved tidal waves. Betsy was charged with finding a third. To her utter amazement, today's book was not one that we'd done before. Time to buckle up, folks! Kate and Betsy haven't disagreed about a book so much in quite a while. We talk His and Her Preciousses, whether or not apple trees are "insufficiently whimsical", and the degree to which Margaret here is off the

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00:28:13

Episode 353 - Lost and Found

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/03/02

How is it we've never done an Oliver Jeffers book on this podcast? Well, that stops today, folks. Kate wanted something light and goofy, and by gum we'd say this book fills the bill. First off, it came out in 2005 (which means it just barely crests our 20-year rule). Second, it's cute and it's what, we truly believe, put Oliver Jeffers on the map in America. Today we're talking about penguins in all their myriad forms. Kate challenges Betsy to think of another picture book with a tidal wave and so

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00:31:05

Episode 352 - The Rainbabies

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/02/23

Let the record show that Kate cut out a very long discussion of how much Betsy dislikes bidets from the beginning of this podcast (and Betsy disagrees with this choice but, to be honest, it was a kind of an odd way to start a children's literature podcast episode). Today's book, while it does involve butts, is more about teeny tiny babies. We discuss hot bidet seats, what Jim LaMarche owes to Chris Van Allsburg, adorable weasels, and more.For the full Show Notes please visit:

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00:28:52

Episode 351 - Zen Shorts

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/02/16

The world is in turmoil. On fire. In a terrible state. As such, it seemed a fairly good time to revisit a Jon J. Muth book that would go on to create multiple sequels as well as a series on Apple TV. And its topic? A kind of Zen mindfulness concerning the world in which we live. We're in the mood for a little contemplation and this book serves to answer that need. Along the way we're more than happy to discuss what does and doesn't hold up in this book and whether or not it deserves to be considered

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00:30:06

Episode 350 - When Marian Sang

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/02/08

Just in time for Black History Month we're tackling a number of firsts on our podcast. Our first Pam Muñoz Ryan book. Our first Brian Selznick book. And while this isn't our first picture book biography, we've done relatively few over the years. Old nonfiction picture books age so poorly sometimes but this title had some incredible backmatter, even by 2025 standards. We discuss how this book has "sepia with depth" yet somehow manages not to be boring looking, and how we'd love to be remembered as

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00:30:11

Episode 349 - The Story of Jumping Mouse

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/01/25

We return to John Steptoe once again today, though with perhaps a more complicated title than many of his that we've done before. We discuss at length whether or not this book can legitimately call itself "A Native American legend" and what that does for a contemporary read. This book won itself a Caldecott Honor. Did it deserve it? We have a lot of other questions as well. Does the magic frog have an angle here? Where does the fat old mouse fit into it? Is the aforementioned Magic Frog just Glinda

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00:30:12

Episode 348 - Fox All Week

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/01/19

Sometimes everything comes together so beautifully. Kate had been asking for a while for Betsy to come up with a fox-related picture book title in which the fox wasn't evil. Meanwhile, Jerrold Connors has been creating a picture book biography of James Marshall called JIM! (which Betsy interviewed him about this past week) in which Jim is portrayed as his famous fox character. The time just seemed right to put these two things together. The James Marshall Fox series had multiple volumes, so which

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00:38:15

Episode 347 - Caldecott Contenders

Fuse 8 n" Kate ·

2025/01/12

Hooray! With the ALA Youth Media Awards on the near horizon (Monday, January 27th at 8 a.m. MT to be precise) it's never been a better time to debate some possible winners of the Caldecott Award. Today, I hand over to Kate an unprecedented FOUR possible contenders (rather than my usual three)! Will she opt for the vibrant father-daughter vibes of My Daddy Is a Cowboy, the rainbow wry-wit of Touch the Sky, the luminous family-centric storytelling of Joyful Song, or the heartfelt sincerity of Home in

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