Rereading Our Childhood

Deborah and Mary Grace read John D. Fitzgerald’s 1967* novel The Great Brain, the first book in the series featuring John, the narrator, and his older brother Tom, the eponymous Great Brain, who wreaks havoc on their late 19th-century Utah town with his devious moneymaking ventures.

Mentioned on this episode:

The Amazon review that gives parents a heads-up about disturbing content in the book.

Mary Grace recommends the Encyclopedia Brown books, featured on a previous episode, for fans of The Great Brain. She also recommends Two Are Better than One and Louly, by Carol Ryrie Brink, which are set in a small Idaho town in the early 20th century. Deborah recommends the Henry Reed series, also featured on a previous episode.

A June 2023 article by New York Times opinion writer Carlos Lozada, who was born in Peru, about his love for The Great Brain, which he read after his family moved to the United States. Lozada jumps into the article’s comments section to share more Great Brain love with readers.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and you can find Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

*Mary Grace says incorrectly that it was published in 1969.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Mary Grace and Deborah reread Alan Garner’s Carnegie Medal-winning 1967 novel The Owl Service, which tells the story of three teenagers, Alison, Gwyn, and Roger, who find themselves reliving a Welsh legend of love and betrayal that plays out over every generation.

Discussed on this episode:

A 2021 Guardian profile of Garner.

Mary Grace recommends Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain series and Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series for fans of The Owl Service.

The real-life dinner plates that inspired the book, at the Bodleian Libraries‘ Facebook page.

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective, which was published in 1963, is the first of Donald J. Sobol’s 29-book series featuring Encyclopedia, the boy detective who always gets his man (or boy, or girl). The solution to each crime is revealed at the end of the book. In this episode, Deborah and Mary Grace match wits with Encyclopedia, and with each other, in identifying the culprits.

Discussed on this episode:

The full Encyclopedia Brown series on Goodreads.

Two-Minute Mysteries, a collection of Sobol’s syndicated columns for adults

Sobol’s New York Times obituary, published on July 16, 2012

Mary Grace recommends the Danny Dunn books for fans of Encyclopedia Brown. (Clarifications: Danny Dunn does not, in fact, go to the moon, as Mary Grace thought he might have, but he does go to outer space in Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint. Also, the scientist in the book is not his uncle but his mother’s employer, Professor Bullfinch.(

Deborah recommends the Henry Reed books for Encyclopedia fans. We discussed Henry Reed, Inc. on the third episode of Rereading Our Childhood.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and you can find Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Mary Grace and Deborah celebrate the beginning of a new school year by rereading "B" is for Betsy,, Carolyn Haywood's 1939 novel about a little girl navigating the complicated world of first grade. It was the first in a long series of books about Betsy and her friends.

Mentioned on this episode: 

The twelve books in the Betsy series,  on Goodreads

Haywood's Eddie series, on Goodreads

Haywood's Penny series, on Goodreads 

Mary Grace's blog page where she discusses Dorothy Canfield Fisher's Understood Betsy (it's #7 on the list)

Haywood's New York TImes obituary from January 12, 1990, whicherroneously says that "B" is for Betsy was Haywood's first book 

The Free Library of Philadelphia blog post about Haywood's relationship with artist Violet Oakley and the group of women artists in Philadelphia who were known as the Red Rose Girls

The Free Library of Philadelphia blog post "Carolyn Haywood: All Sugar, No Spice" 

The Free Library of Philadelphia blog post about an unpublished novel about a boy whose father is in jail for selling heroin that was found in Haywood's papers is here.

Deborah and Mary Grace recommend Beverly Cleary's Ramona books for fans of "B" is for Betsy.

Rereading Your Childhood is is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and you can find Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

#children's books 

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Deborah and Mary Grace discuss Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild's classic 1936 story of a trio of adopted sisters, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy, who attend a school for professional children in the performing arts in London. Ballet Shoes is the first in what became a series of "Shoes" books about children working in the theater, the circus, etc.

Mentioned on this episode:

Plays that the girls perform in:

The Blue Bird, by Maurice Maeterlinck (a large chunk of which, weirdly, appears in the text of Ballet Shoes)

A Midsummer Night's Dream, by William Shakespeare

Other Noel Streatfeild books:

Circus Shoes (1938). As Deborah mentions, several of Streatfeild's books were retitled to capitalize on the popularity of Ballet Shoes. This book was originally titled The Circus is Coming. 

Skating Shoes (1951). This is the American title; it was published in the UK as White Boots. 

The Whicharts (1931). Streatfeild's first novel, which is for adults, also features three adopted sisters. (According to an episode on Ballet Shoes on the wonderful Backlisted podcast, the books have identical openings.) 

Recommended by Mary Grace for fans of Ballet Shoes: We Danced in Bloomsbury Square by Jean Estoril (out of print, available from used booksellers).

Recommended by Deborah for fans of Ballet Shoes: other books in the Shoes series. Shoes books available in the United States include Theater Shoes and Dancing Shoes.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here. 

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Oops! Mary Grace made a mockery of the show title by picking a book that it turns out she probably didn't read as a child. What she (and Deborah) actually did read was The RIVER at Green Knowe. Nevertheless, they had a great time discussing The Children of Green Knowe, the first book in the series, which is about a boy named Tolly who goes to live with his great-grandmother in a mansion haunted by seventeenth-century children. 

Mentioned on this episode:

The Amazon review that Mary Grace mentions where the reviewer complains about the book being edited to remove references to a servant's child being born out of wedlock. 

Other books about meeting up with children from the past:

Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager

George Washington and the Magic Hat by Deborah Kalb (yes, that Deborah Kalb)

John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead by Deborah Kalb

Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat by Deborah Kalb

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. 

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 classic about an 11-year-old would-be writer, her spying career, and her interactions with her nanny, her classmates, and her parents. 

Discussed on this episode:

Other books in the series:

The Long Secret (1965)

Sport (1979, published posthumously)

Other books by Fitzhugh: 

Suzuki Beane, a parody of Eloise, written by Sandra Scoppettone and illustrated by Fitzhugh.

Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change (1974).

Deborah's Q&A with Leslie Brody, author of the Fitzhugh biography Sometimes You Have to Lie (2020).

The animated TV series of Harriet the Spy (There's a link to the (free) first episode at Rotten Tomatoes.

A review of the Harriet the Spy animated series.

Recommended for fans of Harriet the Spy: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg (1967) and, for older kids, the work of author M.E. Kerr.

A New Yorker Article about Louise Fitzhugh.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Henry Reed, Inc., Keith Robertson's 1958 novel about a boy who starts a research business while spending the summer with his aunt and uncle in a small town near Princeton, New Jersey. This is the first in a five-book series about the adventures of Henry and his friend Midge. 

Other books in the series:

Henry Reed's Journey (1963)

Henry Reed's Baby-Sitting Service (1966)

Henry Reed's Big Show (1970)

Henry Reed's Think Tank (1986) 

As Mary Grace mentions, Robertson's first novel, Ticktock and Jim, is available as a free e-book at Project Gutenberg. 

You can read Robertson's New York Times obituary here. 

You can read Robertson's daughter Christina's tribute to his honorary daughter Mariko Sasaki Sendai here.

Books by Henry Reed, Inc. illustrator Robert McCloskey:

Homer Price (1943)

Centerburg Tales (1951) (the Homer Price sequel that Deborah mentions)

Make Way for Ducklings (1941) 

Also recommended for fans of Henry Reed:

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective (1963) and the rest of the series, plus Robert McCloskey's Homer Price books, mentioned above. 

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. 

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

Deborah and Mary Grace reread Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, E.L. Konigsburg’s 1967 debut novel. You can listen to this episode here.

Discussed on this episode: 

Other books by E.L. Konigsburg:

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Konigsburg’s Newbery Medal winner about a brother and sister who run away to the Metropolitan Museum.

(George)

A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver

About the B’nai Bagels

A Smithsonian Magazine article commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of From the Mixed-Up Files.

An article by John Rowe Townsend calling Konigsburg's titles “gimmicky” and “an irritation."

Recommended for fans of Jennifer Hecate:

The Egypt Game, by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh

And, lastly, here’s Merriam-Webster’s definition of Hecate, with pronunciations. Bottom line: Debby and Mary Grace are both right!

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com     

On the first episode, Mary Grace and Deborah revisit Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Judy Blume's 1970 classic of adolescence.

Mentioned on the podcast:
Other books by Judy Blume:
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t, the boy equivalent of Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, the first two books in the popular Fudge series
It’s Not the End of the World, the story of a girl whose parents are divorcing
Forever, the much-banned book about a teenage sexual relationship
An April 2023 PEN America report that includes Blume’s novel Forever… on a list of books that have recently been removed from school libraries in the United States.
A New York Times article about the Judy Blume book-to-screen moment currently underway. (Clarification: It’s from the business section.)
Blume demonstrating the famous “I must, I must, I must increase my bust” exercise on a TV program.
Recommended for fans of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret:
Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
The Long Secret by Louise Fitzhugh
The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms.
You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.)
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

#children's books

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com