Rereading Our Childhood

Nancy Hudgins joins us to talk about I'll Get There. It Better Be Worth the Trip , John Donavan's groundbreaking 1969 novel about a romance between two thirteen-year-old boys. Nancy is the author of Books Good Enough for You , a children's biography of legendary children's book editor Ursula Nordstrom, who edited I'll Get There . Mentioned on this episode:  Nancy's ch...

Writer Alex Poppe joins us to talk about Deenie , Judy Blume’s 1973 novel about a girl, pigeonholed as the pretty one in her family, whose life is thrown off track when she’s diagnosed with scoliosis. Alex is the author most recently of the memoir Breakfast Wine . Other books by Judy Blume: Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo Otherwise Known as Sheila t...

We had completely forgotten about Eleanor Estes's The Moffats until a friend suggested that we reread it. Published in 1941, it's the first in a series about four children growing up in small-town Connecticut in the 1910s.  Mentioned on this episode: Other books in the series: The Middle Moffat (1942), a Newbery Honor Book Rufus M. (1943), a Newbery Honor Book The Moffat Museum (1983)  O...

For the first episode of our fourth (!) season, we reread E.L. Konigsburg's Newbery Medal winner From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler , which was published in 1967. This book, one of our all-time favorites, has one of the best plot premises of all time: a suburban brother and sister run away from home and camp out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Mentioned on thi...

For this episode, we reread Madeleine L’Engle’s 1968 novel The Young Unicorns , the third book in the Austin family series. We discussed 1960s New York, racial representation, family musical evenings, and how absolutely bonkers this book is. Mentioned on this episode: Other books by L’Engle: A Wrinkle in Time (1962) Meet the Austins (1960) The Moon by Night (1963) A Ring of Endless Light (1980) Tr...

On this episode, Deborah introduces Mary Grace to A Bear Called Paddington, the first book in the beloved series about a bear from Peru who ends up living with a London family. We discuss Paddington’s timeless appeal to children, his status as a British icon, and how the book can be read as a refugee’s story. Mentioned on this episode: Paddington , the 2014 movie (trailer here ) “Paddington Bear,...

We celebrated our 50th episode by talking about our favorite picture books and discussing our favorite memories from the two and a half years we've been doing the podcast.  Mentioned on this episode: Deborah's favorites:  Curious George Takes a Job by H.A. Rey The House on East 88th Street by Bernard Waber Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban W...

Writer and scholar Jean Freedman joins us to talk about Noel Streatfeild’s 1944 book Theater Shoes (originally published in the UK as Curtain Up ), the story of three children who attend a theatrical school. We discuss London during World War II and welcome the (offstage) reappearance of the three sisters in Streatfeild’s beloved Ballet Shoes (1936). Mentioned on this episode: Other books by Jean...

For this episode, we reread E.B. White’s 1952 classic Charlotte’s Web .  Also by White: Stuart Little , The Trumpet of the Swan , The Elements of Style , Is Sex Necessary? , Essays of E.B. White , Letters of E.B. White ,  " Death of a Pig" Blog post on Henry Fussy New Yorker  article on Garth Williams The Story of Charlotte’s Web , Michael Sims Eudora Welty’s New York Times review Recomm...

For our third annual Encyclopedia Brown episode, we matched wits with each other and with Encyclopedia in trying to crack the cases in Encyclopedia Brown Finds the Clues , which was published in 1966. We included the relevant clues in our discussion, so you can solve along with us. We discussed the origins of Bugs Meany's hat and solved the mystery of what state Idaville is in. Also, Mary Gra...

For this episode, we reread Louise Fitzhugh's 1965 novel The Long Secret , the sequel to Harriet the Spy . We discussed the mystery of who is leaving notes for residents of Water Mill and Fitzhugh's fascinating but tragic life. Mentioned on this episode: Other books by Fitzhugh:  Suzuki Bean by Sandra Scoppettone, illustrated by Fitzhugh (1961) Harriet the Spy (1964) Nobody's Family...

On this episode, syndicated columnist Jamie Stiehm joins us to reread Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women , which was published in two parts in 1868 and 1869. Mentioned on this episode: Other books by Alcott: Little Men (1871), Eight Cousins (1874), Rose in Bloom (1876), Jo’s Boys (1886) Also mentioned: Peyton Thomas’s tweet saying Alcott was trans Peyton Thomas’s New York Times guest c...

On this episode, we reread Edward Eager’s 1957 book Magic by the Lake , the sequel to Half Magic , which we discussed during our first season.  Mentioned on this episode: The Time Garden   and  Seven-Day Magic   by Edward Eager Eager’s New York Times  obituary By Pike and D y ke by G.A. Henty Deborah’s novels George Washington and the Magic Hat , John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead , and Thomas Je...

On this episode, we reread Mary Poppins , P.L. Travers's beloved 1934 classic. We discuss the difference between the book and the movie version of the magical nanny, changes in the book to remove racist portrayals, and Travers's strange and interesting life.  Mentioned on the episode: Other books in the series: Mary Poppins Comes Back (1935) Mary Poppins Opens the Door (1943) Mary Poppin...

On this episode, we discuss All-of-a-Kind Family , Sydney Taylor's 1951 classic about five sisters growing up on New York's Lower East Side. Over the course of a year, the girls experience joys (like celebrating Jewish holidays and the Fourth of July) and sorrows (like getting scarlet fever and, even worse, losing a library book), and spend a lot of time thinking about how to spend their...

On this episode, we discuss The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene , the first installment in the Nancy Drew series, with writer Sara Fitzgerald. Mentioned on this episode: Other Nancy Drew books: The Secret of Red Gate Farm The Hidden Staircase Other Stratemeyer Syndicate series: The Bobbsey Twins The Hardy Boys The Rover Boys Also mentioned: The Silenced Muse by Sara Fitzgerald Seventeenth...

On this episode, we discuss Esther Forbes's Newbery Medal-winning 1943 novel Johnny Tremain , the story of an apprentice silversmith in Boston who gets caught up in the events leading up to the American Revolution.  Mentioned on this episode: Other books by Esther Forbes: Paul Revere and the World He Lived In (1942), winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for History. The General's Lady (1938...

On this episode, we reread Frances Hodgson Burnett's beloved 1911 classic The Secret Garden , about Mary, a neglected girl who discovers a garden on her uncle's Yorkshire estate that has been locked up for ten years. We discuss the magic of secret places and Hodgson's surprising ties to the United States, including periods living in a Tennessee log cabin and in Washington, D.C. Ment...

We were delighted to welcome our first guest, Judith Kalb, to talk about Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town on the Prairie (1941), the seventh book in the beloved Little House series . Judy is, in addition to being Deborah's sister, a literature scholar and a lifelong Laura Ingalls Wilder fan. Mentioned on this episode:  Pioneer Girl : The Annotated Autobiography , by Laura Ingalls Wilde...

For our last episode of 2024, we talked about our favorite children's books of 60 years ago, which we defined as 1964-1966---a great era for children's books.  Here are our favorites, but it's more fun if you listen to the episode first. We disqualified books that we've done episodes on.  Mary Grace's top five: 5. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. 4. The Str...

On this episode, we read Susan Cooper's 1973 novel The Dark is Rising , which was a Newbery Honor Book. It's the story of Will, a British boy who discovers on his eleventh birthday that he's the last of the Old Ones, destined to fight against the forces of the Dark. It takes place over the period from the winter solstice to the 12th day of Christmas, so it's a great December re...

On this episode, we reread Betsy Byars' The Summer of the Swans , which won the 1971 Newbery Medal. It's an evocative story of a 14-year-old girl who's preoccupied with her big feet and her puce sneakers until the disappearance of her younger brother, who has an intellectual disability, forces her to look beyond her own adolescent thoughts.  Mentioned on the podcast: The 1970 Kirkus...

On the second annual Encyclopedia Brown episode, Mary Grace and Deborah match wits with America’s most brilliant boy detective, and with each other, in solving the cases in the series’ second installment, Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch . Mentioned on the podcast: Goodreads reviews of Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch Other Rereading Our Childhood episodes: Re...

On this episode, we reread Elizabeth Enright's 1941 novel The Saturdays , about four children who pool their allowances and set out on solo adventures in New York. Mentioned on the episode:  Other books in the Melendy family series:  The Four-Story Mistake (1942) Then There Were Five (1944) Spiderweb for Two (1951) Also by Elizabeth Enright: Thimble Summer (1938) Gone-Away Lake (1957) Return...

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Elizabeth George Speare’s 1958 Newbery Medal winner The Witch of Blackbird Pond , about a girl, Kit, who’s struggling to fit in in a Puritan community in colonial Connecticut. Mentioned in this episode: The Crucible , Arthur Miller’s 1953 play about the Salem witch trials. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Kit’s childhood reading includes The Pilgrim’s Progress and...