In the Reading Corner

Fairy Tales are deeply ingrained in culture, and are constantly being remade and reinvented. They are paradoxically progressive and conservative. Dr Alastair Daniel, Principal Lecturer at the University of Roehampton, joined me with his students, Jenny Brewster and George Gardner-Cliff to talk about a course designed to encourage students to engage critically with fairy tale and explore ways of teaching with them across the primary age range.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

In this episode, Jo Bowers and Simon Fisher talk about children's literature with a Welsh context, the Tir na -n-Og Award and the English language shortlist for 2021.

About the Awards
The Tir na n-Og Awards are the oldest and most popular awards for children’s literature in Wales. Established in 1976, the awards recognise, honour and promote excellence in books for children and young people.

The awards have been won by some of our leading authors, including Manon Steffan Ros, Jac Jones, Gareth F Williams, Catherine Fisher and Jackie Morris. 

Three prizes of £1,000 each are awarded annually to the overall winner in three categories. The awards are sponsored by CILIP Cymru (Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals in Wales) and are organised annually by the Books Council of Wales. 

Shortlists of both English and Welsh-language categories are published preceding the awards.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Professor Sunny Singh, co-founder of the Jhalak Prize talks to Nikki Gamble about the principles underpinning the prize and this year's shortlist.

About The Jhalak Prize

First awarded in March 2017, the Jhalak Prize and its new sister award Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize founded in 2020, seek to celebrate books by British/British resident BAME writers. 

​The prizes are unique in that they accept entries published in the UK by writers of colour. These include (and not limited to) fiction, non-fiction, short stories, graphic novels, poetry and all other genres. The Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize accepts books for children and teens and young adults including picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, poetry, non-fiction, and all other genres by writers of colour and aimed at young readers. The prizes are also open to self-published writers. 

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Dr Jess Wade is a British research physicist who works at Imperial College., where she specialises in Raman spectroscopy.

Melissa Castrillon graduated from the Cambridge School of Art, MA in Children's Book illustration. Her picturebooks include The Mighty Min and a wordless book The Balcony.  She has also designed book jackets including jackets for Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.

In this episode, they talk about a joint project Nano: The Spectacular Science of the Very (Very) Small.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Scottish writer Damien Love has worked as a journalist for many years, writing about movies, music, TV, and other things for a variety of publications.

 Monstrous Devices was his first novel, followed by its sequel, The Shadow Arts.

About Monstrous Devices
When twelve-year-old Alex receives an old tin robot in the post, the note from his grandfather simply reads: 'This one is special'.

But as strange events start occurring around him, it doesn't take Alex long to suspect that the small toy is more than special; it might also be deadly. Just as things are getting out of hand, Alex's grandfather arrives, whisking him away from his otherwise humdrum life and into a world of strange, macabre magic. From Paris to Prague, they flee across snowy Europe in a quest to unravel the riddle of the little robot and outwit relentless assassins of the human and mechanical kind.

How does Alex's grandfather know them? And can Alex safely harness the robot's power, or will it fall into the wrong, wicked hands?

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Ivor Baddiel is a British television scriptwriter and his debut novel for children draws on his behind the scenes experiences.

About Britain'sBiggest Star is ... Dad
Britain's Biggest Star.... is Dad, is a hilarious whodunnit about two kids trying to save the UK's top TV talent show from a mysterious saboteur! "Annoyingly good." - David Baddiel "Ivor is a funny, clever and brilliant writer, so it's no surprise that he's written such a funny, clever and brilliant book, which is also heartwarming and full 

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Graham Carter is an artist and illustrator who works with a range of media including printmaking, animation and 3D word sculpture. 

In this episode, he talks to Nikki about his three picturebooks for children, Alphamals, Otto Blotter, Bird Spotter and The Story Thief. The discussion touches on developing technique through discovery,  story-making, and the extraordinary luminescent quality that characterizes Graham's work.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Jon Klassen is a Canadian animator and creator of picturebooks now living in the US. He has illustrated books for other writers and has a long-standing creative partnership with Mac Barnett.

 Jon’s self-authored picturebook, I Want My Hat Back (2011) won both the Caldecott Medal and the Kate Greenaway Medal, the first time a book has won both awards,  This was followed by two further books in what has come to be regarded as the ‘Hat’ trilogy, This is Not My Hat (2012) and We Found a Hat (2016)  Both books were on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 40 weeks.

 With Mac Barnett, he has created three books in the Shape trilogy: Triangle (2017), Square (2018) and Circle (2019). Plus standalone stories Extra Yarn (2012), Sam and Dave Dig a Hole (2014) and The Wolf the Duck and the Mouse (2017)

 Jon has also created eye-catching book jackets, notably for Sara Pennypacker’s Pax and Here in the Real World.

 In this episode, Jon talks about his newly released book,, the enigmatic, The Rock from The Sky.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Chris Haughton is an Irish illustrator, author and designer now living in London.

He was a long-standing interest in fair trade and was listed in Time magazine's 'DESIGN 100' for the work he has been doing for the ethical clothing company People Tree. In 2010 he moved to Nepal for eight months to work with local craftspeople designing and making rugs and with his friend Akshay Sthapit, a Nepalese entrepreneur, set up the fair trade project, Node,

His debut book A Bit Lost was first published in English in September 2010. This was followed by Oh No George, Shhh We have a Plan, Goodnight Everyone and Don't Worry  Little Crab.

in 2014 he made an App, Hat Monkey.

In this episode, Chirs talks to Nikki Gamble about his picturebook Maybe, about the importance of shape and colour and about tension and surprise.

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

 Ben Mantle began his illustration career early, picking up his first award in a local library colouring-in competition aged seven. He went on to study Animation at the Surrey Institute of Art & Design before working as an animator. Ben has illustrated a number of children’s books including the well-received fairy tale series with Lucy Rowland,  published by Macmillan, Little Red Reading Hood (2018), The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Book (2021) Callum’s Incredible Construction Kit (Egmont) which won the 2013 Bishop’s Stortford Picture Book Award. He is also the creator of the award-winning The Best Birthday Present Ever! (2015) and The Best Christmas Present Ever! (2015) published by Macmillan Children’s Books. He has designed book jackets including for Jenny McLachlan's Land of Roar and Shane Hegarty's Boot.

In this episode, Ben talks to Nikki Gamble about two recent books Bunnies on the Bus (written by Philip Ardagh) and Frog Vs Toad which is self-authored,

Support the show

Thank you for listening. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. and by purchasing books from our online bookshop, Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. 

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates: follow us on X @imaginecentre  Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/justimaginecentre.bsky.social  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/justimagine_books/

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk