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A kidlit review podcast focusing on one picture book and one chapter book each week. Hosted by Nina and Matt.
Episodes
Thursday Apr 20, 2023
Thursday Apr 20, 2023
This month, our (belated - sorry!) show is all about MONEY. It's a bit of a different one. Our chapter book is non-fiction, and it's called Cash: How to earn it, save it, spend it, grow it, give it, by Rashmi Sirdeshpande. This book was chosen by our very special guest, the wonderful author Lisette Auton. The theme took us on a more freewheeling discussion than usual, about our own educations around money growing up, things we saved our pocket money for, and what Lisette did to make a little extra with her cassette player as a kid! We also had a chat about creative method and writing, and learning how to learn.
You can find Lisette's website here and make sure to check out our episode about her debut, The Secret of Haven Point.
Lisette also recommends #WriteMentor, who she does some mentoring for.
Our picture book is Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts and Noah Z Jones. This story is a perfect encapsulation of some of the themes covered in the chapter book. It's about wanting something very very much, not being able to afford it, coping with the feelings that arise and finding solidarity for others. It's a really, really great story about Jeremy, who wants Those Shoes he sees advertised on every billboard. The art by Noah Z Jones is stunning.
Reminder that we will be taking a break for a few months! In the meantime, Nina's other podcast, the Podgoblin's Hat, has a whole season out ready for your listening pleasure.
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Friday Mar 03, 2023
Friday Mar 03, 2023
This month we're reading Knock Three Times, by Cressida Cowell, and Wishes, by Muon Thi Van and Victo Ngai.
Knock Three Times is the third book of a four part series, but anytime is a good time to jump on board thanks to Cressida Cowell's chatty and unnamed narrator. We praise David Tennant's performance of the audiobook very highly, but you'll want the paper book too, so you can look at the pictures. It's a silly adventure story, it's also surprisingly poignant about the difficult relationship between children and their parents.
Wishes is a fabulously sparse illustrated poem about migration. Inspired by the author's own experience as a little girl in the 1980s, it's also a much broader, more universal story. We both just loved this one. The illustrations are stunning. No notes.
The play Matt mentions is The Beekeeper of Aleppo.
And we talked more about Pook's Hill, or the Learning Place for Spectacularly Gifted Wizards, on our schools special back in September. And if you want to hear more audiobook chat, we recommended specific books and narrators at the end of series 5.
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
Thursday Feb 02, 2023
It's finally here, it's our Greek myth episode! We kick it all off with Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, a titan of early 2000s kids' fantasy that we were a smidge too old for at the time that it came out. We referred to it too when we did our School Stories special if you want to hear more about that kind of stuff. We also compare it to City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda which we talked about on an episode of Fantasy Book Swap with Ali Baker.
Then, we get to read a few poems from Echo Echo by Marilyn Singer and Josee Masse and hear Matt do the speediest backpedalling to date on the podcast!
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Thursday Jan 12, 2023
Thursday Jan 12, 2023
To kick off this cold and dreary month we're reading detective fiction! First up is Inspector Brunswick: The Case of the Missing Eyebrow by Chris Lam Sam and Angela Keoghan. Brunswick and his faithful sidekick Nelson thought they were just going to the art gallery for a nice afternoon out, but crime is afoot!
We talked about a few different pieces of performance art and protests in relation to the Missing Eyebrow:
the toppling of the Colston statue
the Banksy self-destruct painting
the Just Stop Oil protest of the Van Gogh painting
Doctor Willard Wigan's tiny dinosaur
And our chapter book is the wonderful The Secret Detectives by Ella Risbridger. On a mail ship from India to England in 1892, Isobel and her first ever friends Sameer and Lettie see someone pushed overboard. But when they go to raise the alarm the next day, nobody will listen because it seems nobody is missing. Will they solve the crime before the ship docks and the murderer gets away?
We talk a lot about Agatha Christie and the golden age tropes with this one, so we can't help but recommend Shedunnit and All About Agatha if you'd like to learn more about those.
We also compare Risbridger's writing to Eva Ibbotson's. You can hear our episode about Journey to the River Sea here.
Nina's new podcast The Podgoblin's Hat is live now and you can listen here.
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
Thursday Dec 22, 2022
It's our annual very serious episode doing a close read and serious criticism of the Kevin the Carrot Christmas picture book from Aldi. This year, the book is called, Kevin the Carrot: No Carrot Left Behind! It is an adaptation of the classic film (which Nina has never seen) Home Alone. We are absolutely delighted with this one. What a great, silly thing.
Here's an article about the rush to buy Kevin memorabilia on the day it was released: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/17/festive-rush-for-aldis-kevin-the-carrot-as-70000-queue-online-for-ad-toys
Here's the tv advert: https://www.google.com/search?q=kevin+the+carrot+advert&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBGB855GB856&sxsrf=ALiCzsbhxmmEgp25UQSDm5wWrOibzdPKXw:1671725161288&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiQ7pnDzY38AhW0gVwKHZUmCjYQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1920&bih=912&dpr=1#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:36335433,vid:gnELFxI2OfU
Matt recommends this rendition of Twas The Night Before Christmas: https://soundcloud.com/ross-sutherland/5-twas-the-nightmare-before-crom
Our episode from last year reviewing A Christmas Carrot: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/concerning-carrots-a-christmas-bonus-episode/
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
Thursday Dec 08, 2022
Our stories this month are frosty and icy! Our picture book is The Glowing Snowman by Helen Goodbarton and Sophie Johnson-Hill. A snowman feels lonely and not special, until he accidentally swallows a firefly and becomes rather bright and interesting. But should he keep the firefly captive in his tummy? Or let it go? It's a great collaboration featuring drawings by lots of different children.
For our chapter book, we've got rather a short, bite-sized time travel story: A Night at the Frost Fair, by Emma Carroll and illustrated by Sam Usher. Sitting in the back of a taxi, feeling grumpy and kind of sad, Maya slips back in time to 1788: the Thames has frozen over and the Frost Fair is being held. A small boy named Eddie grabs her arm and they're off for a day of adventure on the ice.
In this episode we mention a few other books we've covered:
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, in our episode about Shooting Stars
The Year I Didn't Go to School by Giselle Potter, in We Don't Need No Education
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, in our episode all about retellings of it
Sojo and Mouse, the publishers of The Glowing Snowman, are selling a special 3 book bundle for £15 at the moment!
Nina also mentions The Snowmama by Jeanette Winterson, which you can read here.
Matt mentions the Whitley Bay shuggy boats, pictured here in the 1920s!
Doctor Who also had an episode set at the frost fair, see a clip here
And here's a video from the CQL about the concept of dignity of risk.
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Saturday Nov 05, 2022
Saturday Nov 05, 2022
content note: This episode features two books about experiences of war. The first is about a family of Polish refugees trying to reunify at the end of WW2, and the second is about a young Navajo boy sent to residential school and later drafted to create a code for the US Marines.
Our books this month are both about experiences of people who lived through World War II, and the theme that connects them is Trauma. Our chapter book is a classic and favourite from Matt's childhood, The Silver Sword, by Ian Serraillier. It's the story of a journey of three children, plus one adopted pickpocketing jack-the-lad, wending their way through post-war Europe in 1946, trying to reunite with their parents in Switzerland. There are always soldiers, be they German, Russian, British or American, and sometimes they help, and sometimes they don't. It's a book that really breaks down the simplistic Goodies vs Baddies narrative about WW2 and we highly recommend it.
Our picture book is Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code-Talker's Story, by Joseph Bruchac and illustrated by Liz Amini-Holmes. It's a non fiction account of the life of Betoli, or Chester, as he comes to be called, being sent away from his people and parents, to residential school at Fort Defiance. At school he is taught that the Navajo way is wrong, Navajo language is wrong, and is taught English and how to pray the Catholic way. In spite of this, Chester holds on to his home culture and spirituality. Years later, when the US join WW2, they need an unbreakable code, and enlist Chester and a few other young Navajo men to use Navajo to create an unbreakable code. It works, and helps the US to win the war. Chester returns from the front, traumatised, but the Navajo people take care of him using a ceremony called the Enemy Way, which sets him back on the right path, the way of beauty. This is a part of history neither of us knew about until we read this book, and it's incredibly clear and beautiful. We recommend seeking it out.
Here's an episode of the Stuff You Should Know podcast all about the Navajo code talkers: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-the-navajo-code-talkers-worked/id278981407?i=1000424660224
Chester Nez's autobiography: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780425247853?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=Cj0KCQjwk5ibBhDqARIsACzmgLSeIeqicyJQAe5Z7rQzRMqivUQY3s148nwsX-CjS2mTbv6CzFst0B8aAjQHEALw_wcB
Here's an article about Ian Serraillier's experience as a conscientious objector in Quaker magazine The Friend: https://thefriend.org/article/once-upon-a-war-time
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Thursday Oct 06, 2022
Thursday Oct 06, 2022
It's spooky season and we're reading about witches with our special guest and Matt's sister, Ruby! Ruby chose both our books this month:
Winnie the Witch, by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul
The Doomspell, by Cliff McNish
Winnie and Ragwena represent opposite ends of the witch spectrum in terms of badness, but also in their attitude to colours. Nina, Matt and Ruby imagine a backstory for Winnie involving the Black Bull pub in Gateshead, discuss the differences (and similarities) between scifi and fantasy and have a pop at the cover art for The Doomspell.
We discussed a few books we've covered in other episodes, including:
Rumaysa, in episode 30
Coraline, in episode 32
And there's a lot of chat about JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis too. Here's an article about their weird, competitive friendship.
There's a 35 year anniversary celebration for Winnie the Witch happening at 7 Stories this coming November.
You can read about how The Doomspell came about and see lots of cool covers of the book in translation on the author's own website https://www.cliffmcnish.com/
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Saturday Sep 17, 2022
Saturday Sep 17, 2022
As promised, we've got even more school chat for you!
This was cut from our last episode which was all about boarding schools in kidlit. Matt decided to interview Nina about the book that she's writing, which features a school aboard an airship. This is that conversation, plus two little excerpts of Nina reading from her work in progress. It's a little bit different! If you're here for the book recommendations, not to worry, we'll be back with our regular programming on the first Thursday of October.
To hear the full length episode all about schools, click here
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Thursday Sep 01, 2022
Thursday Sep 01, 2022
This week we’re doing something a little different for our back to school episode, and digging in to a run down of the ins and outs of boarding schools in kidlit.
Nina and Matt have each brought a few books featuring boarding school set ups along to discuss. They are:
The Worst Witch series by Jill Murphy
The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Boy by Roald Dahl
Witch Week by Diana Wynne Jones
Knock Three Times by Cressida Cowell
The audiobook Matt remembers listening to when they were little (on cassette!) is (most probably) this version, recorded in 1984 by Miriam Margolyes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH6WQxx4W9I
Here's a personal essay about Dartington Hall (the real inspiration behind Delderton Hall in the Dragonfly Pool) and its appearances in kidlit by someone who studied there
Here’s an interview with Jill Murphy about the creation of The Worst Witch and the chance circumstance that led to its eventual publication - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booknews/11198259/An-oral-history-of-The-Worst-Witch.html
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com