Category: Episodes

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.

105 – The Elves and the Shoemaker

“The Elves and the Shoemaker” was recorded by the Brothers Grimm and first published in their original 1812 book of folktales. It’s a story that tells of elves who choose to help a craftsman who is down on his luck despite his honest, hardworking ways. Economic hardship is, unfortunately, timeless. But on the bright side, so are kindness and generosity.

“The Elves and the Shoemaker” paints an ideal picture of charitable endeavors, showing that even good, hardworking people con sometimes be down on their luck, and that those who are able to offer help ought to. Once the shoemaker is back on his feet, he is then able to be the one who shows generosity. The story presents an encouraging cycle of kindness, with a subtle reminder that the Christmas season is a good time to revive our commitment to caring for one another.

Activity: Show Generosity

Around Christmastime, lots of people try to think of ways that they can be a “Secret Santa.” Have your kids plan a way to do what they can to provide help to someone who needs it. There may be someone you know in your community who needs direct aid, or perhaps a local charity is in need of money or resources. The most important thing the children should remember is that their acts of kindness should be performed anonymously and with no expectation of recognition or reward. If appropriate, have students write a reflection on why people should perform anonymous good deeds for one another.

104 – Wonka Film Review

This is a bonus episode I’ve slipped into the schedule as some listeners asked me to weigh in on the new film Wonka, which acts as a prequel to the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Find out what I thought of it and whether or not I think it’s worth taking my own kids to the theater.

If you see the movie, let me know what you thought of it. If you don’t, tell me why you decided to give it a miss.

I’ve also done up my review as a YouTube video:

103 – I Must Stop This Grinchmas from Coming

I’m up on my soapbox this week, giving some recommendations for books that would make great holiday gifts and encouraging listeners to consider whether or not the “content” based on the works of great authors is really worth your time and money. There will always be some tension between the competing demands of writers to create good art and make a product that actually sells, but generally once an author is dead and gone and corporate interests take over, the end product is rarely respectful of a writer’s legacy or even very much fun to watch at all.

However, no matter how much content is pumped out in order to extract the value of a franchise based on an author’s work, the original works still stand and your enjoyment of them can remain untouched. You’ll have to decide for yourself and your kids whether or not you’ll pay for products that the authors themselves never would have approved, and in general I won’t tell you how to make that decision. There is one franchise I feel pretty comfortable calling out, though, and that’s the “Grinchmas” line that has been pushed harder every year by the corporate interests that control Dr. Seuss’ work since his wife and collaborator Audrey died.

There’s nothing more ironic than the full on commercialization of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. This is a book that is explicitly about how stuff is not what should matter most at the Christmas season, but Grinchmas is doubling down on materialism, promoting fast fashion, sweatshop labor, and obsession with material goods. Materialism and cruelty to others was something Dr. Seuss explicitly stood against, and I feel that the Grinchmas line is enough of a violation of his legacy that I don’t think it’s a good idea to support it.

As mentioned in the show, here is my list of suggested books based on the Leicestershire children’s writers that I’ve been featuring through the year:

I’ve also done up this episode as a YouTube video:

102 – Interview with Anne Fine

November’s Leicestershire Children’s Writer is the legendary Anne Fine, author of dozens of books including the Diary of a Killer Cat series, The Chicken Gave it to Me, Bill’s New Frock, Flour Babies, Madame Doubtfire, and her most recent book, Aftershocks.

Anne’s writing skill is matched by her sense of humor and her thoughtfulness, and it was a great pleasure to be able to speak with her. In our conversation, she discusses her latest work, her surprise that Bill’s New Frock remains relevant today, and how she really feels about the cat who inspired her to write Diary of a Killer Cat.

You can learn more about Anne and her work at annefine.co.uk.