Rereading Our Childhood

On this episode, Deborah (a cat person) rereads, and Mary Grace (not a cat person) reads, The Hotel Cat (1969), a late entry in Esther Averill’s long Cat Club series. Other books in the Cat Club series: The Cat Club (1944) Jenny Goes to Sea (1957) The Fire Cat (1960) Other podcast episodes: Rereading Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh Rereading Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary Rereading Freaky Fr...

On this episode, Mary Grace and Deborah read Virginia Hamilton's 1974 novel M.C. Higgins the Great , about a teenaged boy in Appalachia whose life is turned upside down when two strangers come to town. Hamilton won the Newbery Medal for the book; she was the first African American to win the award.  Mentioned on the episode:  Also by Virginia Hamilton:  Zeely (1967)  The House of Dies Drear (...

On this episode, Deborah rereads, and Mary Grace reads, a book that needs no introduction: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, also known as The Wizard of Oz. They discuss weird sequels, the history of sunglasses, the monoculture, and, of course, the movie.  Mentioned on the episode: Also by L. Frank Baum:  The Tin Woodman of Oz (1918) Father Goose , His Book (1899) Other Rereading Our Childhood episodes:...

Mary Grace and Deborah commemorate the 100th anniversary of Joan Aiken’s birth by reading Black Hearts in Battersea , the second in her Wolves Chronicles series, featuring resourceful orphans and sinister plots in an alt-history version of nineteenth-century London. Mentioned on the episode: Other books by Aiken: The Wolves of Willoughby Chase Nightbirds on Nantucket Jane Fairfax Also mentioned: T...

Deborah and Mary Grace discuss Beverly Cleary's 1968 classic Ramona the Pest . This was the first book starring Ramona, who appeared in Cleary's earlier books as Beezus's annoying little sister before going on to become Cleary's most beloved character.  Mentioned in this episode: Other books by Beverly Cleary: Ellen Tebbits (1951) Henry Huggins (1950) Henry and Beezus (1952) Mi...

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Ellen Raskin’s 1971 mystery romp, The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) , about a woman’s decades-long search for her husband, whom she married as a child. (It’s a long story.) The book is full of word games, puzzles, and creative illustrations by Raskin, who was also a graphic artist. Other books by Ellen Raskin: Nothing Ever Happens on My Block (1967)....

 Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Misty of Chincoteague , Marguerite Henry's classic 1947 novel about Misty and her mother Phantom, wild ponies from the island of Assateague, and Paul and Maureen, a brother and sister from the neighboring island of Chincoteague who long to own them.  Other books by Henry: Stormy, Misty’s Foal (1963) Justin Morgan Had a Horse (1945), a Newbery Honor Book King of...

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss The Book of Three (1964) by Lloyd Alexander. Other books in the series: The Black Cauldron (1965) The Castle of Llyr (1966) Taran Wanderer (1967) The High King (1968) Other books by Alexander: Time Cat (1963), discussed by Deborah on a blog post And Let the Credit Go (1955) Janine is French (1960) The Wizard in the Tree (1974) Park Avenue Vet (1960) Fifty Years in th...

Deborah and Mary Grace discuss Anne of Green Gables , L.M. Montgomery's beloved 1908 tale of a strong-willed and imaginative orphan. Other books in the series: Anne of Avonlea Anne of the Island Anne of Windy Poplars Anne's House of Dreams Anne of Ingleside The Blythes are Quoted   (short stories) Also mentioned: Some books and poems that Anne reads: "Curfew Must Not Ring Tonight&qu...

Mary Grace introduces Deborah to John Verney’s 1961 novel February’s Road .  Other books by Verney: Friday’s Tunnel (1959) Ismo (1964) Seven Sunflower Seeds (1968) Samson’s Hoard (1973) Going to the Wars (1955) A Dinner of Herbs (1966) Also mentioned: The Arm of the Starfish (1965) by Madeleine L’Engle, Verney’s illustrations . A post on the blog Clothes in Books . The illustrations of Edward Ardi...

Deborah and Mary Grace reread Stuart Little, E.B. White's 1945 classic about the adventures of a New York boy who looks exactly like a mouse. They discuss their early memories of reading  Stuart Little (or, in Mary Grace's case, having her mom read it to her), Garth Williams' wonderful illustrations, and pioneering children's librarian Annie Carroll Moore's vehement opposi...

On this episode, Mary Grace and Deborah discuss The Phantom Tollbooth , Norton Juster's 1961 classic about Milo, a boy who's bored with life until a mysterious tollbooth takes him and his electric car to The Lands Beyond, where he meets the warring kings of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis and many other memorable characters. Jules Feiffer's numerous illustrations are as important a pa...

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss The Egypt Game , Zilpha Keatley Snyder's 1967 Newbery Honor Book about a group of children who create an elaborate game based on ancient Egypt.   Mentioned on this episode: The Egypt Game: A Second Look , The Horn Book The  Kirkus Review  review of  The Egypt Game A 2011 post on the website Banned Reads Project featuring three teenagers' perspectives on The...

On this episode, Deborah and Mary Grace discuss Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint , published in 1956. In the first book of the popular series, Danny discovers a secret rocket project and, oops, accidentally launches the rocket into space. Discussed in this episode: A 2023 New Yorker article about Danny Dunn Other books in the series: Danny Dunn and the Homework Machine  Danny Dunn and the Fos...

Mary Grace and Deborah ring in 2024 with a special episode where they count down their five favorite books from 50 years ago, defined as published between 1972 and 1974. They (mostly) didn't reread these books for the episode, so their choices are based on their childhood memories. As Mary Grace mentions, the format was inspired by the Book Riot podcast, which has done a number of similar cou...

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Pippi Longstocking , Astrid Lindgren's 1945 classic (published in English in 1950) about an anarchic Swedish girl. They discuss their love for the book as children, their mixed feelings on rereading it, and Pippi as a feminist icon. Mary Grace, who spent a month in Sweden earlier this year, talks about Lindgren's legendary status in Sweden, where she's...

Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Edward Eager's Half Magic , the first of Eager's seven books of magical adventures. Four bored siblings living in a Midwestern city in the 1920s find a magic amulet...except it only grants half of what you wish for. We talk about what has and hasn't held up in the six decades since Half Magic was published, about Eager's life, and about the real (...

Deborah and Mary Grace read Carol Ryrie Brink's 1935 Newbery Medal winner Caddie Woodlawn , which is based on Brink's grandmother's childhood adventures on the Wisconsin frontier.  Mentioned on this episode: Caddie Woodlawn's Family by Carol Ryrie Brink (previously titled Magical Melons ) (1939) Two Are Better Than One by Carol Ryrie Brink (1968) Louly by Carol Ryrie Brink (197...

Mary Grace and Deborah reread one of their childhood favorites, Mary Rodgers' 1972 mother-daughter body-switching story Freaky Friday . They also discuss Rodger's posthumous 2022 memoir Shy , which was a New York Times Notable Book . Mentioned on this episode:The intro to the PBS show Mystery! , with animation based on illustrations by Edward Gorey. A Billion for Boris , the sequel to Fr...

Deborah and Mary Grace celebrate Halloween by reading two books about witches, Little Witch by Anna Elizabeth Bennett, published in 1953, and The Little Leftover Witch by Florence Laughlin, published in 1960. Both books are about lonely little witches who find homes with non-magical families. Other witch-related books mentioned on the episode: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare...

Mary Grace and Deborah reread Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 classic A Wrinkle in TIme , about...well, it's hard to describe what it's about. A troubled girl. A missing father. A genius brother. Three mysterious women. Interplanetary adventure. An evil, throbbing brain. None of this does justice to a book that two science fiction-hating girls ended up loving, and that their grown-up...

Deborah and Mary Grace read John D. Fitzgerald’s 1967* novel The Great Brain, the first book in the series featuring John, the narrator, and his older brother Tom, the eponymous Great Brain, who wreaks havoc on their late 19th-century Utah town with his devious moneymaking ventures. Mentioned on this episode: The Amazon review that gives parents a heads-up about disturbing content in the book. Mar...

Mary Grace and Deborah reread Alan Garner’s Carnegie Medal-winning 1967 novel The Owl Serv ice, which tells the story of three teenagers, Alison, Gwyn, and Roger, who find themselves reliving a Welsh legend of love and betrayal that plays out over every generation. Discussed on this episode: A 2021 Guardian profile of Garner. Mary Grace recommends Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain series...

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective , which was published in 1963, is the first of Donald J. Sobol’s 29-book series featuring Encyclopedia, the boy detective who always gets his man (or boy, or girl). The solution to each crime is revealed at the end of the book. In this episode, Deborah and Mary Grace match wits with Encyclopedia, and with each other, in identifying the culprits. Discussed on this...

Mary Grace and Deborah celebrate the beginning of a new school year by rereading "B" is for Betsy, , Carolyn Haywood's 1939 novel about a little girl navigating the complicated world of first grade. It was the first in a long series of books about Betsy and her friends. Mentioned on this episode:  The twelve books in the Betsy series ,  on Goodreads Haywood's Eddie series , on...