"Nobody wants your bunny snot cake, buddy."

Betsy and Kate had done The Stinky Cheese Man on their podcast, but that still left a great big wolf-shaped hole in the canon. Time for Scieszka/Smith Part 2: Electric Boogaloo. In this episode Kate decides to take the Wolf at his word and, as you might expect, she find some holes in his defense. This guy would never be able to hold it together if that woman cross-examined him on the stand. As you might imagine, the sisters have a lot of fun with this one.

Show Notes:

Betsy just thinks Binge Boxes are a neat concept. If you'd like to see them in action, check out this posting from the Marion County Public Library System: https://mcpls.org/bingebox/

For the record, if you want a killer authentic version of The Three Little Pigs (though it cuts out the weird apple picking/fair going parts) try reading Yummy! by Lucy Cousins. http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2009/07/30/review-of-the-day-yummy-by-lucy-cousins/

Betsy didn't mention it, but she just loves this Sesame Street version of the story. Maybe that's just because she's House of Cards fan, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92NXMtVtv8o

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/09/09/fuse-8-n-kate-the-true-story-of-the-3-little-pigs-by-jon-scieszka-and-lane-smith

A British book just snuck into the pack. When Betsy picked it up from the library for Kate to read, she was positive that what they had on their hands was an American title through and through. Not as such. Mary Hoffman, a white British woman, wrote this back in 1991. It was also a Kate Greenaway Honor book when it was released, which is impressive. This book is not without its controversial elements, but in Betsy's library the only edition available was the reprinted 2015 edition. And, as you will see, that is probably for the best.

Show Notes:

- For a fun time, Google "Pantomimes about Aladdin" sometime. You will subsequently be taken to a wide world of very British holiday oddities.

I love this kid with his hand only partly up. Like he wasn't paying attention and isn't sure what everyone's volunteering for, but he doesn't want to be left out.

As mentioned, back in 2015 Amazing Grace was re-released, but the American editions (not the British editions?) quietly excised the illustration of Grace as Hiawatha. No announcement was made at the time. On her blog, Debbie Reese has the complete rundown and history of the controversy surrounding the image and the silence that accompanied its change. Mind you, this change might have appeared earlier. As Roger Sutton says in the comment section of Debbie's piece, "The U.S. edition of Amazing Grace has always been Dial. But what i don't know is whether the elimination of the Hiawatha picture happened with this anniversary edition or if the (American) publisher had removed it before--it's a book that's been through many years and printings, so this change might not be new. I just don't know." https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2015/10/big-news-about-hoffmans-amazing-grace.html

The book that's a lot like this one that's out this year is Not Quite Snow White by Ashley Franklin, illustrated by Ebony Glenn. When Betsy saw it this year she wondered if Amazing Grace had just been completely forgotten.

If you would like to hear what a Neanderthal sounds like, check out the RadioLab episode Asking for a Friend: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/asking-friend

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/09/02/fuse-8-n-kate-amazing-grace-by-mary-hoffman-ill-caroline-binch/

Summer is almost over, the children are off to school again, and those of us able to take last minute vacations are doing so with gusto. All this is to say that we figured now was a perfect time to release our first "minisode". We came up with the "minisode" name when we thought it would be shorter than our usual length. But then Betsy got it into her head to talk to renowned children's literature scholar Phil Nel for our first minisode and, naturally, it blossomed into a full-blown episode length. Still, when you hear all the things Phil has to say, you'll have to agree that it was worth it.

In this episode, Phil and Betsy discuss our previous episode regarding The Cat in the Hat. Phil is perhaps the best person to speak to on the subject, having edited The Annotated Cat in the Hat as well as writing the book Was the Cat in the Hat Black?

It's the 100th episode! Woohoo! After all this time it's finally come. The challenge of this episode of the podcast was to come up with a book for #100 that is widely known but that Betsy and Kate hadn't done already. And this book was waiting in the wings all along. Why? Because thanks to a great deal of scholarship out there on the topic, the "Cat" is no longer the simple beloved character he once was considered to be. This isn't an easy book to do, but Betsy and Kate manage it somehow.

Show Notes:

- Speaking of Cat in the Hat movies, let us not forget that some brave soul out there combined the trailer for IT with the Mike Myers version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztxEHtrgTRg

So what does the mom of this book think of all of this? All is explained in a New York Times piece called The Mom From 'The Cat in the Hat' Finally Speaks: https://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/the-mom-from-the-cat-in-the-hat-finally-speaks/

Books Mentioned on This Episode: The Annotated Cat in the Hat: Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats by Phil Nel and Was the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children's Literature and the Need for Diverse Books, also by Phil Nel.

As mentioned on the show, well worth reading is Jerry Griswold's piece on Medium called James Marshall, We Love You: https://medium.com/@jerrygriswold/james-marshall-we-love-you-ade0af961a7f.

Also look for the pieceThe Tiger Who Came to Tea Earns Stripes With an All-Star Cast: https://www.animationmagazine.net/tv/the-tiger-who-came-to-tea-earns-stripes-with-all-star-cast/

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/08/21/fuse-8-n-kate-the-cat-in-the-hat-by-dr-seuss/

This week's challenge from Kate: Deliver unto her a "classic picture book about divorce". So Betsy conferred with her fellow librarians and they all agreed that there is really only one that would fit the bill: A little number from 1986. There's a number of reasons for this selection. The book remains popular to this day. This book is still in print (have they updated the terms since its original publication? This is unclear). And, as Kate points out, this is clearly more a guide than something you might read cover-to-cover. So how has it aged over the years?

Show Notes:

- Here is the website of Ms. Laurene Krasny Brown. And here are her current and upcoming shows. Check one out if you have a chance: http://www.laurenekrasnybrown.com/

- To answer the question of whether or not divorce is up or down since 1986, we found this article from TIME Magazine, published last year: https://time.com/5434949/divorce-rate-children-marriage-benefits/

Here is a list of Recommended Divorce Picture Books, for those of you interested in books that are slightly more recent:

- Two Old Potatoes and Me by John Coy, ill. Carolyn Fisher

- Fred Stays With Me by Nancy Coffelt, ill. Tricia Tusa

- Here and There by Tamara Ellis Smith, ill. Evelyn Daviddi

- Why Do Families Change by Jillian Roberts, ill. Cindy Revell

- Living With Mom and Living With Dad by Melanie Walsh

For the complete Show Notes, please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/08/12/fuse-8-n-kate-dinosaurs-divorce-by-laurene-krasny-brown-ill-marc-brown/

Betsy had been meaning to do this, Eastman's third most famous easy book, and the first one he ever did on his own, for a while. Now, for years Betsy has believed that Eastman has illustrated "night" better than most artists. After this recording she feels justified in having felt this way.

Show Notes:

If you'd like to see all the ratings of this podcast, they are now avaiable for viewing at https://www.betsybirdbooks.com/lesson-plan

Curious about Kate's mention of Can Can Wonderland? You learn a lot more about it at https://www.cancanwonderland.com/

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/08/05/fuse-8-n-kate-sam-and-the-firefly-by-p-d-eastman/

ALERT! Before we begin, we'd like to make note that this is number 97 of our podcast so far. To celebrate our upcoming 100th we have (A) Created a Facebook page(found at https://www.facebook.com/Fuse8Kate) and (B) On Monday, August 5th at 8 p.m. CST we will record a Facebook Live episode of episode #100. So in case you've ever wanted to see the images of a "classic" picture book as Kate discovers them, now you can.

This week, we wonder something. Is Martha the better hippo? Hard to determine with a single George and Martha book, but we have some serious opinions on the matter. This week we discuss methods of hiding food you don't want to eat (when you're a grown-up), how "The Tub" was a pre-#MeToo story, and why Rev. Buck McTooth is truly a Doctor of Divinity. Listen for the great Kate line: "Look the woman may be vain but she makes you food, and she doesn't spy on YOU during YOUR private moments, so let her have her mirror!" She also notices that the book ends with Martha saying that friends tell you the truth, and the first story was about how hard it was for George to tell Martha the truth. That's how you do it, James. That's how you do it.

Show Notes:

This book clocked in at #48 on the Top 100 Picture Books Poll back in the day: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2012/05/29/top-100-picture-books-48-george-and-martha-by-james-marshall/

Here is the Tig Notaro show Kate was referring to. We found the first episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO1Sfb-j9FU

For the full Show Notes please visit us at http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/07/29/fuse-8-n-kate-george-and-martha-by-james-marshall/

It seems very odd to us that one of the most commercially successful children's books to ever be published in the United States has an almost entirely obscure author to its name. The mystery of Janette Sebring Lowrey hangs over our latest episode of this podcast. Neither Kate nor Betsy had ever read this book before, and yet it bragged back in 2001 of having sold nearly 15 million copies. The illustrator's wife even joked that the artist was pleased that he'd given the Bible a "run for its money". But is it actually any good? We consider The Poky Little Puppy on all his roly-poly glory.

Show Notes:

You could have a lot of fun reading the Gabriel Roth Slate article Why So Poky? The Scourge of Terrible Canonical Children's Books. Seemed pertinent to our podcast, don't you think? https://slate.com/culture/2015/06/the-poky-little-puppy-and-other-awful-canonical-childrens-books.html

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/07/22/fuse-8-n-kate-the-poky-little-puppy-by-janette-sebring-lowrey-ill-gustaf-tenggren/

Lists of "classic" picture books are often white white white, with the occasional racist inclusion. That's why I'm always on the lookout for picture books from the past that could be deemed "classic" and come from a variety of different perspectives and voices. When it occurred to Betsy the other day that she and Kate hadn't done Stevie yet on this show, she was a little mad at herself. It wasn't that the show hadn't done a Steptoe before (see: Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters) but this was the book that put the man on the map. And, as you will see, it became a huge deal.

Show Notes

Here is the editorial in Horn Book where Linda Sue Park points out that people have been doing the work to bring out children's books from a wide range of points of view for decades. https://www.hbook.com/?detailStory=editorial-try-to-remember-july-august-2019

Merriam-Webster defines "hobbledehoy" as "an awkward gawky youth." Nailed it, Betsy.

What are mickies and marshmallows in the park? A little help, folks.

You can read the kooky Kirkus review of the book here. What on EARTH is the only painting in the book doesn't work?!? https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-steptoe/stevie

As Betsy mentions, here is Gordon (Gordon with hair) on the Sesame Street episode from 1969 where he reads the book. Actor Matt Robinson's reading is amazing. We could watch this over and over all day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpbnKOlkjyc

Here is the blog post from Tales of an Elementary School Librarian called Waning Crescents and Wild Things that discusses the changes of the moon in Where the Wild Things Are: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpbnKOlkjyc

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/07/15/fuse-8-n-kate-stevie-by-john-steptoe/

Meet this week's special guest star, Lucy Knisley! To our infinite delight, when asked what book she'd like to do for the podcast she selected one we'd never done. Today's magnificent title is Shrek! We get to talk about whether or not Shrek is actually Superman, how the succulent wedding bouquet was ahead of its time, and what this book has in common with the film US.

Show Notes:

Here is the Salon article "Shrek" Is Not Shrek: https://www.salon.com/2001/05/24/anti_shrek/

While we were unable to find the 1996 Children's Circle Video "The William Steig Library", we were able to find this brief interview with the man in which he says he's not a good illustrator. Suuuuuuuure, buddy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k8TiUftKF0

Extra points to Macmillan for getting Stanley Tucci to do the audiobook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmUC7nsrzlg

The two ramen related books that are out in 2019 that are mentioned on the podcast are Let's Make Ramen by Hugh Amano and Sarah Becan and Magic Ramen: The Story of Momofuku Ando is by Andrea Wang, illustrated by Kana Urbanowicz.

For the full Show Notes please visit: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2019/07/08/fuse-8-n-kate-shrek-by-william-steig-with-special-guest-lucy-knisley/