104 – Wonka Film Review

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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

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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

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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.

101 – Dork Diaries

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The Dork Diaries series  are hilariously true to the daily dramas of middle school life. They have special appeal to readers who are just about to go into middle school, offering a tantalizing peek into the agonies of tween life.

Written by Rachel Renée Russell and illustrated by her daughter Nikki Russell, these stories are very popular with host Chloë and her school friends at the moment. Find out why Chloë loves these stories and what she thinks they have to offer readers from about age 8 and up.

Activity: Rewrite a Diary Entry

Choose one of your favorite entries from Nikki’s diary. Pay attention to the characters who are in the entry, and consider how that person may have viewed the incidents Nikki writes about. Then write your own diary entry from the point of view of one of the other characters. The point of view, motives, and feelings may be similar or very different.

100 – One Hundredth Episode Mailbag

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Wow! 100 Episodes! Join us as we read letters from you – the listeners. Find out what we think of book bans, what Jane Austen’s work does — and doesn’t — have to say to teenagers, and what books, movies, and TV shows we enjoy outside of the show.

Thank you so much to all of you listeners. Putting on this show is quite a lot of work, and while we enjoy doing it for ourselves, hearing back from you really makes it worth the effort. As Chloë said, we know we’ve said this a hundred times, but THANKS FOR LISTENING!!

99 – Where the Wild Things Are Turns 60

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Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is turning 60 years old this week! Millions of children and their grownups have loved this book over the years, and it’s showing no signs of its age. You can help celebrate by drawing a picture, dressing up as a Wild Thing, or making your wildest face and sharing it online with the tag #HappyBirthdayWildThings.

Activity: Make your own Wild Thing

Draw your own “Wild Thing” by choosing different parts from humans and animals. You can combine any features you like – claws, scales, fur, teeth, tusks, noses – anything at all! Have students share their Wild Things with one another, explaining where each of the creature’s parts came from.

98 – Interview with Chloë Townsend

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October’s Leicestershire Children’s Writer is . . . co-host of the show Chloë Townsend! She may be only nine years old, but she is already a published author with plenty more to come.

When selecting local authors to feature this year, I tried to choose a wide variety of interview subjects, and it occurred to me that I had been only interviewing adults! Luckily, right in my own home is a funny, interesting, hard-working writer. Please enjoy my conversation with my daughter Chloë about what interests her, the sort of books she is currently working on, and what she thinks she’ll do in her future career.

97 – Yanagita Kunio

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Yanagita Kunio is known as “The Father of Japanese Folklore.” If not for him, many ancient Japanese legends would have been lost to the tides of modernization. He established folklore as a legitimate field of academic study as he traveled his nation, carefully listening to the thoughts, concerns, and stories or ordinary people. Yanagita is little known in the Western world, but his contributions are just as important as – and remarkably similar to – those of the Brothers Grimm.

Without the work of early folklorists, many commonly known children’s stories – and the works they’ve inspired – wouldn’t exist today. Fields such as literature, film, art, and even comic books would be much poorer without the hard work done by Yanagita to preserve Japan’s shared cultural memory.

Activity: Discover Early Folklorists

Have students research the lives and work of the people who helped to establish the field of folklore in the 19th Century. Students can, in groups or as individuals, write and present reports that summarize the biography and work of an early folklorist. Encourage students to choose subjects from around the world so that biographies and folklore work can be compared and contrasted.

96 – Bambi by Felix Salten

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Bambi: A Life in the Woods was published in 1923 as a warning to Jewish people. Its author Felix Salten accurately foresaw the coming danger during the buildup to World War II, and wrote a novel that somehow mixes an anxious call for self-preservation with stirring love for the natural world and respect for the preciousness of life.

As a Bildungsroman, or coming of age story, Bambi is the perfect book to give to teenagers, who will be engrossed not just by its surface level story of animals learning to survive in a dangerous world, but also its moving parable about the plight of European Jews in the 1920’s.

Activity: Habituation

Have students research the phenomenon of how animals become habituated to humans. They should understand how animals lose their natural fear of humans, why this is dangerous for both humans and animals, and what negative consequences result from this problem. There are many reliable sources of information about animal habituation, such as this page from the US National Park Service about animal habituation in the Grand Canyon.

After studying habituation, have students write an essay or engage in a discussion about how the character of Gobo in Bambi: A Life in the Woods had become habituated, and why this lead to his early death.

Activity: Salten’s Warning to Jews

While teaching students about the rise in anti-Semitism during the buildup to World War II, have students read Bambi: A Life in the Woods. Ask students to reflect upon the mixed feelings that this book can produce. It can seem fatalistic and depressing in some moments, but also hopeful and happy in others. The character of Gobo provides the starkest warning to Jews, serving as a symbol of those who do not take the threat of anti-semitism seriously. Have students write an essay that breaks down the symbolism of Gobo’s character and experiences, and ask students to consider whether anything realistically could have been done to save him.

Music in this Episode

Melodies from Das Lied von der Erde by Gustav Mahler

95 – The Tortoise and The Hare and Hubris

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Hubris is a literary concept that kids should learn about so that they can spot it in Ancient Greek and modern tales. “The Tortoise and the Hare” from Aesop’s Fables is a great way to introduce the idea of excessive, selfish pride in a character, and an old Disney cartoon makes the story extra fun.

Activity: Learn to Identify Hubris

Ask students to give definitions for the word “pride,” encouraging them to differentiate between good and bad kinds of pride. Hubris can be defined as the bad kind of pride – the sort of self-confidence that is selfish, arrogant, and even reckless.

After introducing the idea of hubris, have students watch “The Tortoise and The Hare,” a 1935 Disney cartoon based on the Aesop Fable. Afterwards, have students write a reflection or participate in a discussion about the numerous times that Max Hare displays hubris. In contrast, have them identify the ways that Toby Tortoise shows his good character and admirable personality traits.

Activity: Artwork about Aesop

“The Tortoise and The Hare” has been depicted by countless artists over the centuries. Choose several different depictions from different times in history and have students compare them. What techniques were used to produce the image? Which images are serious, and which are comical? Which art styles do the students prefer?

After studying other art styles used to depict events in “The Tortoise and The Hare” have students create their own work of art based on the tale.