Only fellow 80’s kids can understand the potential this film has to make our dreams come true or break our hearts. This is such a big deal that I felt it warranted appropriate attire — the She-Ra costume I made for last Halloween. (My youngest kid asked me why I was dressed as Angel Head Superman. Sigh.)
224 – Fireside Fairy Tale: Grimm’s Little Red Riding Hood
Join me on a pleasantly mild winter evening to toast a marshmallow and share my translation of “Rödkappchen,” or “Little Red Cap,” the German version of Little Red Riding Hood as collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Kinder- und Hausmärchen, their 1812 collection of fairy tales.
This version is interesting because it has an alternate ending, in which you learn not to mess with a German grandma.
You can also get the commentary-free version of this tale on my storytelling channel:
223 – Starfleet Academy is Anti-Star Trek
“What does Star Trek have to do with children’s literature?” you might be asking. Quite a lot. Star Trek introduced me to Shakespeare, and it’s been a franchise that mattered quite a lot to nerdy kids for 60 years now. The new TV series, Starfleet Academy, is aimed at teenagers. It failed to hit the mark, and here is my dorky rant complaining about that.
222 – Little Red Riding Hood is 1000 Years Old
This Fireside Fairy Tale is a double feature where I share my own translation of the very first Little Red Riding Hood story by Egbert of Liège from 1000 years ago as well as the very first English Translation of Little Red Riding Hood as written by Charles Perrault in his Mother Goose Tales.
De puella a lupellis servata by Egbert of Liège:
The Little Red Riding-Hood by Charles Perrault as translated by Robert Samber:
221 – Decolonizing Santa, Canceling David Walliams
In this episode, we start off with a clip from our New Year’s Eve livestream in which we highlighted the best book-to-screen adaptaions of 2025. If you want to hear us dunking on the Mid, Meh, and Miserable adaptations of 2025, check that out on our YouTube Channel:
Also, I’ve got some Book Drama for you that came in over the holidays. Santa Claus apparently needs to be decolonized and David Walliams, one of the biggest children’s writers ever, has been dropped by his publisher for alleged bad behavior toward women.
220 – Fireside Fairy Tale: Hänsel and Gretel
This was recorded a few days after Bonfire Night, when it’s common for massive fireworks to go off in England . . . even right next door! This made for a fun backdrop to one of the darkest stories in Kinder-und Hausmärchen, the collection of tales gathered by the Brothers Grimm and first published in 1812. This is my own translation of the story.
My treat for this Fireside Fairy Tale is a lovely sugar frosted pumpkin-shaped marshmallow that toasted up beautifully, with the outside crystallizing and the inside going nice and gooey.
You can hear this story without any commentary (or fireworks) at my storytelling channel:
219 – A Christmas Stocking for You!
In this episode, you will find:
- On the nice list: A reading of the earliest Winnie-the-Pooh story, which turns 100 years old on Christmas Eve 2025
- On the naughty list: the worst film adaptations of children’s books this year
- A reading of my new translation of “Die Wichtelmänner,” usually translated in English as “The Elves and the Shoemaker.”
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
218 – Who is Santa Claus, Anyway?
This episode is taken from my Livestream about the history of Santa Claus. I will be having more Livestreams in the future, so be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel and join in the fun.
YouTube: The Children’s Literature Podcast
You can also follow my storytelling channel, which just has stories, folktales, and poems with no commentary.
YouTube: Storytime with T.Q. Townsend
Learn the history of Good Old St. Nick, from the allegedly pugilistic Saint at the Council of Nicea to the modern day American folk figure that has been embraced worldwide! You’ll also get my ranking of the best portrayals of Santa on film.
217 – Krampusnacht!
This episode is excerpted from my first Livestream on YouTube, which was held on Friday, December 5. It was nice to chat with all those who came to participate, and I’ll be doing another Livestream on December 12 at 9 pm Greenwich Time to tell the history of Santa Claus.
Tune into this episode to learn all about Krampus, Santa’s scary sidekick, as well as hear my parody of “A Visit From St. Nicholas” by Clement Clarke Moore. At the very end I’ve also thrown in a silly heavy metal parody entitled “Krampusnacht is Coming . . . SO RUN!”
I look forward to speaking with more of you live in the future!
216 – Vengeance and Honour by Ben Dixon
Friend of the show Ben Dixon is back to talk about his new novel Vengeance and Honour, a sword and sorcery adventure for older teens and up. Fans of Dungeons and Dragons, fantasy RPGs, and Choose Your Own Adventure stories will LOVE this book, as its full of action, adventure, friendship, and just enough immature jokes involving PG-rated nudity to make teens (and grownups) giggle.
Ben has been on the show before to talk about what he has learned from conventional publishing and independent publishing, and I first featured him on the show back when it was an audio-only podcast. You can enjoy previous episodes with Ben at these links: