PODCAST · technology
Even the Trunchbull
by Nina Gray
A kidlit review podcast focusing on one picture book and one chapter book each week. Hosted by Nina and Matt.
Episodes
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Special minisode #3 - Books for Boys
More of a rambly discussion-based episode today. Is there such a thing as a girl book or a boy book? Are boys represented enough in the kidlit space? Let us know your thoughts too! We were very inspired and provoked by this excellent article by Reading Middle Grade. We touch on our own reading...
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Episode 70 - The Eye of the Cyclops (Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob and Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters)
It's October, it's monsters and ghouls time, and this week we're reading books that feature cyclopes. Our picture book is Sleep Tight, Disgusting Blob by Huw Aaron, a delightful parade of all creatures grim and evil putting on their pyjamas, having their baths, cleaning their teeth and going to...
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Episode 69 - Dogs vs Cats (Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy, Slinky Malinki and Varjak Paw) with special guest Annie
This week, the ultimate showdown: cats vs dogs. Our guest Annie Cross brings us a picture book for each side of the dyad: Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy and Slinky Malinki, both by the legendary Lynley Dodd. We talk about what sets Dodd's books apart from so many other samey animal books…
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Episode 68 - Shiver Me Timbers! (Billy and the Pirates and Attack of the Sea Dogs)
Avast, me hearties, it's a pirate episode! We kick off with the lovely Billy and the Pirates, written and illustrated by Nadia Shireen. Billy and Fatcat were sailing around in the Jolly Badger when they found a message in a bottle. There's a key, and a map, and a note that says "please return to...
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Episode 67 - First Day Jitters (Badgers Are Go! and School's First Day of School)
We're taking a slightly different tack this September, with an episode about the jittery feelings of two non-human characters starting school! Lulu Whifferton-Rear was minding her little badgery business when she received a very special letter summoning her to Major Rumpington's Academy of...
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Episode 66 - Return to the Fairytale Multiverse (Rumpelstiltskin and Rumaysa Ever After)
It's been a while since we did a fairytale retelling, so this week we have two for you! First up, a sumptuous and modern (if faithful) retelling of Rumpelstiltskin by Mac Barnett and Carson Ellis. We've been fans of Carson Ellis' work for ages, but this book is another level of gorgeous. Mac...
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Episode 65 - Heartstrings (Rooftoppers and The Sad Story of Veronica Who Played the Violin) with Ria Ashcroft
This week, our books are linked by instruments from the strings section of the orchestra, and the way their music makes us feel. Special guest Ria suggested our chapter book. It's Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell! Sophie was found floating in a cello case as a one year old baby after a terrible...
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Episode 64 - Don't Try This At Home (The Whiz Mob And The Grenadine Kid and The Three Robbers)
This week, we're reading books in which people steal (and do other reprehensible, dangerous or immoral things)! First up, our chapter book is The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid, written by Colin Meloy and illustrated by Carson Ellis. Charlie is the lonely, slightly maladjusted son of an American...
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Episode 63 - Portal Fantasy (Another and The Barren Grounds)
This week we're reading portal fantasies! Our picture book is Another by Christian Robinson. This is a gorgeous mixed media wordless adventure about a girl and her cat travelling through a mysterious hole in the wall and confronting different perspectives, gravitational forces and body doubles....
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Episode 62 - Small Folk (Chirri and Chirra, Underground and The Gammage Cup)
To kick off this new season we're reading books about tiny people - small folk. Our picture book is Chirri and Chirra, Underground, by Kaya Doi (translated from the Japanese by David Boyd). An absurd, gentle, surreal journey for two tiny girls on their bikes. Dring dring! We're having peanut soft...
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Episode 61 - Terrors by Torchlight (The Dark and When the Storm Comes)
To wrap up this tenth season, we're reading some thrillers for kids. Yes, they do exist, even in picture book form! The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen is a stunning piece of art. It's a horror story. Laszlo has an uncomfortable roommate type relationship with the Dark. They live in the…
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Episode 60 - Precious Stones (These Are My Rocks and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen)
Our picture book this week is less of a story and more of a tour of the narrator's very tastefully curated collection. The categories travel from totally mundane (small things) to very high concept (invisible things), passing lunch on our way through and ending up at bedtime. Bethan Woollvin's…
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Episode 59 - True Colours (Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue? and Entangled)
This week we've two fantastic books focused on the theme of colour. Our picture book is a classic by Tana Hoban from 1978: Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue? This might be the first non-fiction picture book we've covered and this one is a banger. A collection of beautiful slice of life...
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Episode 58 - Gay Paree (Madeline and Secrets of the Snakestone)
This week our books are both set in the city of lights! Our chapter book is the 1939 classic Madeline, written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans. This one's from the vault of Nina's childhood, and we create our own conspiracy theory about it live on the show. It's a beautiful, iconic picture...
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Episode 57 - Scary Sisters (Charmed Life and Virginia Wolf)
It's always a good time when it's a Diana Wynne Jones day on the podcast! Our chapter book is Charmed Life, by DWJ, dredged straight from Matt's childhood. The scary sister in this book is Gwendolen, who overshadows and leads her younger brother Cat. After the tragic death of their parents, Cat…
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Special minisode #2: Three Picture Books that Made Me (The Elephant and the Bad Baby, The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate and Ten in the Bed)
A picture book special to close out series 9! Matt's having a break this week, so Nina's taking the wheel and talking through three classic picture books that made their mark on her. First, The Elephant and the Bad Baby, by Elfrida Vipont and Raymond Briggs. What on earth is a Bad Baby? Why is…
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Episode 56 - T-Rex Trilogy Terminus
For the first time in our long and storied history, we are finishing off a series! And what a series to complete. We read the first book back in 2020, and it's bittersweet to say goodbye to dinosaur-ridden civil war-era America in Dactyl Hill Squad #3: Thunder Run, by DJ Older. Magdalys and…
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Episode 55 - Rub a Dub Dub (How To Give Your Cat A Bath : In Five Easy Steps and Time Tub Travellers and the Silk Thief)
This week, we're reading stories which feature bathtubs! And starring little girls who wear their hair in space buns. Our picture book is How To Give Your Cat A Bath : In Five Easy Steps, written by Nicola Winstanley and illustrated by John Martz. This should get instant classic status, in our...
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Episode 54 - I Am A Cat And I Like To Scratch (Into the Wild and Cat Nap) with special guest Liam
The headline news here is that we've got a special guest! Liam is our first young guest and he's brought us his second favourite book: Into the Wild, by Erin Hunter. Into the Wild is the introduction to the Warrior Cats series which is massive and hugely popular, but that we'd never heard of...
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Episode 53 - Martial Arts Mastery (The Impossible Gladiator and Let's Go to Taekwondo)
We’re kicking off season nine with the third book in the Time Keys series: The Impossible Gladiator by MG Leonard. It’s a holiday book! Our pals Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson are in Rome to take in some culture and maybe pop through a time door to 121 CE. There’s a celebrity magician trapped inside a...
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Episode 52 - Is Santa romanceable? (The Truth about Mrs Claus and Stepfather Christmas)
It's almost Christmas and we're in a silly, silly mood. Father Christmas is a wonderful mythological figure with loads of room still to stretch and change and imagine him. Today, we're looking at the women who fall in love with him. First up, it's a story about finding a place for yourself and…
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Episode 51 - Rootin, Tootin, Flutin and Lootin (Three Little Vikings and The Legend of Viking Thunder)
To wrap up season eight, we've got another episode with a silly name. These books are about Vikings, although, as Matt points out, nobody really called themselves Vikings; it would be like calling yourself the Burglars. Three Little Vikings by Bethan Woollvin is a cute and funny story structured...
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Episode 50 - Angry Boys (The Boy Who Kicked Pigs and Angry Arthur) with guest Doug Deans
This episode is about little boys who live in cosy middle England at some point in the second half of the twentieth century and want to see the world burn. Both books were picked by our lovely guest Doug Deans, a playwright, actor and parent. The Boy Who Kicked Pigs, by Colin Baker and…
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Episode 49 - All the world's a stage (Lights Up and Yes You Can, Cow!)
This week we're zooming in on a setting that's close to Matt's heart: the theatre. Actors and plays are often devices in children's stories, and often they're mocked, so here we are, giving them a whole episode. First up is the phenomenally ambitious Lights Up, by Lisette Auton. There's a touch…
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Episode 48 - Jump scares from the 90s (Monster Blood and Funnybones: The Ghost Train)
There are two things we always celebrate over here at Even The Trunchbull: back to school, and of course, Halloween. This is a nostalgic one for us! We are reading two spooky books that came out the year of our birth (1992). First up is Goosebumps #3: Monster Blood, by RL Stine. Matt remembers an...
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Episode 47 - Fat (Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek and Dim Sum Palace)
It's the long-awaited episode about fat kids in kidlit. We could go on forever about all the negative representation of fatness in children's literature, but it has taken us years to find two books that depict bigger kids in a way that met our standards. First, we've got the fantastic Jax Freeman...
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Episode 46 - 80s Girl Power (The Paper Bag Princess and Alanna: The First Adventure)
Today we're looking at books written in the eighties and aiming to empower girls. First up, we have a listener request: The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko. So good it was endorsed by the National Organisation for women! We've had a couple of ideas for fanfiction…
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Episode 45 - The New Girl (Super Goat Girl and Jummy at the River School)
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 and Laser Lass aren't sure whether bleating loudly and chomping properly count as superpowers.…
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Episode 44 - Squawkwels (Freedom Fire and A First Book of Dinosaurs)
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 Older, which we started way back in 2020! Magdalys and the squad are flying South to rescue her...
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Episode 43 - The Writing On The Wall (Little Monster Did It and Illuminations)
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 it's a nostalgia trip for Nina as we dive into one of her childhood favourites: Little Monster Did...
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Episode 42 - Tower Blocks (Boy in the Tower and The Concrete Garden)
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, isolation, but it's also about community, togetherness and taking care of each other. Polly Ho-Yen's...
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We're back!
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 4.0 International License by Shane Ivers of silvermansound.com
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Episode 41 - Money (Cash and Those Shoes) with special guest Lisette Auton
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, by Rashmi Sirdeshpande. This book was chosen by our very special guest, the wonderful author…
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Episode 40 - Wishes (Knock Three Times and Wishes)
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 jump on board thanks to Cressida Cowell's chatty and unnamed narrator. We praise David Tennant's...
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Episode 39 - Titans, togas and thunderbolt gods! (Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief and Echo Echo)
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 the time that it came out. We referred to it too when we did our School Stories special if you…
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Episode 38 - Whodunnit? (Insector Brunswick and the Case of the Missing Eyebrow and The Secret Detectives)
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 faithful sidekick Nelson thought they were just going to the art gallery for a nice afternoon out, but...
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Concerning carrots #2: No Carrot Left Behind!
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 Behind! It is an adaptation of the classic film (which Nina has never seen) Home Alone. We are...
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Episode 37 - Frosty Frolicks (The Glowing Snowman and A Night at the Frost Fair)
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 a firefly and becomes rather bright and interesting. But should he keep the firefly captive in his...
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Episode 36 - Trauma (The Silver Sword and Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code)
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 sent to residential school and later drafted to create a code for the US Marines. Our books this...
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Episode 35 - Hubble Bubble Toil and Trouble, with special guest Ruby
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 Doomspell, by Cliff McNish Winnie and Ragwena represent opposite ends of the witch spectrum in terms of...
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BONUS EPISODE - Nina’s fictional school
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 writing, which features a school aboard an airship. This is that conversation, plus two little excerpts...
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Episode 34 - Jolly Hockey Sticks, it’s the boarding school special!
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 few books featuring boarding school set ups along to discuss. They are: The Worst Witch series by…
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Episode 33 - Soon May The Wellerman Come (Nightbirds on Nantucket and Peggony-Po) with Ali Baker
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 We have a guest this episode! Ali Baker is the founder and host of Fantasty Book Swap podcast…
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Episode 32 - The Wrong Side of The Door (Alfie Gets In First and Coraline) + special guest Simon Mole
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 guest this month too! Simon Mole is an award-winning poet, theatre maker and children’s author. Simon...
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Episode 31 - Hold On To Your Hats (A Hat Full of Sky and Millie’s Marvellous Hat) with guest cohost Dave Pickering
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 an episode all about magical, virtual, invisible hats as worn by a pair of powerful girls. And for...
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Episode 30 - The Fairytale Multiverse (Each Peach Pear Plum and Rumaysa)
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 several fairytale characters combine in one world. That is followed by our chapter book, Rumaysa: A...
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Episode 29 - TEETH! (Dave and the Tooth Fairy and Perez the Mouse)
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 bit about their personal experiences, explore some of the history of cultural practices associated...
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Episode 28 - Mermaids! (The Little Mermaid and The Secret of Haven Point)
Welcome, listener, to this, our longest ever episode! EDITORS NOTE: the original version of this episode had a big editing mistake in it, which had Matt saying "able-bodied people can't write disabled characters" when what they actually said was "I don't think able-bodied people can't write...
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Episode 27 - Time (Clocks and More Clocks and Momo)
This month on Even the Trunchbull, we have a listener recommendation! Namely, Momo by Michael Ende (well known as the author of The Never Ending Story) as our chapter book, on a theme of ‘Time’ – so that’s what we’ve gone with! Momo is part celebration of community and part prescient cautionary...
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Episode 26 - Winter Wheelies (I Love My Bike and Bicycling to the Moon)
Winter Wheelies Shownotes: Happy New Year! Just after Christmas, there’ll be lots of us out on new bikes, so this episode is celebrating bicycles! Our picture book is I Love My Bike by Simon Mole, illustrated by Sam Usher - a rip-roaring fast-paced adventure, beating out a bouncy rhythm and...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A kidlit review podcast focusing on one picture book and one chapter book each week. Hosted by Nina and Matt.
HOSTED BY
Nina Gray
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Even the Trunchbull have?
Even the Trunchbull currently has 53 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Even the Trunchbull about?
A kidlit review podcast focusing on one picture book and one chapter book each week. Hosted by Nina and Matt.
How often does Even the Trunchbull release new episodes?
Even the Trunchbull has 53 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Even the Trunchbull?
You can listen to Even the Trunchbull on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Even the Trunchbull?
Even the Trunchbull is created and hosted by Nina Gray.
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