Even the Trunchbull

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 License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

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 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com

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

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

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

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

Read more about Look Up! here

and watch the authors' reading and drawing tutorial here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas everyone!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Our chapter book is Digory the Dragon Slayer by Angela McAllister

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Additional music this week was Holiday Weasel by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Additional music this week was Holiday Weasel by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)