Cover of Fuse 8 n' Kate

Fuse 8 n' Kate

Fuse 8 n' Kate

By: Betsy Bird and Kate Atienza
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Summary
 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 TsurumiAll rights reserved
Episodes
  • Episode 432 - Fletcher and Zenobia

    Episode 432 - Fletcher and Zenobia
    9 Nov 2026
    A book of mysteries! Betsy thought that this was the second New York Review Books reprint we'd done on our show, but it appears to have been our very first. We couldn't find anything about the story behind this book (how did Gorey agree to do a book with someone else and how did he and Chess know one another?). All we know is that it's interesting. Plus it has a Rick Riordan quote on the back that reads, "When I was young, my favorite picture book was Fletcher and Zenobia." In any case, this little charmer is a strange puppy, but nice nonetheless. If you've a hankering to see what happens when Chess and Gorey work together, here's your chance. We enjoy the turns of phrase ("thoughtless abandon", "fat wrists", etc.), debate whether sea captains have trunks, and discuss how many items you can possibly hide in a tree. See the full Show Notes here: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/11/09/fuse-8-n-kate-fletcher-and-zenobia-by-victoria-chess-and-edward-gorey/
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    31 min
  • Episode 431 - McElligot's Pool

    Episode 431 - McElligot's Pool
    2 Nov 2026
    One of the seven notorious Dr. Seuss books pulled from publication by the Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the standard line about this book is that it was so forgettable that no one would have really noticed its disappearance from the marketplace had the Enterprises not made their big announcement. True? False? We intend to find out. We haven't done a nice controversial picture book in a while, and Dr. Seuss is always a reliable source for that niche market. So how does this one stand up? We dunno, but there is one thing we can tell for sure. Dr. Seuss? The man liked drawing fish! For the full Show Notes, please visit https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/11/02/fuse-8-n-kate-mcelligots-pool-by-dr-seuss/
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    30 min
  • Episode 430 - Der Struwwelpeter

    Episode 430 - Der Struwwelpeter
    26 Oct 2026
    We're finally doing it! The urtext. The spooky book that started them all. And it's also 100% the oldest children's book we have ever done on the show. Sporting an 1845 publication date, this German classic has been given to generations of German children in the hopes of teaching them some good moral lessons. But, of course, its creator wrote and illustrated it to kind of make fun of all the preachy didactic books out there for kids. Two things can be true at the same time. Today, we see whether or not Kate can identify the morals on these pages by reading a copy of this book that is entirely in its original German (and Betsy uses the Project Gutenberg translation to check her work). You can see the full Show Notes at https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/10/26/fuse-8-n-kate-der-struwwelpeter-by-dr-heinrich-hoffmann/
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    31 min
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