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PODCAST

Even the Trunchbull

A kidlit review podcast focusing on one picture book and one chapter book each week. Hosted by Nina and Matt.

arts books

All Episodes

19:02

Special minisode #2: Three Picture Books that Made Me...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2026/03/05

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 the concept so funny. A classic, cumulative tale from 1969. Rumpeta rumpeta rumpeta. Next, The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate by Margaret Mahy and Margaret Chamberlain. I get a bit misty eyed about Margaret

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46:50

Episode 56 - T-Rex Trilogy Terminus

Even the Trunchbull ·

2026/02/26

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 Mapper have finally rescued Magdalys' brother Montez. She's gone toe to toe with Earl Shamus Dawson Drek, the most powerful dinowrangler on the Confederate side of the war, and a member of the evil Knights of the

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50:47

Episode 55 - Rub a Dub Dub (How To Give Your Cat A...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2026/02/19

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 opinion. The joy comes from the interplay between the stiff, formal, instruction manual-style narration and the child protagonist's well meaning but chaotic attempts to give her cat a bath. The illustrations

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52:36

Episode 54 - I Am A Cat And I Like To Scratch (Into...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2026/02/12

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 because we're a tiny bit too old. We talk worldbuilding, cat gods and tragic character deaths. How many cat deaths are too many cat deaths? Liam thinks it's more than four per book. Into the Wild is fast paced,

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56:40

Episode 53 - Martial Arts Mastery (The Impossible...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2026/02/05

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 poem by Martial, handstands on horseback, rhinos and giraffes and the Emperor Hadrian. It’s a fantastically fun read, with Leonard’s signature blend of humour, heart and cold hard historical facts. We sing

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55:34

Episode 52 - Is Santa romanceable? (The Truth about...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/12/22

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 your passions within a strong family legacy. The Truth about Mrs Claus, by Meena Harris and illustrated by Keisha Morris is about a little teddy-making elf named Amalia. She comes from a long line of

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58:18

Episode 51 - Rootin, Tootin, Flutin and Lootin (Three...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/11/20

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 like a fairytale. Three times is the village practically knocked over. Three times do the little vikings warn their chieftain. Three times does he not listen, and finally, the kids take it into their own

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58:02

Episode 50 - Angry Boys (The Boy Who Kicked Pigs and...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/11/13

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 illustrated by David Roberts is a baffling, disgusting bit of snuff. It's naughty, it's irreverent, it vehemently resists moralising and it made us feel a little bit ill. You won't want to give this one to the young

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71:12

Episode 49 - All the world's a stage (Lights Up and...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/11/06

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 of spooky in the air, the theatre is full of ghosts and the whole place is crawling with spiders. But they're nice spiders! Except when they're being used for evil. In typical Lisette Auton style, we have a

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48:44

Episode 48 - Jump scares from the 90s (Monster Blood...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/10/30

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 abiding sense of loneliness reading this book as a 7 year old. Nina likens it to eating a packet of crisps. It's good fun! Long live useless parents and unlikeable protagonists in kidlit, say we. There's

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63:39

Episode 47 - Fat (Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/10/23

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 and the Phantom Shriek by Kwame Mbalia. This is an absolute doorstop of a book, and yet, so readable, so quick to read. We chat engaging narrators, playing with the tropes and breaking them when need be

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52:27

Episode 46 - 80s Girl Power (The Paper Bag Princess...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/09/10

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 already.Our chapter book is Alanna: The First Adventure by the inimitable Tamora Pierce. Lots of reading aloud from this brilliant book. We talk about the ways it's aged well (and the ways it hasn't so much). A

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58:41

Episode 45 - The New Girl (Super Goat Girl and Jummy...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/09/04

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. Miss Damsel says it'll all work out though. And we find out what three ingredients mix together to form a black hole. Then we're riding the bus with Jummy from Lagos to the River School. It's so exciting,

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59:30

Episode 44 - Squawkwels (Freedom Fire and A First...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/08/28

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 brother Montez, and the stakes just keep getting higher. We loved this one very much, and we wish it was more readily available in the UK,Then we're having a little poetry break with Simon Mole's A First Book

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01:02:30

Episode 43 - The Writing On The Wall (Little Monster...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/08/21

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 It by Helen Cooper. And for afters we have Illuminations, by T Kingfisher. Is this directly inspired by The Magicians of Caprona, by Diana Wynne Jones? Does it deal appropriately with the implications of

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59:22

Episode 42 - Tower Blocks (Boy in the Tower and The...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/08/14

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 Ade is living in a high rise in London as the world crumbles around him (literally!). The children in Bob Graham's book are sheltering in place during lockdown, but still manage to turn their concrete

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02:37

We're back!

Even the Trunchbull ·

2025/08/10

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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53:58

Episode 41 - Money (Cash and Those Shoes) with...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2023/04/20

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 Lisette Auton. The theme took us on a more freewheeling discussion than usual, about our own educations around money growing up, things we saved our pocket money for, and what Lisette did to make a little extra

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44:51

Episode 40 - Wishes (Knock Three Times and Wishes)

Even the Trunchbull ·

2023/03/03

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 performance of the audiobook very highly, but you'll want the paper book too, so you can look at the pictures. It's a silly adventure story, it's also surprisingly poignant about the difficult relationship

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40:55

Episode 39 - Titans, togas and thunderbolt gods!...

Even the Trunchbull ·

2023/02/02

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 want to hear more about that kind of stuff. We also compare it to City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda which we talked about on an episode of Fantasy Book Swap with Ali Baker. Then, we get to read a few

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