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This week, our books are linked by instruments from the strings section of the orchestra, and the way their music makes us feel.

Special guest Ria suggested our chapter book. It's Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell! Sophie was found floating in a cello case as a one year old baby after a terrible shipwreck. For the next decade of her life, she was cared for by the strange and kindly man who found her: Charles Maxim. After the Victorian social services decide he isn't a suitable guardian for her after all, Sophie and Charles flee to Paris, there to seek out the mysterious owner of Sophie's cello case, her mother. The French police are less than helpful, but Sophie falls in with Matteo, a boy who lives on the rooftops of Paris, who helps her to continue her search from above.

Our picture book is the one that started the whole podcast off, the story that Nina told Matt in the pub on the last day of 2019. It's The Sad Story of Veronica, Who Played the Violin, by the inimitable David McKee. Veronica was an ordinary girl who played the violin. At first she was very bad. But she practiced loads? She was determined like that. Gradually, she became very good. So good that she was signed by a music man who made her music into records that sold and were played all around the world.  Veronica becomes a superstar, touring the world. But she grows bored of all that. Really, she wants to go and see the animals in the jungle. What happens when a talent like Veronica walks into a clearing to encounter a lion, a leopard and a tiger? Listen in to find out!

You can find our more about Ria and her show here

And the BBC bitesize study guide to Rooftoppers is here

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

This week, we're reading books in which people steal (and do other reprehensible, dangerous or immoral things)! First up, our chapter book is The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid, written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis. Charlie is the lonely, slightly maladjusted son of an American diplomat in 1961 Marseille. He's been advised to look upon this posting as a holiday, but he's not having it. While he's out alone and writing, Charlie's very nice pen is stolen by a boy about his own age. The theft is so thrilling and beautiful that instead of getting upset about it, Charlie makes a deal with the pickpocket. He can keep the pen, if only he'll teach Charlie to steal like that. Before he knows it, Charlie is getting a crash course in pickpocketing, and in the particular moral codes that govern the art. Charlie falls in with a proper gang, a real group of friends, and for the first time in years, he's happy. But how long can such an idyll last? Can Charlie keep his life as a diplomat's son along side his new identity as a child pickpocket?

The Three Robbers, written and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer, feels like it's set in the same world as the Whiz Mob. It's a strange fable about a set of robot-like highwaymen in cloaks and hats who terrorise the countryside, holding up coaches and stripping travelers of all their worldly goods. They keep all the loot in a cave until they accidentally steal a child. The child asks them what all the money is for, and the question is so profound that it fundamentally alters the course of their life. Whether or not it changes for the better? Only you can tell.

You can read the bad review of The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid here in full (I abridged it for our purposes)

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

For the first time in our long and storied history, we are finishing off a series! And what a series to complete. We read the first book back in 2020, and it's bittersweet to say goodbye to dinosaur-ridden civil war-era America in Dactyl Hill Squad #3: Thunder Run, by DJ Older.

Magdalys and Mapper have finally rescued Magdalys' brother Montez. She's gone toe to toe with Earl Shamus Dawson Drek, the most powerful dinowrangler on the Confederate side of the war, and a member of the evil Knights of the Golden Circle organisation. Our friends land in beautiful New Orleans, where it's time to build themselves up for the biggest challenge to Magdalys' powers yet. No spoilers, but it involves T-Rexes.

We love this historical fantasy series with all our hearts, and we're seriously considering starting a campaign (or at least a hashtag) to bring them over to the UK. And maybe get a TV show. And some spin-offs.

You can find our first two episodes about Dactyl Hill Squad here and here (and we do seriously recommend that you start there - this might be a lot to try and grasp if you're coming in cold).

Matt is on tour as we speak. Go here to find out if Fixing is coming to a theatre near you.

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

This week, we're reading stories which feature bathtubs!  And starring little girls who wear their hair in space buns. Our picture book is How To Give Your Cat A Bath : In Five Easy Steps, written by Nicola Winstanley and illustrated by John Martz. This should get instant classic status, in our opinion. The joy comes from the interplay between the stiff, formal, instruction manual-style narration and the child protagonist's well meaning but chaotic attempts to give her cat a bath. The illustrations are gorgeously simple. The writing is incredibly spare (great for new readers). A book that cries out to be performed on stage!

Our chapter book is Time Tub Travellers and the Silk Thief by Claire Linney. Our very first self-published book! The bathtub in this book is actually a time machine. Zula and her best friend Milo are on the hunt for evidence of Black Tudors in order to prove Zula's teacher wrong about there being "no Black people in London in Tudor times". Zula's aunt Abina immediately pulls out a book on Reasonable Blackman, a weaver and the first documented Black businessman working for himself during this period. But that's not enough. Abina also heavily hints that more might be found in they happen to mess around with the mysterious golden bath in the store-room. Zula and Milo climb inside and before they know it, they're stranded in Tudor London, smells and all. Will they manage to save the Blackman family fortune? And will Ms Farris admit that she was mistaken about history? 

You can find Claire Linney, her books and her reviews here.

Matt is on tour as we speak. Go here to find out if Fixing is coming to a theatre near you.

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

The headline news here is that we've got a special guest! Liam is our first young guest and he's brought us his second favourite book: Into the Wild, by Erin Hunter. Into the Wild is the introduction to the Warrior Cats series which is massive and hugely popular, but that we'd never heard of because we're a tiny bit too old. We talk worldbuilding, cat gods and tragic character deaths. How many cat deaths are too many cat deaths? Liam thinks it's more than four per book. Into the Wild is fast paced, exciting and very very readable. It's about a kittypet who runs away from home and becomes a wild warrior cat. Can he earn his place among those who were born free? Will he graduate to become a full member of Thunderclan? It's all up in the air in this rip-roaring middle grade action fantasy (with great maps - get the physical book for the maps alone.)

Then we go all gooey over Cat Nap, by Brian Lies. This is just a treasure of a picture book. Super simple story with stunning, high effort art. Our protagonist is Kitten, who steps through a poster advertising the Metropolitan Museum of Art in hot pursuit of a mouse. The mouse leads Kitten through a series of artworks, and as they move from bas relief to painting to sculpture, cat and mouse change shape and style to fit with their surroundings. It's very lovely. You'll want to look at it for ages.

Matt is on tour as we speak. Go here to find out if Fixing is coming to a theatre near you.

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

We’re kicking off season nine with the third book in the Time Keys series: The Impossible Gladiator by MG Leonard. It’s a holiday book! Our pals Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson are in Rome to take in some culture and maybe pop through a time door to 121 CE. There’s a celebrity magician trapped inside a poem by Martial, handstands on horseback, rhinos and giraffes and the Emperor Hadrian.  It’s a fantastically fun read, with Leonard’s signature blend of humour, heart and cold hard historical facts. We sing the praises of this clever, limited take on time travel and renew our calls for a book focused on Nelson!

Our picture book is Let’s Go To Taekwondo, written and illustrated by Aram Kim. This is a warm, gentle and encouraging book about facing your fears and overcoming mental blocks. The illustration style is cute and slightly cluttered, think Richard Scarry vibes, and the dojang that Kim conjures up is a real community space. It reminded Nina of being a child wrestler in the best of ways.

You can listen to our episode about The Legend of Viking Thunder here.

Matt is on tour as we speak. Go here to find out if Fixing is coming to a theatre near you.

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

It's almost Christmas and we're in a silly, silly mood. Father Christmas is a wonderful mythological figure with loads of room still to stretch and change and imagine him. Today, we're looking at the women who fall in love with him.

First up, it's a story about finding a place for yourself and your passions within a strong family legacy. The Truth about Mrs Claus, by Meena Harris and illustrated by Keisha Morris is about a little teddy-making elf named Amalia. She comes from a long line of teddy-makers, and there's huge pride in this, but she just... doesn't love making teddies. Could Santa help her? Well, he's not in, but a certain Sarah B. Claus has some nuggets of wisdom to share. With women of colour front and center, this is a sweet story with a strong message about the value of seeing others break the mould when you're trying to find your own way.

Next up, Stepfather Christmas by LD Lapinski. How would you feel if your mum, single for years, suddenly announced she was bringing her boyfriend home to stay over Christmas for two whole weeks? And then, what if he happened to have a white beard, a bit of a belly, wear all red and say "ho ho ho"? Harper is convinced her new stepdad is Father Christmas. How else can you explain all the post? And the amazing hot chocolates? And the reindeer tattoos? This advent story in 25 chapters answers the question : What if you really did see Mummy kissing Santa Claus?

We'll be back with a new season in 2026! If you'd like some bonus content, including both of Nina's advent stories for children, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

To wrap up season eight, we've got another episode with a silly name. These books are about Vikings, although, as Matt points out, nobody really called themselves Vikings; it would be like calling yourself the Burglars.

Three Little Vikings by Bethan Woollvin is a cute and funny story structured like a fairytale. Three times is the village practically knocked over. Three times do the little vikings warn their chieftain. Three times does he not listen, and finally, the kids take it into their own hands and use the chieftain as bait to catch a troll. The art style is fantastically modern and classic feeling at the same time, with a Moominish touch to it. The foreshadowing (using a literal shadow) is great. We love a gruesome ending too.

The second book in MG Leonard's Time Keys series, the Legend of Viking Thunder, is packed full of history facts, and music, and research, and Doctor Who-ish timey-wimeyness. It's got complicated family relationships. It's got a fantastic storm at sea aboard a Viking longboat.  It's got a nefarious governing body and kids on the run. What more could you possibly want? Dripping with Leonard's trademark charm, this is custom made to slide into your school library. Stories are, after all, the light by which we forge paths into the future. They are what has been, what is, and what will be. They are the world. You've got to have stories to wile away a cold November night in a smoke-filled longhouse. There's only so many chicken legs you can eat in the dark.

The organisation that helped Bethan Woollvin with Three Little Vikings is Inclusive Minds, here

The interview of MG Leonard by Polly Ho-Yen can be heard here

You can learn more about the educational framework that Matt mentioned, the Mantle of the Expert, here

We're going on a bit of a break now, but we'll be back before too long with a Christmas special. And if you can't wait that long, now's a great time to join our patreon here. Matt's just finished narrating our first audiobook and that's where you can get Nina's advent stories too.

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

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

This episode is about little boys who live in cosy middle England at some point in the second half of the twentieth century and want to see the world burn.

Both books were picked by our lovely guest Doug Deans, a playwright, actor and parent. The Boy Who Kicked Pigs, by Colin Baker and illustrated by David Roberts is a baffling, disgusting bit of snuff. It's naughty, it's irreverent, it vehemently resists moralising and it made us feel a little bit ill. You won't want to give this one to the young person in your life, but you do want them to find it on their own and enjoy the illicit thrill of it.

Angry Arthur, by Hiawyn Oram and Satoshi Kitamura, is an ode to the pointless destructiveness of anger. Is it about nuclear war? Is it about toxic masculinity? Is it simply about a toddler's tantrum? Who can say. The art is completely gorgeous. This one is a classic for a reason.

Here is a clip of Kill The Beast's adaptation of The Boy Who Kicked Pigs.

You can see Doug's new play at the Omnibus here in January.

Fixing is on tour as we speak, and you can find out if Matt's coming to your town here https://mattmillertheatre.com/

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

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

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

This week we're zooming in on a setting that's close to Matt's heart: the theatre. Actors and plays are often devices in children's stories, and often they're mocked, so here we are, giving them a whole episode.

First up is the phenomenally ambitious Lights Up, by Lisette Auton. There's a touch of spooky in the air, the theatre is full of ghosts and the whole place is crawling with spiders. But they're nice spiders! Except when they're being used for evil. In typical Lisette Auton style, we have a range of cool disabled characters, a protagonist who needs to chill out about being the main character, and a touch of whimsical magic.

Then we're exploring stage fright through Yes You Can, Cow!, by Rashmi Sirdeshpande and Rikkin Parekh. What do you do in Hey Diddle Diddle when the cow cannot in fact jump over the moon? It's such a silly, clever book, this one. We had a nice chat about flow states and trying too hard, and giving anxious performers the right amount of scaffolding.

The organisation Matt was talking about, in relation to ramps at theatre shows, is here https://rampsonthemoon.co.uk/

And Fixing is on tour as we speak, and you can find out if Matt's coming to your town here https://mattmillertheatre.com/

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

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

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

There are two things we always celebrate over here at Even The Trunchbull: back to school, and of course, Halloween. This is a nostalgic one for us! We are reading two spooky books that came out the year of our birth (1992).

First up is Goosebumps #3: Monster Blood, by RL Stine. Matt remembers an abiding sense of loneliness reading this book as a 7 year old. Nina likens it to eating a packet of crisps. It's good fun! Long live useless parents and unlikeable protagonists in kidlit, say we. There's also a dramatic reading of some very funny fan mail to RL Stine. 

Next up is the funny and gentle The Ghost Train by Allan Ahlberg, illustrated by Andre Amstutz. Is the ghost town depicted within Whitley Bay or Skegness? Answers on a postcard (from your own seaside town). It's a lovely one for learning to read, learning tell the time and learning to tell jokes. All the most important skills. Do you believe in babies?

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

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

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

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

It's the long-awaited episode about fat kids in kidlit. We could go on forever about all the negative representation of fatness in children's literature, but it has taken us years to find two books that depict bigger kids in a way that met our standards.

First, we've got the fantastic Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek by Kwame Mbalia. This is an absolute doorstop of a book, and yet, so readable, so quick to read. We chat engaging narrators, playing with the tropes and breaking them when need be. This book is action packed and fun and has so much heart. All aboard!

Then we've got the beautiful Dim Sum Palace by X Fang. Do you have a little baby that's shaped like a dumpling? Then you need to read them this book. It's a gentle going to bed story, a celebration of eating and the pleasure of food, with a brilliant dream sequence. There's also a little diversion into our own childhood dreams.

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

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

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

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

This week we're reading portal fantasies! Our picture book is Another by Christian Robinson. This is a gorgeous mixed media wordless adventure about a girl and her cat travelling through a mysterious hole in the wall and confronting different perspectives, gravitational forces and body doubles. It's beautiful, open ended, and slightly, slightly trippy. We really enjoy this art style and we love how much wordless picture books make us pay attention to the art.

Our chapter book is The Barren Grounds by David A Robertson, the opener of the Misewa Saga. Narnia meets Swampy Cree sky stories. The Barren Grounds is about Morgan and Eli, two Cree children, living in the same foster family.  Together, they discover another world by pinning up a drawing by Eli. The drawing becomes a window to the village of Misewa, trapped in an endless winter and peopled by human-sized, clothed, talking animals. Eli disappears through the portal, and Morgan follows. What ensues is a quest to bring the green time back to Misewa, before everyone starves, and before anyone notices that the children are missing.

This week we referred to quite a few books we've reviewed previously. You can find those episodes here: Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue? The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon , Not Now Bernard and Charmed Life.

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

Today we're looking at books written in the eighties and aiming to empower girls. First up, we have a listener request: The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko. So good it was endorsed by the National Organisation for women! We've had a couple of ideas for fanfiction already.

Our chapter book is Alanna: The First Adventure by the inimitable Tamora Pierce. Lots of reading aloud from this brilliant book. We talk about the ways it's aged well (and the ways it hasn't so much). A proper sex and relationships education for a girl starting her period (plus magic contraception)? Learning hand to hand fighting from the king of the thieves? Yes please. We also spend some time bemoaning the cover art from the early 2000s edition.

Remember that's the end of the season, but we will be back in a month!

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

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

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

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

It's our annual back to school episode, and this year, we're reading books about being the new girl.

First, we're accompanying Super Goat Girl for her first day in Miss Damsel's classroom. Noodle Boy and Laser Lass aren't sure whether bleating loudly and chomping properly count as superpowers. Miss Damsel says it'll all work out though. And we find out what three ingredients mix together to form a black hole.

Then we're riding the bus with Jummy from Lagos to the River School. It's so exciting, she's passed the exams and now she's in! House rivalries, academic challenge, sports victories and midnight feasts await her. It's a really wonderful school if you can afford to go... 

You can read a sample of Jummy At The River School here

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

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

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

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

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

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

You can find Simon Mole's poetry shows here

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To kick off this new season we're reading books about tiny people - small folk. Our picture book is Chirri and Chirra, Underground, by Kaya Doi (translated from the Japanese by David Boyd). An absurd, gentle, surreal journey for two tiny girls on their bikes. Dring dring! We're having peanut soft serve with the mole people. Dring dring! We're having dinner and card games with a family of badgers. And now the badger dad is digging a hole through the side of his own house. Lovely soft colour pencil drawings, low danger, high whimsy. Get this for your Brambly Hedge fan.

Our chapter book is The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall. This gem from 1959 starts very safe and cosy, in a lovely Minnipin village called Slipper-On-The-Water... and then swerves suddenly and completely believably into the rise of totalitarianism within a small, idyllic community. It's a book about government, about how we live with each other, about what taxes are for (!). What a surprising and radical book in cute, Hobbit-like clothing. There are also glowing swords.

We discussed the cover art by the brothers Hildebrandt, whose Tolkien art you can see here. They also illustrated the sequel to the Gammage Cup, the Whisper of Glocken.

Matt mentions Brisingamen a couple of times in relation to this week's chapter book - you can find our episode about Alan Garner's classic The Weirdstone of Brisingamen here.

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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

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

To wrap up this tenth season, we're reading some thrillers for kids. Yes, they do exist, even in picture book form!

The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen is a stunning piece of art. It's a horror story. Laszlo has an uncomfortable roommate type relationship with the Dark. They live in the same house. Mostly it's fine. Except when it's not. Except when the Dark lures you into the cellar and hits you with a wall of text... We're not joking! That's how this book goes. It's fantastic.

Our chapter book, released just last year, is When the Storm Comes, by Polly Ho-Yen, who is fast becoming an auto-buy author for us. This is a disaster movie in book camouflage. It's a climate change book. It's a bullying book. It's a survival story. What if you became trapped inside your school with your firm but fair, very pregnant teacher, and three other kids, two of which you don't really care for, and one you actually despise? CHILLS. Get it for your kid who can't sustain the attention for reading. It's gripping.

We reviewed Polly Ho-Yen's first book, which you can find here

And we briefly mention our episode about Coraline, which you can find here

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 you can check out our bookshop dot org shop front here - https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/trunchbullpod

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 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 you can check out our bookshop dot org shop front here - https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/trunchbullpod

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 - https://unionsong.com/u765.html

The podcast ‘99% Invisible’ have an episode about the Inclosure Acts, which can be heard here - https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/right-to-roam/

More info on Richard O’Neill can be found at his website, here - https://richardthestoryteller.weebly.com/about-richard.html

More info on Katharine Quarmby can be found at her website, here - https://katharinequarmby.com/

For The Famine Secret:

This link has some info on the ‘Yellow Fever’ and ‘Black Fever’ suffered in Ireland during the 1840’s, reference in The Famine Secret https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/workdisease.htm

More info on Cora Harrison’s Drumshee Timeline can be found at her website, here - http://www.coraharrison.com/drumshee/index.html

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 you can check out our bookshop dot org shop front here - https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/trunchbullpod

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-Greenlaw-author-Gabriel-Frey-author-Nancy-Baker-artist/9780884487609

Sisters of the Neversea by Cynthia Leitich Smith offers a retelling of Peter Pan: https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/kidbooks/kids_index/sisters-of-the-neversea/

Pádraig’s new book The Shadows of Rookhaven is out now in all the places, and is excellent:

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Shadows-of-Rookhaven-by-Pdraig-Kenny-author-Edward-Bettison-illustrator/9781529031713

Previous episodes referenced in this episode are:

Pog by Pádraig Kenny in Ep#2, Grief: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-2-grief-the-sad-book-and-pog/

Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis in Ep#3, Made Up Languages: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-3-made-up-languages-du-iz-tak-and-the-giants-and-the-joneses/

Pattan’s Pumpkin by Chitra Soundar in Ep#14, Fairytale Retellings: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-14-fairytale-retellings-pattans-pumpkin-and-the-amazing-maurice-and-his-educated-rodents/

The Beasts of Clawstone Castle by Eva Ibbotson in Ep#18, Mystical Cows: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-18-mystical-cows-the-beasts-of-clawstone-castle-and-maharani-the-cow/

The Monsters of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny in Ep#22, Haunted Houses: https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-22-haunted-houses-ghosts-in-the-house-and-the-monsters-of-rookhaven/

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 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

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

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-rookhaven-1274987

We also reference various of our own past episodes in this one, which can be found at the following links:

Ep 17: Howl’s Moving Castle - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-17-shooting-stars-look-up-and-howls-moving-castle/

Ep1: Not Now Bernard - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-1-monsters-young-werewolf-and-not-now-bernard/

Ep 2: Pog - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/episode-2-grief-the-sad-book-and-pog/

Halloween Special #1: The Jumbies - https://eventhetrunchbull.podbean.com/e/halloween-special-1-ghosts-for-breakfast-and-the-jumbies/

We also mentioned A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicholl and The Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman.

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

Our picture book this week is less of a story and more of a tour of the narrator's very tastefully curated collection. The categories travel from totally mundane (small things) to very high concept (invisible things), passing lunch on our way through and ending up at bedtime. Bethan Woollvin's use of texture and colour are on full display in this masterpiece of interactivity. How many legs are too many legs? And what is the difference between pointy things and prickly things?

For our chapter book, we've a classic of British fantasy literature, it's Alan Garner's debut from 1960: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. Matt read this one as a child and has lingering memories of being deeply disturbed and impressed. This one is worth seeking out and revisiting. It is formally so strange, linguistically so beautiful, often very funny and not infrequently terrifying. We read a lot aloud from this one because it's just too good not to.  Come play with us by Alderley Edge - just watch you don't fall down any disused mine shafts or the svarts'll get ya.

Matt mentioned the review of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen over on Eleanor & Alaisdair Read That. Shoutout to a fellow kidlit podcast!

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

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

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

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

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

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 Matilda by Roald Dahl and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by CS Lewis

Carl Prekopp, reading the Half Bad series by Sally Green (fyi, this is YA, not kidlit)

Simon Russell Beale, reading Children of the Red King, by Jenny Nimmo

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

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