Even the Trunchbull

BONUS EPISODE - Nina’s fictional school

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

Episode 34 - Jolly Hockey Sticks, it’s the boarding school special!

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 

https://didyoueverstoptothink.com/2012/01/19/a-most-unusual-place-dartington-hall-and-its-role-in-childrens-literature/

 

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

 

 

Episode 33 - Soon May The Wellerman Come (Nightbirds on Nantucket and Peggony-Po) with Ali Baker

This week we’re reading books about 19^th century whaling. Our picture book is ‘Peggony-Po’ by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, and our chapter book is ‘Nightbirds on Nantucket’ by Joan Aiken

 

We have a guest this episode! Ali Baker is the founder and host of Fantasty Book Swap podcast, which you can check out here - https://alibaker68.podbean.com/

. . . Look out for us on an episode fairly soon!

 

The podcast ‘Research Hole’ has an excellent episode on the real story behind Moby Dick, which gives a good insight into whaling, here - https://www.researchholepodcast.com/episodes/wikipedia-special-the-whaleship-essex-with-joey-howlett-episode-18

 

The Tik Tok mash-up of Soon May the Wellerman Come can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgsurPg9Ckw

 

Here's a good piece on why whaling was such a big industry in the 19th century https://www.livescience.com/why-whaling-nineteeth-century.html

 

Here's a lovely article where Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney interview each other https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/84293-in-conversation-andrea-davis-pinkney-and-brian-pinkney.html

 

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

 

Episode 32 - The Wrong Side of The Door (Alfie Gets In First and Coraline) + special guest Simon Mole

This month our chapter book is Coraline by Neil Gaiman and our picture book is Alfie Gets in First by Shirley Hughes, which both involve being stuck on the wrong side of a door.

 

We have a special guest this month too! Simon Mole is an award-winning poet, theatre maker and children’s author. Simon joins us to talk about Alfie Gets in First, as well as his new book, I Love My Cat, which we love (illustrated by Sam Usher). You can get it here from Quarto Books - https://www.quarto.com/books/9780711276512/i-love-my-cat

 

Or, for a limited time, get a discounted signed copy from Next Page Books, here - https://nextpagebooks.co.uk/product/9780711276512/

 

I Love My Cat is Simon’s excellent follow on to I Love My Bike, which we read and loved on this podcast in Episode 26, Winter Wheelies here – https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-26-winter-wheelies-i-love-my-bike-and-bicycling-to-the-moon/

 

You can find links to buy I Love My Cat, and Simon’s previous books I Love My Bike and Kites on his website, here - https://www.simonmole.com/books

 

You can also find details of Simon’s upcoming library reading tour on his website, here - https://www.simonmole.com/events

 

And check out Simon’s Youtube channel, which has loads of poetry writing and performing resources for young people and teachers! https://www.simonmole.com/youtube

 

Links and Articles:

 

You can read The Guardian’s obituary of Shirley Hughes, referenced in the episode, here - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/02/shirley-hughes-obituary

 

A 2016 Guardian interview with Shirley Hughes, referenced and quoted in the episode, can be found here - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/21/shirley-hughes-interview-alfie-very-best-friend-childrens-books

 

You can listen to Neil Gaiman and film director Henry Selick talk about Coraline on a 2008 podcast episode from ‘The Sound of Young America’ here - https://maximumfun.org/episodes/bullseye-with-jesse-thorn/neil-gaiman-and-henry-selick-on/

 

The poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci can be read in full here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44475/la-belle-dame-sans-merci-a-ballad

 

Here's an interesting and accessible article on breeching: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/breeching-party-first-pants-regency-trousers-boys

 

Previous Even the Trunchbull episodes referenced in this episode can be found here:

 

Wilde in Episode 20, Not Quite Nuclear, here - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-20-not-quite-nuclear-burglar-bill-and-wilde/

 

The Magicians of Caprona in Episode 19, Don’t Mess With the Pasta Magic, here - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-19-dont-mess-with-the-pasta-magic-strega-nona-and-the-magicians-of-caprona/

 

Not Now Bernard in Episode 1, Monsters, here - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-1-monsters-young-werewolf-and-not-now-bernard/

 

 

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

Episode 31 - Hold On To Your Hats (A Hat Full of Sky and Millie’s Marvellous Hat) with guest cohost Dave Pickering

Content note: our chapter book touches on bullying, mortality and euthanasia. In discussing it, we also talk about dementia, and how Terry Pratchett dealt with it in his books for children.

 

This is an episode all about magical, virtual, invisible hats as worn by a pair of powerful girls. And for the first time, we have a guest host! Many thanks to Dave Pickering for stepping into Matt's wonderful shoes.

 

Our chapter book is A Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett. It is the second of the Tiffany books, and it's the one where she leaves home and starts to learn witching. We talk about coming of age stories, mean girls, self-respect and how bad thoughts don't make you a bad person.

 

Our picture book is Satoshi Kitamura's Millie's Marvellous Hat! It's a charming story about imagination and self-expression, and our discussion of it contains a large portion of bickering about what makes a hat a hat. Brim or brimless? Ribbon or no ribbon? Dave brings their experience as an early years library outreach worker as well as their past as a hat-wearer to bear, and shares some ideas about how you could bring this story to life for a group of under-5s.

See all of Laura Ellen Anderson's new covers for the Tiffany sequence here: http://www.pickledink.com/blog/terry-pratchett-covers-laura-ellen-anderson

 

You can watch Pratchett's documentary about living with Alzheimer's here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmejLjxFmCQ&ab_channel=TheDocumentaryChannel112

 

And watch Satoshi Kitamura tell a kamishibai version of his book Hat Tricks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtPm7B9_Ri0&ab_channel=BookTrust

 

Dave and their work can be found here: http://davepickeringstoryteller.co.uk/

We especially recommend their podcast Down to a Sunless Sea here: http://downtoasunlesspod.com/

And if you want to argue with them about hats, you can catch them on twitter @goosefat101

 

If you enjoyed this Pratt-chat, we also talked about The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents in our episode about Fairytale Retellings: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-14-fairytale-retellings-pattans-pumpkin-and-the-amazing-maurice-and-his-educated-rodents/

And you can hear Dave's first appearance on the show in our episode about dementia: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-12-dementia-moominvalley-in-november-and-the-remember-balloons/

 

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

 

Episode 30 - The Fairytale Multiverse (Each Peach Pear Plum and Rumaysa)

This week we’re joined by special guest Robert Valentine, to talk about one of his favourite kidlit picture books, Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg – a much loved classic which sees several fairytale characters combine in one world.

That is followed by our chapter book, Rumaysa: A Fairytale by Radiya Hafiza, which retells three traditional fairytales in which the main characters are young Muslim girls, bringing representation and fresh new perspectives to old stories.

 

Links:

The blog by Radiya Hafiza on writing Rumaysa referenced in the episode is here, and is well worth a read - https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/books-for-children/radiya-hafiza-rewriting-fairytales-muslim-heroine

Waterstones currently have signed copies of Rumaysa on sale for £1 less than original price - https://www.waterstones.com/book/rumaysa-ever-after/radiya-hafiza/rhaida-el-touny/2928377082116

The Ancient Roman sitcom that Rob is guest-writing for is called Cry Havoc! and will be out soon from Rusty Quill: Announcement here - https://www.davidkbarnes.com/news/cry-havoc-a-brand-new-podcast-series

Rusty Quill’s website here – https://rustyquill.com/show/

 

See more of Robert Valentine’s work at his website, here - https://robertvalentine.net/

Find out more about Radiya Hafiza on the blog at her website, here - https://radiyabooks.wordpress.com/blog/

 

Previous Episodes Referenced:

You can listen to our episode including Howl’s Moving Castle in Ep#17 Shooting Stars here - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-17-shooting-stars-look-up-and-howls-moving-castle/

 

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

 

 

Episode 29 - TEETH! (Dave and the Tooth Fairy and Perez the Mouse)

CN: very mild gore about losing baby teeth, and some dicussion that might spoil some tooth fairy magic

 

It's another episode about a chilhood milestone: losing your baby teeth! Matt and Nina chat a bit about their personal experiences, explore some of the history of cultural practices associated with milk teeth, and dig into the history of tooth fairies. The nonfiction picture book Nina mentions is Throw Your Tooth on the Roof.

 

Our picture book is the classic Dave and the Tooth Fairy, by Verna Wilkins and Paul Hunt, from Tamarind Books. You can find out more about Tamarind Books here and see Verna Wilkins talking about Tamarind here. The new edition of Dave and the Tooth Fairy, with updated art by Carl Pearce, can be bought here.

 

For our chapter book we go reeeeally retro with Perez the Mouse, or El Ratoncito Perez, by Luis Coloma (via Lady Moreton). This story has spread all around the Spanish-speaking world since it was comissioned in 1894 by the Spanish royal family for the boy king Alfonso XIII. Nina and Matt try to read this cute monarchist fable as a revolutionary text. We also update the scary-o-meter. Your local library might have a copy of Lady Moreton's retelling of the story, but if it doesn't, you can read the whole thing online here.

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

Episode 28 - Mermaids! (The Little Mermaid and The Secret of Haven Point)

Welcome, listener, to this, our longest ever episode!

 

EDITORS NOTE: the original version of this episode had a big editing mistake in it, which had Matt saying "able-bodied people can't write disabled characters" when what they actually said was "I don't think able-bodied people can't write disabled characters". A pretty big mistake since it reverses the meaning! The currently available episode has been corrected. Apologies to Matt for making them say the opposite of what they mean.

 

First we talked about Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid. For more biographical info on him, we recommend Amanda LeDuc's excellent book Disfigured, Rictor Norton's My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters Through the Centuries, which you can read here. Also see this article on Bookriot.

 

We went on to talk about the ways Jerry Pinkney adapted the story. Here's a lovely obit of him from Jason Reynolds in Time, and here he is doing an author event over lockdown and talking about The Little Mermaid, and his process.

 

Our chapter book is The Secret of Haven Point by Lisette Auton. Mermaids with pointy teeth who make appointments by leaving still-bleeding shark teeth on your pillow! Lisette can be found @lisette_auton on twitter and her website is https://lisetteauton.co.uk/

If you're interested in doing a virtual author visit with Lisette for your school, she's doing one in conjunction with 7 Stories in April.

 

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

Episode 27 - Time (Clocks and More Clocks and Momo)

 

This month on Even the Trunchbull, we have a listener recommendation! Namely, Momo by Michael Ende (well known as the author of The Never Ending Story) as our chapter book, on a theme of ‘Time’ – so that’s what we’ve gone with!

 

Momo is part celebration of community and part prescient cautionary tale about the dangers of the busy modern world. Momo and a magic tortoise called Cassiopeia must rescue the city from the faceless men in grey, who are determined to steal everyone’s time.

 

That’s paired with picture book Clocks and More Clocks by Pat Hutchins (well known beloved picture book writer and one time narrator of Rosie and Jim). This one is both educational and wonderfully daft – essentially a gorgeously structured joke about the passage of time, in which one gentlemen fills his house with rather a lot of clocks.

 

Articles/Links/Videos etc:

 

Momo:

For a map that shows the most popular children's book from each country that has a book that's reviewed on Goodreads, featuring Momo, see here - https://s2982.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/01-Most-Popular-Childrens-Book-World-Map.png.webp

 

The film adaptation of Momo, featuring a cameo from Michael Ende, can be found here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q_JYYcBP2Q

 

The Essay referred to in the episode, ‘Momo, Dogen, and the Commodification of Time’ by Linda Goodhew and David Loy, can be read here - http://www.jonathantan.org/handouts/buddhism/Loy-Momo.pdf

 

Clocks and More Clocks:

Pat Hutchins’ gorgeous, interactive website can be found here - http://pathutchins.com/

 

And here’s an episode of Rosie and Jim with Pat as narrator - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKJOMOBS4GA

 

And an obituary of Pat Hutchins from the Guardian can be found here - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/nov/15/pat-hutchins-obituary

 

Previous episodes referenced in this episode are:

The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon, by David Almond, in Ep#4 – Loneliness - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-4-loneliness-the-boy-who-climbed-into-the-moon-and-beegu/

 

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

Episode 26 - Winter Wheelies (I Love My Bike and Bicycling to the Moon)

Winter Wheelies Shownotes:

 

Happy New Year! Just after Christmas, there’ll be lots of us out on new bikes, so this episode is celebrating bicycles!

Our picture book is I Love My Bike by Simon Mole, illustrated by Sam Usher - a rip-roaring fast-paced adventure, beating out a bouncy rhythm and capturing the excitement of riding a bike for the first time

And our chapter book is Bicycling to the Moon by Timo Parvela, illustrated by Virpi Talvitie - a classic of Finnish kidlit which introduces us to Purdy and Barker - a dog and a cat with a dysfunctional but ultimately inseparable friendship.

 

Articles of Note:

 

I Love My Bike:

 

Information on Simon Mole’s other projects can be found at his website, here – https://www.simonmole.com

 

including sign-ups for fortnightly online poetry workshops for 5-12 year olds, here –https://www.simonmole.com/participate

 

Simon’s Youtube channel has loads of great tutorial videos for young poets and schools, here - https://www.youtube.com/c/SimonMole

 

More of Sam Usher’s work can be found at his website, here - https://www.samusher.com/

 

Nina mentions and reads from poem Skimbleshanks the Railway Cat by T. S. Eliot, which can be read here - https://monologues.co.uk/Childrens_Favourites/Skimbleshanks.htm

 

Bicycling to the Moon:

 

There’s a nice review from World Kid Lit which includes Bicycling to the Moon here - https://worldkidlit.wordpress.com/2021/02/17/more-animal-tales/

 

In the episode, Nina mentions Hector’s House, an episode of which can be seen here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_tVxvnEJko

 

More of Timo Parvela’s work can be found at his website, here - https://timoparvela.fi/en/

 

Previous episodes referenced in this episode are:

 

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame in Ep#7, I Am A Mole And I Live In A Hole: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-7-i-am-a-mole-and-i-live-in-a-hole-the-story-of-the-little-mole-who-knew-it-was-none-of-his-business-and-the-wind-in-the-willows/

 

Moominvalley in November by Tove Jansson in Ep#12, Dementia: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-12-dementia-moominvalley-in-november-and-the-remember-balloons/

 

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