Even the Trunchbull

It's our annual back to school episode, and this year, we're reading books about being the new girl.

First, we're accompanying Super Goat Girl for her first day in Miss Damsel's classroom. Noodle Boy…

This week we're righting past wrongs and returning to a couple of authors we said we'd check back in with and never did. First up is Freedom Fire, from the Dactyl Hill Squad trilogy by Daniel Jose Ol…

This episode is all about scribbles on the wall, whether they be the work of a cheeky little monster, or a malicious scarling. The one person we're sure didn't do it is the child of the house!

First …

Welcome back! We're kicking back off with a real cracking double act: Boy In The Tower, by Polly Ho-Yen, and The Concrete Garden, by Bob Graham.

This episode is all about confinement, loneliness, i…

Announcing series 7 of Even The Trunchbull! We're so excited to be back reading and chatting with you, so watch this space :-).

What A Wonderful Day is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution…

This month, our (belated - sorry!) show is all about MONEY. It's a bit of a different one. Our chapter book is non-fiction, and it's called Cash: How to earn it, save it, spend it, grow it, give it, …

This month we're reading Knock Three Times, by Cressida Cowell, and Wishes, by Muon Thi Van and Victo Ngai.

Knock Three Times is the third book of a four part series, but anytime is a good time to ju…

It's finally here, it's our Greek myth episode! We kick it all off with Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, a titan of early 2000s kids' fantasy that we were a smidge too old for at…

To kick off this cold and dreary month we're reading detective fiction! First up is Inspector Brunswick: The Case of the Missing Eyebrow by Chris Lam Sam and Angela Keoghan. Brunswick and his faithfu…

It's our annual very serious episode doing a close read and serious criticism of the Kevin the Carrot Christmas picture book from Aldi. This year, the book is called, Kevin the Carrot: No Carrot Left…

Our stories this month are frosty and icy! Our picture book is The Glowing Snowman by Helen Goodbarton and Sophie Johnson-Hill. A snowman feels lonely and not special, until he accidentally swallows …

content note: This episode features two books about experiences of war. The first is about a family of Polish refugees trying to reunify at the end of WW2, and the second is about a young Navajo boy …

It's spooky season and we're reading about witches with our special guest and Matt's sister, Ruby! Ruby chose both our books this month:

Winnie the Witch, by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul

The Dooms…

As promised, we've got even more school chat for you!

This was cut from our last episode which was all about boarding schools in kidlit. Matt decided to interview Nina about the book that she's writi…

This week we’re doing something a little different for our back to school episode, and digging in to a run down of the ins and outs of boarding schools in kidlit.

Nina and Matt have each brought a …

This week we’re reading books about 19th century whaling. Our picture book is ‘Peggony-Po’ by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney, and our chapter book is ‘Nightbirds on Nantucket’ by Joan Aiken

This month our chapter book is Coraline by Neil Gaiman and our picture book is Alfie Gets in First by Shirley Hughes, which both involve being stuck on the wrong side of a door.

We have a special g…

Content note: our chapter book touches on bullying, mortality and euthanasia. In discussing it, we also talk about dementia, and how Terry Pratchett dealt with it in his books for children.

This is…

This week we’re joined by special guest Robert Valentine, to talk about one of his favourite kidlit picture books, Each Peach Pear Plum by Janet and Allan Ahlberg – a much loved classic which sees se…

CN: very mild gore about losing baby teeth, and some dicussion that might spoil some tooth fairy magic

It's another episode about a chilhood milestone: losing your baby teeth! Matt and Nina chat a …