The Wonder Podcast for Curious Kids

Season 6 of The Wonder Podcast is all about books for newly independent readers, be they murder mysteries, comics, or science fiction. This week we recommend to you The Dark is Rising, by Susan Cooper.

It's a fantasy novel about a boy whose birthday coincides with the mid-winter solstice and discovers he is a 'sign seeker'. The story mixes truth and fantasy – time travel, ancient powers and a battle between the forces of Light and Dark – to create a strange echo of reality. With its mysterious characters – Merriman who can be compared to Gandalf and Dumbledore, and The Walker to Gollum,  this is an excellent foundation book for other fantasy novels, such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings.

Season 6 of The Wonder Podcast is all about books for newly independent readers, be they murder mysteries, comics, or science fiction. This week we recommend to you the Greek myths, specifically Homer's The Odyssey brilliantly retold by the British author Geraldine McCaughrean. It's a slim book but the stories practically sing on the page such is the vivacity of McCaughrean's retelling. They are for every child, startling and exciting. Or, indeed, for every parent to read aloud to and share with their children.

Season 6 of The Wonder Podcast for Curious Kids is all about books for newly independent readers. We'll be recommending lots of different types of books including fantasy, science fiction and comics. We start with a murder mystery: Five Little Pigs by the Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie. 

Have you ever wondered why football is called the beautiful game, why male footballers are paid so much, and female footballers much less so?

As the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Championships are hosted in Switzerland we look at the rise and fall and rise again of the women's game. 

Why was the First World War a golden age? What was the impact of the ban from the FA in 1921? And can England's Lionesses retain their 2022 trophy? 

Today 2.3 million girls play football around the world - are you one of them? 

Narrated by Georgia Vyvyan  

Why are naughty children so appealing as characters?

Do you have to be a nice person to write children's books?

Was Walt Disney a villain?

We ask Sam Leith, the author of 'The Haunted Wood, A History of Childhood Reading' these questions, and many more 

Produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas and Henrietta McMicking 

Sound editing by Lou Sawdy 

Theme music by James Burrell Music

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It is one of the most famous, and mysterious, stone circles in the world but who built it, and why?

Was it an ancient calendar? A place of worship, or pilgrimage? Or a burial ground? Or, as some people have even suggested, a landing pad for alien spaceships?

What remains of this 5,000-year-old monument – which sits within a sacred landscape on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England – offers us some extraordinary clues. 

Narrated by Camilla Akers-Douglas

Script by Camilla Akers-Douglas

Produced by Henrietta McMicking 

Sound editing by Lou Sawdy 

Theme music by James Burrell Music

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One hundred years before the computer was even invented, Ada wrote the first-ever computer program. She was also a brilliant mathematician and an aristocratic Victorian. 

We tell the remarkable true story of a digital pioneer, who was also the daughter of the poet Lord Byron. Every time we play a computer game, or listen to a podcast, we are a part of her legacy. 

Narrated by Henrietta McMicking 

Script by Henrietta McMicking 

Produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas

Sound editing by Lou Sawdy 

Theme music by James Burrell Music

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Have you ever thought about the importance of wee? Urine, to give it its proper name, has flowed through human history. 

The Romans used it to whiten their togas as well as their teeth. Children in the Middle Ages worked as piss collectors because it was such a valued product in the leather and wool industries.

There is so much more to wee than the waste liquid we flush down the toilet each day.  

Narrated by Laura Howarth 

Script by Henrietta McMicking 

Produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas

Sound editing by Lou Sawdy 

Theme music by James Burrell Music

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Have you ever wondered why we love playing games – board games, card games, computer games, even playground games like It and Kick the Can?

Games let us experiment and take risks in a safe, fun way. Many games involve luck – like the throw of the dice, the draw of the cards – but they also involve maths. And, sometimes, using maths can help you win…

Narrated by Camilla Akers-Douglas

Script by Camilla Akers-Douglas

Produced by Henrietta McMicking 

Sound editing by Lou Sawdy 

Theme music by James Burrell Music

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What would it be like to discover a whole city hiding in the cloud forest? 

This podcast – for parents and their children – tells the thrilling story of the rediscovery of Machu Picchu, the Andean citadel built by the Incas in 1400. 

For hundreds of years, it was covered in undergrowth and known only to local people in a small corner of Peru. Then the American adventurer, Hiram Bingham, found it in 1911. The extraordinary mountaintop city has now been designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. 

Narrated by Jamie Chetwood 

Script by Henrietta McMicking  

Produced by Camilla Akers-Douglas

Sound editing by Lou Sawdy 

Theme music by James Burrell Music

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