Category: Episodes

115 – Robert Burns

This week Robert Burns turns 265! Each year on January 25, Scotland’s beloved national poet is celebrated in style with song, recitation, and of course, a haggis. It’s all a lot of good fun, but it’s also an important celebration of Scotland’s ability to maintain its own distinct cultural and linguistic traditions in the face of quite a lot of pressure from the more politically dominant forces coming from England.

Helping me this week with delightful poetry readings are Kate, who is a native of Angus on the east coast, and Eileen MacLean, who comes from the western highlands. It’s pleasant and interesting to hear the differences in their dialects, and they give wonderful readings of “Address to a Haggis,” “Afton Water,” and “To a Mouse.”

Robert Burns defied tradition. He came from a humble background, without the advantages of high education or a family name that signaled power. But by fully embracing his culture, and the minority dialect he spoke, he created a body of work that is more loved with every passing year.

If you celebrate Robert Burns this week, let me know! I’d love to see how you honor his life and work.

Activity: Have a Burns Supper!

You and your kids can replicate part or all of a Burns Supper, a traditional Scottish party that celebrates the life of Robert Burns, Scotland’s national poet. Usual events of a Burns Supper include:

  • Playing traditional Scottish tunes on the bagpipes or with a fiddle
  • Beginning the meal by reciting the “Selkirk Grace,” a funny short poem of gratitude for the food
  • Soup
  • Standing as the haggis is brought in, followed by a reading of “Address to a Haggis.”
  • Main course, followed by dessert.
  • Guests may toast one another during or after the meal.

Teachers can use recorded music and recorded recitations of the poems if needed, as it is difficult for those unfamiliar with Scottish dialects to perform them.

When listening to the poem “Address to a Haggis,” provide a printed copy and a pencil to the children so they can circle unfamiliar words. After listening to the poem, identify and discuss these words.  Then listen to the poem again. As students to describe what it was like to hear the poem again after getting a little more familiar with the Scots dialect.

114 – Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode Five

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is beginning to diverge from its literary source, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Many of the changes are good examples of abridgment, and this episode’s depiction of Ares is wickedly fun and very faithful to the attitude of the original character on the page. But huge portions of the story are being rewritten, and extra adult characters are being shoved unnecessarily into a story that is supposed to be for and about kids.

Find out how many Snapes I gave this episode, based not on how much I enjoyed the episode, but how faithful it was to the literary source. I’ve chosen Snapes as my rating system in honor of Alan Rickman’s superb translation of the character of Severus Snape from the page to the screen.

The podcast is now on YouTube, Pandora, and Stitcher, giving you more places to subscribe to the show.

113 – Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode Four

How close is the fourth episode of the new series Percy Jackson and the Olympians to its literary source? Not terribly, but that doesn’t mean the episode isn’t good. There’s just one big change that I really disapprove of, as it takes away a big choice that Percy makes in The Lightning Thief. Lots of the other changes were great, though, and are good examples of how to abridge a text well for translation to the screen.

Are you watching Percy Jackson and the Olympians with your family or classmates? What did you think of this episode and the changes it made to the story? Do you agree with how many Snapes I awarded? (I give one to five Snapes to onscreen adaptations based on how faithful they are to the books they are based on. My rating system is named in honor of Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Severus Snape, which stands as an excellent example of how to bring a character from page to screen well.)

Activity: Draw Your Own Chimera

Have students research Chimera, a monster from Ancient Greek legend. Begin with the etymology of “chimera” and then research what animals were combined in her form. Find images of Chimera made in ancient times in painting, mosaic, pottery, and other art forms. Then have students draw their own version of Chimera. If time allows, ask students to make another drawing of an original creature that combines various animal parts and has its own unique name.

An interesting thing to note is that the word “chimera” indicates that the animal is female, yet frequently depictions of the Chimera show the lion portion of the animal as having a male lion’s mane. This often happens when the artist did not come from Ancient Greece and likely would not have spoken Ancient Greek, making it difficult to know that “chimera” indicates a female animal. Students can observe this mistake in art sources from various times in history.

112 – Interview with Angela Pham Krans

Angela Pham Krans is the author of Finding Papa, a beautiful and touching tale about Mai, a little girl whose father has to say goodbye for a while when he leaves to find a new and better home for the family. Eventually Mai and her mother make a dangerous and daring journey by boat to rejoin Papa in their new home in America.

This story, which is beautifully illustrated by Thi Bui, is based on Angela’s experience as one of the many Vietnamese people who fled their homeland in the wake of the Vietnam War. In our conversation, we discuss the effect that Finding Papa has on readers of different ages, why Angela chose to focus the plot on one family rather than the larger historical and political context, and where she got the inspiration to give the main character a pet chicken.

Finding Papa has recently been placed on the American Library Association’s 2024 Notable Books list. Angela has also recently published Words Between Us, a charming story about how an English speaking grandson learns to communicate with his Vietnamese speaking Grandmother. You can learn more about Angela and her work at angelakrans.com and follow her on Instagram at angela.pham.krans.

Activity: The Geography of the Boat People

While younger kids will be able to appreciate Finding Papa for its moving story about family reunification, older children can use this book as a starting point for exploring how the Boat People left Vietnam and made new homes all over the world.

Have students locate Vietnam on a map. Ideally, provide an outline map of the world that they can draw on. Have students research the different routes that refugees took out of Vietnam during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Try to discover which countries most of them traveled to and in what numbers, as well as estimates of how many of the Boat People did not survive their journeys. If it’s difficult to know exact numbers, try find out why. Students can label the map with differently colored arrows labeled to show how many people went from Vietnam to each new country.

Activity: The History of the Boat People

There were many reasons that people decided to leave Vietnam during the 1970’s and 1980’s. Students can research the history of this country during this period and present a written report or give a presentation about the reasons people chose to leave, and what drew them to the new countries they arrived in.

Activity: Mai’s Mother Keeps a Journal

Finding Papa focuses on Mai, a very young girl, who is taken on a dangerous but hopeful journey to a new home. But what must her mother have been feeling? Students can write journal entries from the point of view of Mai’s mother. Entries might include describing the decision for Papa to go ahead of the family to prepare the new home, the first night without Papa, a night on the boat after the storm, the first night after being rescued, or any other part of the story. Encourage students to imagine what it would feel like to be a young woman with a toddler on such a journey, and to express these emotions in the journal entries.

111 – Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode Three

Here’s my review of Episode Three of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, “We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium,” which is based on chapters 9 through 11 of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Find out how many Snapes I awarded the episode based on how faithful it was to the source material, and find out what I thought of the major changes to the character of Medusa.In the novel, Medusa is a straight up monster who attacks Percy and his friends. Percy kills her in complete self-defense and there is nothing really symapthetic about the character. The show makes Medusa much more complex and interesting, but the problem is that that’s not what the plot of the story needs her to be.

Activity: Devotion or Rejection?

Parents and teachers can discuss Medusa’s choices and viewpoints, exploring ideas that John Milton covered in Paradise Lost. Medusa rejects the idea that the Greek gods deserve eternal, unquestioning devotion, even when they don’t play by fair rules, fail to return love, and can be unfathomably cruel when it suits them. Ask students what they think of Medusa’s point of view, and if they think it’s better to fear the gods in hopes of pleasing them, or to reject them and live a life free from both their help and their harm.

110 – Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode Two

I’m back to compare the new TV adaptation of Percy Jackson and the Olympians to with its literary source. Episode 2 of the new TV series adapts chapters five through eight of The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Percy is settling in to life at Hogwarts I MEAN CAMP HALF BLOOD, but he has to deal with bullies, new classes, and trying to figure out just who his dad is.

Listen and find out how many Snapes I awarded this episode. As I mentioned in my first review, whenever I take a look at an onscreen adaptation, I will award it from one to five Snapes based on how faithful it is to the children’s book it’s based on. I chose Snapes as I’ve always felt that Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films has held up as an excellent example of how to translate a character from page to screen in a way that is faithful to the literary original and still leave room for the writer, director and actor to interpret the character in their own way.

109 – I Survived Some Bad Historical Fiction

The I Survived historical fiction series by Lauren Tarshis is popular, influential, and . . . completely full of errors and distortions of people, places, and events from the past. This year the show will give special attention to works of historical fiction for children, and we’re beginning with an example of what authors should not do when fictionalizing the past.

Well written historical fiction can bring the past to life, making history easier to understand and more exciting to study. But works in the I Survived series suffer from skimpy historical research, incorrect depictions of societies in the past, and perpetuating misunderstandings about key events. I Survived the Sinking of the Titanic is the first book in the series and, unfortunately, provides many examples of just plain bad history.

Distortions or falsehoods in the book include an incorrectly rosy view of the social class system of 1912, a false depiction of the Titanic’s crew as violent and unprofessional, an incorrect description of the Titanic’s collision with the iceberg, a misunderstanding of how the lifeboats on board were actually used, and unfortunately so much more.

Books in the I Survived series are fun to read and work well as adventure stories, but children should not be given them to read as reliable sources of information about history. In the future we’ll have more fun looking at good examples of historical fiction, but it’s helpful to parents and teachers to examine what to avoid when choosing works of historical fiction for children to read.

Activity: Hunting for Historical Errors

When reading any work of historical fiction, there will be times when the author has misrepresented past events, places, or people. This may have been done intentionally, as when several characters need to be condensed in order to streamline the storytelling. Sometimes this is because an author wrote the tale before new historical or scientific discoveries were made that shed new light on the past. And sometimes an author has been sloppy with research, careless with the facts, or simply indifferent to historical accuracy.

While reading a work of historical fiction, encourage your kids to make notes about people, places or events that interest them in the tale. Students can do research to find out if the fictional representation matches the historical reality.

108 – Percy Jackson and the Olympians Episode One

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is the new TV adaptation of the beloved series by Rick Riordan. Find out what I thought of the first episode and how faithfully it interpreted the first four chapters of the original novel.

For a long time I’ve avoided talking about screen adaptations, but I’ve realized that some are too important to ignore because they have such a huge impact on the way that children’s literature is understood and remembered. So let’s dive in to the new Percy Jackson series which was . . . surprisingly good!

Have you seen the new Percy Jackson series? What do you think of it?

107 – Leicestershire Writers Christmas Party

Join me and several of the Leicestershire Writers that were featured on the show this year for a nice little literary Christmas party. Each author has contributed a little something to this gift to you, the listeners.

Featured in this episode is

– Jonathan Emmett reading his poem “Yours Ungratefully”
– A warm greeting from Emily Owen
– Ben Dixon reading a passage from Neil Peel’s Rival that deals with a pleasantly rude Christmas card
– Anne Fine shares the seasonal words of John Updike, Laurie Lee, and T.S. Eliot
– And Tom “The Tale Teller” Phillips shares the wintry Norwegian tale “The Cat on the Dovrefjell”

I know I say it all the time, but really, thanks for listening!!

106 – The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson is one of the funniest books you’ll ever read. Although it’s in the context of a small Christian church putting on a nativity play with the unwanted participation of the six most badly behaved kids in town, readers of all backgrounds will recognize its portrayal of a tightly knit and sometimes narrow minded community being forced to live up to its principles.

If you’re going on a long car ride this holiday season and need something to entertain the whole family, see if your library has a downloadable audio book. You’ll all have a good laugh and do a surprising amount of thinking about the principles you live by, the stories that matter to you, and whether or not you’ve been taking them for granted.