Even the Trunchbull
Nina Gray
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A kidlit review podcast focusing on one picture book and one chapter book each week. Hosted by Nina and Matt.
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Apr 20, 2023
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
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Mar 2, 2023
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
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Feb 1, 2023
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
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Jan 12, 2023
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
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Dec 22, 2022
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
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Dec 8, 2022
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
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Nov 5, 2022
Episode 36 - Trauma (The Silver Sword and Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code)
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
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Oct 6, 2022
Episode 35 - Hubble Bubble Toil and Trouble, with special guest Ruby
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
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Sep 17, 2022
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
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Sep 1, 2022
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
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Aug 4, 2022
Episode 33 - Soon May The Wellerman Come (Nightbirds on Nantucket and Peggony-Po) with Ali Baker
This week we’re reading books about 19th 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…
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Jul 7, 2022
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…
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Jun 1, 2022
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…
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May 5, 2022
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 so…
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Apr 7, 2022
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 ki…
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Mar 3, 2022
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 p…
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Feb 3, 2022
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, fe…
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Jan 13, 2022
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/Simon…
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Dec 23, 2021
Episode 25 - Chrimbo Kitties and Festive Familiars (The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street and Mog‘s Christmas)
Our books for this final episode of Even The Trunchbull for 2021 are loosely linked around pets at Christmas!
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser features Paganini the rabbit, Franz the dog and George Washington the cat. But it's mainly about the five human Vanderbeeker children and their quest to convince their Scrooge-like landlord to allow their family to stay in their lovely apartment. Their tactics run the range from naughty to nice, as is seasonally appropriate. This is a warm and lovely read, sweet but not cloying.
Mog's Christmas, by Judith Kerr, is all about Mog the cat! We talk in general about the enduring appeal of the Mog formula, Kerr's very funny writing and iconic illustration style.
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
Episode Transcript will follow, and will be available here - https://eventhetrunchbull.wordpress.com/home/transcripts/
And as always y…
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Dec 19, 2021
Concerning Carrots... A Christmas bonus episode!
The festive season is in full swing, the Christmas TV ads have all aired, and by far the most popular this year is A Christmas Carrot, from Aldi! And they even brought out a picture book. In classic Even The Trunchbull style, we have taken it upon ourselves to review this new take on Charles Dickens's classic, and let us tell you, if nothing else, this book is good fun if you enjoy a pun.
A Christmas Carrot is written by Stephanie Moss and illustrated by Hannah Wood. You won't be able to find it in traditional bookshops, but it's probably still in Aldi. Check out our social media for photos of the book and a picture of Matt drinking from their Kevin mug :-)
If this episode has whetted you appetite for more Christmas Carol chat, we've a whole episode about its myriad adaptations: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/series-4-finale-a-christmas-carol-retold-for-children/
We'll be back on Thursday with a full length episode, until then wrap up warm!
What A Wonderful Day is licensed…
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Dec 2, 2021
Episode 24 - Hard Hungry Winters (Yokki and the Parno Gry and The Famine Secret)
This week our picture book is Yokki and the Parno Gry by Katharine Quarmby and Ricard O’Neill – a story about a young boy in a Romani Traveller family, and the power of stories themselves
And our chapter book this week is The Famine Secret by Cora Harrison. Part of the Drumshee Timeline series, this story takes us via four young siblings into the hardships of the Irish Famine of 1845
Links:
For Yokki and the Parno Gry:
There’s a lovely video of Richard O’Neill reading Yokki and the Parno Gry here - https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/ytt/features/listen-yokki-and-parno-gry-richard-oneill
Travellers Times also has a short documentary narrated by Richard, ‘Roads From The Past: A Short History of Britain’s Gypsies, Roma and Travellers’ here - https://www.travellerstimes.org.uk/heritage/roads-past-short-history-Britains-Gypsies-Roma-and-Travellers#
‘The Goose and the Common’, the folk poem that Nina reads during the episode about the Inclosure Acts, can be read here…
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Nov 11, 2021
Episode 23 - Rivers in Brazil with Pádraig Kenny (Journey to the River Sea and Along the River)
This week we’re joined by special guest Pádraig Kenny, to talk about one of his favourite kidlit chapter books, Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson.
That is followed by our picture book, Along The River by Vanina Starkoff, with English translation by Jane Springer
Articles of Note:
There is an interesting article about the representation of Indigenous people in Peter Pan and more broadly in children's lit here: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/racist-history-peter-pan-indian-tribe-180953500/
The Guardian has an obituary of Eva Ibbotson here, that mentions her partner Alan, also mentioned in the episode: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/24/eva-ibbotson-obituary
Reading Suggestions:
The First Blade of Sweetgrass by Suzanne Greenlaw, Gabriel Frey and Nancy Baker came out in the same year as Journey to the River Sea and offers an own-voices story of Indigenous people: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-First-Blade-of-Sweetgrass-by-Suzanne-Green…
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Nov 4, 2021
A little delay... See you back here next week!
Just a note to let you know that due to life and work stuff going on, this month's episode about rivers in Brazil is going to be delayed by a week. We hope it'll be worth the wait, and thank you for bearing with us!
Nina and Matt
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Oct 7, 2021
Episode 22 - Haunted Houses (Ghosts in the House! and The Monsters of Rookhaven)
This week our picture book is ‘Ghosts in the House!’ by Kazuno Kohara and our chapter book is ‘The Monsters of Rookhaven’ by Padraig Kenny
Articles referenced by Nina with Halloween craft activities for kids to go alongside Ghosts in the House can be found:
Here - https://hannahsartclub.wordpress.com/2012/09/27/spooky-haunted-houses-inspired-by-kazuno-kohara-october-2011/
And here - http://www.prayingforparker.com/ghosts-in-the-house-by-kazuno-kohara-and-an-extension-activity/
The photographic project Matt was mentioning can be seen on our social media accounts: @TrunchbullPod on twitter and @eventhetrunchbull on Instagram
The interview with Padraig Kenny, referenced by Matt, was conducted by Dave O’Callaghan for easons.com and can be viewed here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOgsAWK_mV0
An article detailing the buying of film and TV rights for ‘The Monsters of Rookhaven’ is here - https://www.thebookseller.com/news/dream-logic-snaps-rights-kennys-monsters-rookh…
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Sep 2, 2021
Episode 21 - We Don‘t Need No Education (The Year I Didn‘t Go to School and the Wind Singer)
Happy back to school times listeners!
This month we're reading lovely autobiographical picture book The Year I Didn't Go to School by Giselle Potter. Italian nuns and pasta with eggs abound!
And for our chapter book we're doing an old favourite of both of ours, the Wind Singer, by William Nicholson. It's fantastically critical of the exams system and more relevant now even than when it was written (in our humble opinions).
Episode Transcript will follow later this week, and will be available here - https://eventhetrunchbull.wordpress.com/home/transcripts/
And as always you can check out our bookshop dot org shop front here - https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/trunchbullpod
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
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Aug 12, 2021
Series 6 and beyond! A little announcement
Hello lovely listeners, Nina and Matt here to announce brand new Even the Trunchbull episodes coming in the autumn. Our first episode back will be about WE DON'T NEED NO EDUCATION and it'll come out on the 2nd of September. We'll be reading The Year I Didn't Go to School by Giselle Potter and The Wind Singer by William Nicholson.
From here on out ETTB is going to be a monthly show, publishing on the first Thursday of every month.
As always, you can email us your book suggestions at eventhetrunchbull@gmail.com, or catch us on twitter and facebook @trunchbullPod, or on instagram @eventhetrunchbull. Episode transcripts can be found on our website https://eventhetrunchbull.wordpress.com/home/transcripts/ and if you like our recommendations, you can shop for them at our storefront https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/trunchbullpod
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
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Mar 25, 2021
Series 5 Finale - Audiobooks Special
To wrap up series five, we're doffing our hats to audiobook narrators. First Nina and Matt meander down memory lane, reminiscing about books on tape we listened to in the 1990s. Then we move on to recommend a clutch of excellent narrators:
Cecelia Ramsdale, who performed Pog by Padraig Kenny
Ben Onwukwe, who we enjoyed reading Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor
Aoife MacMahon, who amongst others has performed Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan
David Tennant, with The Wizards of Once series by Cressida Cowell, and others
And Malcolm Hamilton, David Almond’s regular audiobook performer it seems, who reads The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon and The Tale of Angelino Brown
We crowdsourced this one a little bit - thank you to all who submitted your favourite audiobook narrators! Here are the other recommendations that we got:
Huw Parmenter, reading Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones
Alex Jennings, reading The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper
Miriam Margolyes, reading Mati…
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Mar 11, 2021
Episode 20 - Not Quite Nuclear (Burglar Bill and Wilde)
This week we’re reading around the theme of ‘Not Quite Nuclear’ . . . we’re reading books about found family and unusual family set-ups
Our picture book is Burglar Bill by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (one of Matt’s childhood favourites)
And our chapter book is Wilde, by Eloise Williams, which is a new favourite for both of us
Wilde is published by Firefly Press, which is an independent children’s and Young Adult publisher based in Wales. You can get a copy from Wilde from them here - https://fireflypress.co.uk/books/wilde/
We strongly encourage supporting independent presses!
Episode Transcript will follow later this week, and will be available here - https://eventhetrunchbull.wordpress.com/home/transcripts/
And as always you can check out our bookshop dot org shop front here - https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/trunchbullpod
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
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Mar 4, 2021
Episode 19 - Don't Mess With The Pasta Magic! (Strega Nona and The Magicians of Caprona)
Spaghetti, magic and Italian cities abound in this episode! We kick off the discussion with the treasure that is Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola. Lovely, naive, almost tapestry-like illustrations and a simple folk tale.
And then we indulge in another Diana Wynne Jones: The Magicians of Caprona! In this second book of the Chrestomanci series we visit a world where song is magic, and magic is song. Romeo and Juliet influences are thick in the air; there is, as usual with Diana Wynne Jones, a war just over the horizon. And, if you weren't sold yet, some brilliant cat characters the likes of which we haven't seen since The Amazing Maurice.
We reference our Shooting Stars episode about Howl's Moving Castle too, which you can find here.
You can see and purchase all the books we've ever discussed at our bookshop dot org shopfront here.
Transcripts are available on our website here.
Our intro music, What A Wonderful Day, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Lice…
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Feb 25, 2021
Episode 18 - Mystical Cows (The Beasts of Clawstone Castle and Maharani the Cow)
This week we’re reading around the theme of Mystical Cows!
Our picture book is Maharani the Cow, written by Christy Shoba Sudhir and illustrated by Nancy Raj – a bustling slice of life in India is interrupted by a cow in the road.
And our chapter book is The Beasts Of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson, in which there may well be ghosts but it is, in fact, all about the cows.
justonemorebook.com have a lovely audio interview with Eva Ibbotson from 2008 here in which she talks about her life and writing process here - http://justonemorebook.com/2008/01/21/interview-with-eva-ibbotson/
And here’s some great fan art from Clawstone! - https://www.deviantart.com/scarletcortez/art/Sunita-537823380
Episode Transcript will follow later this week, and will be available here - https://eventhetrunchbull.wordpress.com/home/transcripts/
And as always you can check out our bookshop dot org shop front here - https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/trunchbullpod
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a…
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Feb 18, 2021
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 u…
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Dec 17, 2020
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 ou…
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Dec 10, 2020
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, necessa…
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Dec 3, 2020
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 Att…
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Nov 26, 2020
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…
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Nov 19, 2020
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,…
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Oct 29, 2020
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/
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Oct 1, 2020
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
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Sep 24, 2020
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 childre…
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Sep 17, 2020
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-…
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Sep 10, 2020
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/drawin…
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Sep 3, 2020
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…
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Jul 16, 2020
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
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Jul 9, 2020
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
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Jul 1, 2020
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.
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Jun 25, 2020
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.
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Jun 18, 2020
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.
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May 14, 2020
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 Creat…
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May 7, 2020
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=W7…
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Apr 30, 2020
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.
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Apr 23, 2020
Episode 2 - Grief (The Sad Book and Pog)
CN: bereavement, child death, parent death, sadness, depression, rage
In this, our second ever episode, Nina and Matt go deep on Michael Rosen's lovely sad book and on a new favourite: Pog by Pádraig Kenny. Matt apologises in advance for mispronouncing a character's name.
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.
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Apr 16, 2020
Episode 1 - Monsters (Young Werewolf and Not Now Bernard)
In this inaugural episode of Even the Trunchbull Nina and Matt read and discuss Cornelia Funke's Young Werewolf and Not Now Bernard by David McKee.
What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com.
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Apr 15, 2020
Teaser trailer
Just a little note to introduce ourselves!
Email us at eventhetrunchbull@gmail.com
Twitter: @TrunchbullPod
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