Even the Trunchbull

Episode 17 - Shooting Stars (Look Up! and Howl's Moving Castle)

Even the Trunchbull series 5 launches with a special on Shooting Stars and we've got some special announcements to kick off the new year.

 

A full transcript of this episode is now available to read on our blog here.

 

Our bookshop dot org shopfront is available here. Many thanks to Alice Slater of What Page Are You On? for doing the digging on the ethics of bookshop dot org and explaining it all over on her podcast, here.

 

Our picture book is the award-winning Look Up! by Nathan Bryon and Dapo Adeola, and our chapter book is the fantasy classic Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. Nina got so excited about out first DWJ that she ranted about the book jacket for a solid 3 radio minutes.

 

Read more about Look Up! here

and watch the authors' reading and drawing tutorial here.

 

We mentioned the gorgeous illustrated Folio Society edition of Howl in the podcast - we thought you might like to see these lovely entries to their illustration competition. 

 

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

Series 4 Finale: A Christmas Carol retold for children

It’s the closing episode for season 4 here at Even the Trunchbull and this week we’re doing retellings of A Christmas Carol.

Matt has read Charles Dickens’ original for the first time, and Nina has read a bunch of adaptations to tell Matt about, including:

The audiobook performance by Sir Patrick Stewart; Barrington Stoke’s dyslexia-friendly adaptation; Bah! Humbug! by Michael Rosen; Christmas Carol The Movie novelisation by Narinder Dhami; A World Full of Dickens Stories by Angela McAllister; Hanukkah, Shmanukkah! by Esme Raji Codell and LeUyen Pham, and The Miracle on Ebenezer Street by Catherine Doyle.

With honourable mentions of TV and film adaptations, and an old-man-baby-ghost with giant arms. What’s not to love?

There’s also talk of the inadvertent invention of modern-day Christmas by Dickens himself . . . hear more about that at The Allusionist Podcast here - https://www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/dickens-christmas

And we’ll be announcing the winner of our Christmas Giveaway!

Many thanks again to Armchair Books of Edinburgh for letting us have one of their tote bags as a stocking.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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

Episode 16 - Christmas! (Happy Christmas Gemma and I Saw Three Ships)

Our picture book is Happy Christmas Gemma by Sarah Hayes and Jan Ormerod. This one’s a nostalgia pick, for Nina especially, who had it read to her as a little one, and perfectly encapsulates Christmas cosiness, and the mix of pride and annoyance an older sibling has for a toddler sister.

 

And our chapter book is I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge. This gorgeous short story takes us back to late 18th/early 19th century Cornwall/West Country for a retelling of the Three Wise Men. Steeped in legend, and Christmas cosiness, we loved this one.

 

Christmas giveaway update: We’ve added our fourth and final present to the Armchair Books totebag. This week we’ve added ‘What is Masculinity? Why Does it Matter? And Other Big Questions’ – a book for children aged 10 and up about masculinity. Friend and guest of the podcast Dave Pickering (from the Moomin episode) is a contributor and has generously given us a copy to give away to you! The book has been described as ‘Timely, necessary, attentive to and respectful of its young audience, this book is a friend which holds out an encouraging, steadying hand to any child or young person wanting to reach a full humanity unfettered by the limiting impositions of gender stereotypes.’ (https://www.letterboxlibrary.com/acatalog/What-is-Masculinity--Why-Does-It-Matter--And-Other-Big-Questions-1.html)

If you want to be in with a chance to win our bag of presents, just follow one of these links and comment to enter into the prize draw:

https://twitter.com/TrunchbullPod/status/1329367852357398528

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHxLlR4g8ny/

https://www.facebook.com/trunchbullpod/posts/157975092712391

Many thanks to Armchair Books of Edinburgh for letting us have one of their tote bags as a stocking.

 

You can find more of Dave Pickering’s work here - http://dave-pickering.squarespace.com/ or @goosefat101

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

Additional music this week was Holiday Weasel by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 15 - Dragons and Gender (The Worst Princess and Digory the Dragon Slayer)

Join Nina and Matt as we dive into a couple of topics that go hand in hand: dragons and gender! We talk about why stories about dragons, princesses and knights are a great place to play with gender roles, gay dragons, and Matt pitches an episode about Howl's Moving Castle (coming in series 5!)

 

Our picture book in The Worst Princess by Anna Kemp and Sara Ogilvie

Our chapter book is Digory the Dragon Slayer by Angela McAllister

 

Christmas giveaway update: we've added Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi to our swag bag. If you want to be in with a chance to win our bag of presents, just follow one of these links and comment to enter into the prize draw:

 

https://twitter.com/TrunchbullPod/status/1329367852357398528

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHxLlR4g8ny/

https://www.facebook.com/trunchbullpod/posts/157975092712391

 

 

Many thanks to Armchair Books of Edinburgh for letting us have one of their tote bags as a stocking.

 

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

 

Additional music this week was Holiday Weasel by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 14 - Fairytale Retellings (Pattan's Pumpkin and the Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents)

Join Matt and Nina this week for a discussion of fairytales and folk tales! We talk about flood myths in regard to Chitra Soundar and Frané Lessac's "Pattan's Pumpkin". See Ms Soundar's writing about how Pattan's Pumpkin came about here:

https://www.wordsandpics.org/2016/09/retelling-folktales-Chitra-Soundar.html

http://www.chitrasoundar.com/pyramids-of-caste-and-the-need-for-inclusivity/

 

And in the second half we discuss a Pratchett classic that we both loved as teenagers: the Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. We talk about Pratchett's comic genius, flawed disability representation and brilliant names like Dangerous Beans and Peaches.

 

Christmas giveaway update: we've added the Snowman audiobook to our swag bag. If you want to be in with a chance to win our bag of presents, just follow one of these links and comment to enter into the prize draw:

 

https://twitter.com/TrunchbullPod/status/1329367852357398528

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHxLlR4g8ny/

https://www.facebook.com/trunchbullpod/posts/157975092712391

 

 

Many thanks to Armchair Books of Edinburgh for letting us have one of their tote bags as a stocking.

 

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

 

Additional music this week was Holiday Weasel by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 13 - Family Recipes (Apple Cake and Baklava & Peeny Butter Fudge)

We're launching series 4 with two books featuring family recipes! 

 

Apple cake and Baklava by Kathrin Rohmann and translated into English by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is the story of the friendship between a Syrian refugee and a white German boy in her class, and their quest to recover a very precious walnut.

 

Peeny Butter Fudge is about the sweet and outrageous delights of spending a day with your Nana, and it's a gorgeous picture book written in verse by Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison.

 

We're also launching a Christmas giveaway today! If you want to be in with a chance to win the Wind in the Willows: the board game (among other presents) just follow one of these links and comment to enter into the prize draw:

 

https://twitter.com/TrunchbullPod/status/1329367852357398528

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHxLlR4g8ny/

https://www.facebook.com/trunchbullpod/posts/157975092712391

 

 

Many thanks to Armchair Books of Edinburgh for letting us have one of their tote bags as a stocking.

 

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

 

Additional music this week was Holiday Weasel by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Halloween Special # 1 (Ghosts for Breakfast and The Jumbies)

Surprise! It’s a Halloween Special! We couldn’t pass up this time of year without bringing you two spooky stories. Our chapter book is The Jumbies by Tracey Baptiste, a modern retelling of Haitian fairytale folklore about things that go bump in the night on a semi-fictional Caribbean island – with some genuinely scary moments. Our picture book is Ghosts for Breakfast by Stanley Todd Terasaki and illustrated by Shelly Shinjo – Mr. Omi, Mr. Omaye and Mr. Ono have seen ghosts in Farmer Tanaka’s field! But is everything as it seems? A playful book which keeps the spook and defuses the scare. Our intro music, What A Wonderful Day, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com Additional sound effects this week were from https://www.freesoundeffects.com/

Series 3 Finale - Wordless Wonders

For our final episode of the season, we’re breaking format to bring you an episode on wordless picture books! Nina and Matt have picked three books each to discuss, and the six books are: Why? by Nikolai Popov Here I Am by Patti Kim and Sonia Sanchez Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle Found. by Jeff Newman and Larry Day The Only Child by Guojing (special thanks to the World Kidlit Blog for this recommendation) And much loved classic, The Snowman by Raymond Briggs Hope you enjoy and see you again for season 4 in a couple of months! You can find the World Kid Lit Blog here: https://worldkidlit.wordpress.com/ Our intro music, What A Wonderful Day, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Episode 12 - Dementia (Moominvalley in November and The Remember Balloons)

(CN: Discussion of dementia and memory loss) This week we’re reading books linked by themes of dementia and memory. Our chapter book is Moominvalley in November, by Tove Jansson, the last in the Moomins series, which sees various characters returning to Moominvalley, trying to remember and forget in turn, in the absence of the Moomin family Our picture book is The Remember Balloons by Jessie Oliveros, illustrated by Dana Wulfekotte, which draws a beautifully simple metaphor for dementia. We have our first special guest this week – Dave Pickering is an aficionado on all things Moomins. He also explores dementia in his podcast Down to a Sunless Sea, in which he documents a series of conversations with his father living with dementia. You can find Down to a Sunless Sea here - directory.libsyn.com/shows/view/id/downtoasunlesssea Dave has also created many other podcasts and projects – find out more at http://davepickeringstoryteller.co.uk/ He also contributed to this book for children about masculinity: https://www.waterstones.com/book/what-is-masculinity-why-does-it-matter-and-other-big-questions/jeffrey-boakye/darren-chetty/9781526308146 You can find Dave on Twitter @goosefat101 What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Episode 11 - Dinosaurs (Dactyl Hill Squad & Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs)

(CN: Discussion of anti-black racism, violence, slavery and guns during the chapter book section. If you want to skip ahead to our picture book section, start at 27 minutes) This week we’re reading books that feature dinosaurs! Our chapter book is Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older, which blends historical fiction and fantasy as we follow the adventures a gang of kids from the Coloured Orphan Asylum in 1863 New York, but in a world inhabited by both people and dinosaurs. Our picture book is Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, as retold by Mo Willems – classic Goldilocks story but, again, with dinosaurs, as well as a healthy dose of wry sarcasm, which we’ve got plenty time for. Write or Die Podcast has a great episode with Daniel Jose Older talking about overcoming institutional rejection in the publishing industry and getting started in writing here - https://writeordiepodcast.com/2018/04/20/episode-one-daniel-jose-older-the-actual-motherfing-biggest-childrens-publisher-in-the-galaxy/ If you like the sound of Dactyl Hill Squad, it is Book 1 of a trilogy: sequels ‘Freedom Fire’ and ‘Thunder Run’ are now available. There’s a tantalising review of ‘Freedom Fire’ here - https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/daniel-jose-older/freedom-fire/ Lovely interview with Mo Willems here, about breaking the rules in writing, drawing and reading to your kids, with lots of offshoot links, from Playing by the Book - http://www.playingbythebook.net/2013/04/01/an-interview-with-mo-willems/ Mo regularly Tweets interviews, doodles and other content @The_Pigeon What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com