Even the Trunchbull

Episode 10 - Peace and War (Private Peaceful and The General)

[CN: war, death, bombs, destruction, trench warfare] This week we're reading books about war, and about building peace. Our chapter book is Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, beloved by Matt and Nina since they were 11, and the General by Janet Charters, which we'd never read before, and is a fascinating look at 1960s pacifism and at Michael Foreman's earliest published illustrations. There's a lot of further reading for those of you that want it this week. Our resident history nerd Matt recommends these interviews with Mr Morpurgo (our content note extends to these, and also they contain spoilers): http://www.filmeducation.org/privatepeaceful/pdf/MICHAEL%20MORPURGO%20Interview%20Transcript.pdf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S3fp8Tqn5E&ab_channel=HarperCollinsChildren%27sBooks And Nina, who took the lead on the research into The General and Michael Foreman (we couldn't find much at all about Janet Charters, sadly), recommends these: https://writewyattuk.com/2016/10/20/drawing-from-experience-the-michael-foreman-interview/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLF-ENtMp5o&ab_channel=Culture24videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePRDc_Gozjk&ab_channel=Culture24videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8axwRLbi58&ab_channel=Culture24videos What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Episode 9 - Back to School (Sumi's First Day of School Ever and The Last-Last Day of Summer)

(CN: discussion of an Asian child's experience of racism in school during the section about the picture book) We're back in time for the new school year, our pencils are sharpened and our backpacks are heavy with a new season's books! Our picture book this week is Sumi's First Day of School Ever by Soyung Pak and illustrated by Joung Un Kim. We talk about how scary it can be to start a new school, especially in a new country, and how drawing can be a bridge between people even in the absence of a common language. Our chapter book is the rip-roaring Last Last-Day-Of-Summer by Lamar Giles. We loved this sci-fi time travel romp and we think you will too! Lamar Giles' new book, the Last Mirror on the Left, is available to pre-order now: https://www.lamargiles.com/pre-order-the-last-mirror-on-the-left The podcast we mentioned at the end of the episode is Down to a Sunless Sea by Dave Pickering, which can be found here: http://downtoasunlesspod.com/ What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Series 2 Finale - Matilda the Movie Watchalong

To wrap up a series where we've been talking about book to film adaptations made in 1996, we're watching Matilda and chatting along. There's some little easter eggs pointed out by Nina, and a couple of last ditch attempts by Matt to get us to watch The Wind in the Willows. ETTB will be back in September, so enjoy the rest of your summer! Love from Nina and Matt What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

Episode 8 - Superpowers (What's my Superpower? and Matilda)

To wrap this series up, we're reading about little girls with superpowers! See Aviaq Johnston talking about writing and identity here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29sFN6ESUAw And if you liked the sound of the Trunchbull's chocolate cake, EmmyMadeInJapan recreated it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hy8934KlKY Chech out that episode of Next Door Villain about Miss Trunchbull: https://nextdoorvillain.libsyn.com/miss-trunchbull What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

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)

It's taken us a series and a half, but we've got our first poo book! Nina is keener on this German cracker than Matt is. We talk about the translation, about the illustrations, and the choice to give some animals glasses but none of them trousers. Then there's book versus adaptation chat, a lot of class chat, a look at the link between nature writing and small-c conservatism, a close read of our favourite chapters and, surprisingly, very little mention of Mister Toad. What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

Episode 6 - Puppet Pals (Revenge of the Puppets and Pinocchio by Pinocchio)

So much to say about puppets! The picture book, Revenge of the Puppets by Nadine D'Souza and illustrated by Ayush Rajvanshi, gave us lots to link to: Here's a great video of a kathputli puppet doing a dance: https://youtube.com/watch?v=WuohEEPQJZ0 Here's that stop motion animation by Lesley-Ann Rose that Matt was talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtPBPa_iVn8&t=1s And Karadi Tales has lots of free stuff up for kids in lockdown right now: https://www.karaditales.com/kathawithkaradi/ Michael Morpurgo's retelling of Pinocchio generated no links, but it did inspire a very loving discussion. What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

Episode 5 - Magical Sleep (A Book of Sleep and The Starlight Barking)

Welcome back to series 2! We're starting off with our longest and silliest episode yet, full of metaphysical debate, high and low swooshes and a tasteful description of a giraffe's bum. You can see the app version of Il Sung Na's A Book of Sleep here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oiTYP9B7iw&app=desktop Starlight Barking should be in all good libraries, but if it's not, get yourself a second hand copy from your favourite bookshop. What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

Special Mini Episode #1 and Book Giveaway!

Series 1 of ETTB is over and it's been so lovely! To keep youse going until series 2 (due on the 18th of June), we've put together a little quickfire round of reviews, and you now have the chance to win all the titles we talk about in this episode! For reference, the books are: Father Bear Comes Home by Else Holmelund Minarik and Maurice Sendak The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr The Day of the Dreader by Cressida Cowell The thing that bothered Farmer Brown by Teri Sloat Melvin’s Cold Feet by Linda Crust and John Brindle Papas Spaghetti by Joy Cowley and Marie Low I want my dinner by Tony Ross Space Tortoise by Ross Montgomery and David Litchfield Stories of Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne Giants and the Joneses by Julia Donaldson All you've got to do to be in with a chance to win them is to write us a review on Apple Podcasts or on Twitter (tag us in @TrunchbullPod to make sure we see it). Until next season, love from Matt and Nina What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com. Additional sound effects from https://www.freesoundslibrary.com/

Episode 4 - Loneliness (The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon and Beegu)

This week we're reading around the theme of loneliness and we're reviewing one of Matt's all time favourites, the Boy Who Climbed into the Moon by David Almond. We talk about determinism, Jesus-like characters, free will and the space/time continuum. And then we talk about Beegu, with special focus on alien hieroglyphics, the colour yellow and what big ears are for. We did some extra research around The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon because Matt loved it so much, and we thought we'd share what we found here in the show notes. The Home Education podcast's review of the book: https://thehomeeducationpodcast.uk/index.php/tag/david-almond/ The Guardian's Science Weekly podcast about free will and determinism: https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2016/nov/15/big-unknowns-is-free-will-an-illusion-science-weekly-podcast We found out there had been a theatrical adaptation with puppets too, which we're sad we missed, but we really enjoyed the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7LnM8OgBQU What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.

Episode 3 - Made-Up Languages (Du Iz Tak? and The Giants and the Joneses)

Nina and Matt read Carson Ellis' beautiful picture book Du Iz Tak? and Julia Donaldson's chapter book The Giants and the Joneses. We talk about the languages invented by the authors, what role they play in the books, language acquisition and how it feels to be a sheep. What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.