Fuse 8 n' Kate

Suggested alternate title for this text: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished.

Our very first Brian Pinkney! Are you surprised? So am I, quite frankly. Even thought we've done multiple Jerry Pinkney books at this point (Mirandy and Brother Wind, John Henry, Little Red Riding Hood, Goin' Someplace Special, etc.) I thought for sure we might have at least done Sukey and the Mermaid or something, but nope! Not as such. Today, then, we tackle our very first Brian P. text, and we're not starting small. This book? It's a doozy. For the full Show Notes please read on here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/08/17/fuse-8-n-kate-the-adventures-of-sparrowboy-by-brian-pinkney/

"Distinctive and it always looks like this." That's Betsy discussing the artistic stylings of Jack E. Davis. Published in 2000, this book is pretty quintessentially early 00's. Now we have never done a Margie Palatini OR a Jack E. Davis on this podcast to date. Neither of these two have any currently operating and working websites either, so in some ways we're flying by the seat of our pants in this episode. Happily there is MUCH in this book to capture Kate's attention. An oddly mysterious little title. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/08/10/fuse-8-n-kate-bedhead-by-margie-palatini-ill-jack-e-davis/

Upon hearing that Jon Klassen was hugely affected by this book as a kid (fascinating when you consider how opposite it is from his latest title The House with Nobody In It), we felt it was time to revisit this old 1972 easy book to see how it stands up. Truth be told, we're less interested in the Seuss connection than by the outdated terminology in a supposed book for early readers ("bureau drawer"?!?). "Seuss knew what he was doing with Cat in the Hat. I guess he sort of lost it at this point." We talk about how the book is, at times, "adorably dated," and how this is different from The Cat in the Hat because, at least in that case, the Cat cleans up after itself!!! For the full Show Notes, please read on here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/08/04/fuse-8-n-kate-in-a-people-house-by-dr-seuss-ill-roy-mckie/

Dreamlike and surreal, it may not be as well remembered as some of the other 1980s picture books that typify the era (particularly those written by Chris Van Allsburg) but there's something luminous about this cult classic picture book. Will Kate be drawn to its gentle peculiarities or dislike them entirely? We talk about how gutsy it is to do three wordless two-page spreads, murder hornets, and what Berger owes to Magritte. For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/07/20/fuse-8-n-kate-grandfather-twilight-by-barbara-berger/

When you've worked for a system quite as large and vast as New York Public Library, it can be difficult to ascertain scope. Was Library Lion the massive nationwide hit Betsy thought it was when it premiered in 2006, or did her workplace like it only because it featured a library and a lion (two very NYPL-ish things)? To get to the bottom of the matter she brings in Kate, and together they plumb the depths of this sweet tale of feline bibliographic appreciation. This marks our second Kevin Hawkes title on the podcast (the first being Weslandia) and our first Michelle Knudsen.