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
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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!…
"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…
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 Truth be told, we're less interested in the Seuss connection than by the outdated terminology in a supposed book for early readers ("bureau…
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…
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…
This week Kate and Betsy take a trip back in time to 1938. We were trepidatious, and can you blame us? Considering the era and the fact that James Daugherty created the first (and only? unclear) Newbery winner to be completely out-of-print due to shockingly overt racism, we entered into Andy and the Lion tentatively. Betsy remembered it as beloved of New York Public Library. Justifiably? This and…
"The text placing is NOT conventional!" Fresh off the 2026 American Library Association we're happy to discuss our very first Peter Sis title. We're going to begin our Sisification with one of his (relatively) younger books. In its heyday, I recall that New York Public Library absolutely adored this book. They loved its multicultural take and feel. But if we've learned anything from Schoolhouse…
Sure, we missed it by a couple days, but it's never too late to lift a glass in honor of Juneteenth. Betsy was determined to figure out what the very first Juneteenth picture book published by a major publisher was, and we think we've found our answer. The kicker is that not only did this book come out in 1995, it was the very first picture book by future multi-award winner Carole Boston…
It's PRIDE MONTH!!! And we've done many a fine LGBTQIA+ book during the year. But this book series, while not considered queer during its initial publication, has since been embraced by the gay community and, as such, we seek to celebrate it here today. Of all the Frog and Toad books in the series (there are four) this was the only one to garner a Newbery Honor (NOT Caldecott... and isn't that…
Rambunctious? Bumbling? It's hard to typify the sheep in this Nancy Shaw series (though their publisher has certainly tried over the years). The darlings of the 80s and 90s, "Sheep" appreciation has depreciated significantly over the intervening decades. Today, Kate and I delve into two of the most notable of the sheep book to truly declare whether they deserve a bit of classic status to keep them…
