Even the Trunchbull

Episode 44 - Squawkwels (Freedom Fire and A First Book of Dinosaurs)

This week we're righting past wrongs and returning to a couple of authors we said we'd check back in with and never did. First up is Freedom Fire, from the Dactyl Hill Squad trilogy by Daniel Jose Older, which we started way back in 2020! Magdalys and the squad are flying South to rescue her brother Montez, and the stakes just keep getting higher. We loved this one very much, and we wish it was more readily available in the UK,

Then we're having a little poetry break with Simon Mole's A First Book of Dinosaurs. You might remember Simon from when we covered his debut picture book, and when he came on the show as a guest! We had a great time with these dino poems. Both books this week we just couldn't help reading aloud from.

You can find Simon Mole's poetry shows here

If you want to see Matt touring Fixing, you can find out more about the tour here https://mattmillertheatre.com/

To support us on Patreon and access bonus content, go here

Another way to support us is to shop our picks on our bookshop here

What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Episode 43 - The Writing On The Wall (Little Monster Did It and Illuminations)

This episode is all about scribbles on the wall, whether they be the work of a cheeky little monster, or a malicious scarling. The one person we're sure didn't do it is the child of the house!

First it's a nostalgia trip for Nina as we dive into one of her childhood favourites: Little Monster Did It by Helen Cooper. And for afters we have Illuminations, by T Kingfisher. Is this directly inspired by The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones? Does it deal appropriately with the implications of creating magical life? And is art still art if it's useful? Tune in to find out the definitive answers to all of the above.

If you want to see Matt touring Fixing, you can find out more about the tour here https://mattmillertheatre.com/

To support us on Patreon and access bonus content, go here

Another way to support us is to shop our picks on our bookshop here

What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Episode 42 - Tower Blocks (Boy in the Tower and The Concrete Garden)

Welcome back! We're kicking back off with a real cracking double act: Boy In The Tower, by Polly Ho-Yen, and The Concrete Garden, by Bob Graham.

 

This episode is all about confinement, loneliness, isolation, but it's also about community, togetherness and taking care of each other. Polly Ho-Yen's Ade is living in a high rise in London as the world crumbles around him (literally!). The children in Bob Graham's book are sheltering in place during lockdown, but still manage to turn their concrete basketball pitch into something communal and beautiful.

 

If you want to see Matt touring Fixing, you can find out more about the tour here https://mattmillertheatre.com/

 

Nina's Moomin podcast, The Podgoblin's Hat, is here 

 

To support us on Patreon and access bonus content, go here

Another way to support us is to shop our picks on our bookshop here

 

The poet we discussed is Rowan McCabe, whose project you can find out about here

 

What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

We're back!

Announcing series 7 of Even The Trunchbull! We're so excited to be back reading and chatting with you, so watch this space :-).

 

What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Episode 41 - Money (Cash and Those Shoes) with special guest Lisette Auton

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

Episode 40 - Wishes (Knock Three Times and Wishes)

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

Episode 39 - Titans, togas and thunderbolt gods! (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and Echo Echo)

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

 

Episode 38 - Whodunnit? (Insector Brunswick and the Case of the Missing Eyebrow and The Secret Detectives)

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

Concerning carrots #2: No Carrot Left Behind!

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

Episode 37 - Frosty Frolicks (The Glowing Snowman and A Night at the Frost Fair)

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