A rambling podcast about a good book OR IS IT???!?!?!??!?!??!?!?!?

Yeah.

A great book, a great author, a great discussion.

Edward Eager's Half Magic is a whimsical homage to Edith Nesbit's classic children's fantasy. It's fun.

In this episode of our Beyond the Wardrobe series, we talk about The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Part Edwardian comedy of manners, part rhapsody on the beauty of nature, part slapstick caper, total classic. With a big dash of neopaganism to be on guard against. But we enjoyed this one thoroughly.

We talk about Edith Nesbit, who arguably invented modern children's fantasy. Her book Five Children and It is about, yep, five children who find a Puddlegum-ish "sand fairy." He grants wishes that go very wrong, and the results make for a charming adventure.

In this episode of our Beyond the Wardrobe series, we talk about the classic (?) modern fairy tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It's a fun, episodic, tongue-in-cheek adventure story that kids will enjoy. Baum was an interesting guy and we talk about him too.

The first in our Beyond the Wardrobe series! We talk about Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. A widowed field mouse named Mrs. Frisby tries to cure her son. She'll need the help of some mysteriously intelligent rats. Dark, melancholy, and gripping, and a good book about the fragility of life.

Nathan and Ben begin a series on children's fantasy books.

This show. Oh man. What a show.