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 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 are gorgeously simple. The writing is incredibly spare (great for new readers). A book that cries out to be performed on stage!

Our chapter book is Time Tub Travellers and the Silk Thief by Claire Linney. Our very first self-published book! The bathtub in this book is actually a time machine. Zula and her best friend Milo are on the hunt for evidence of Black Tudors in order to prove Zula's teacher wrong about there being "no Black people in London in Tudor times". Zula's aunt Abina immediately pulls out a book on Reasonable Blackman, a weaver and the first documented Black businessman working for himself during this period. But that's not enough. Abina also heavily hints that more might be found in they happen to mess around with the mysterious golden bath in the store-room. Zula and Milo climb inside and before they know it, they're stranded in Tudor London, smells and all. Will they manage to save the Blackman family fortune? And will Ms Farris admit that she was mistaken about history?

You can find Claire Linney, her books and her reviews here.

Matt is on tour as we speak. Go here to find out if Fixing is coming to a theatre near you.

If you'd like to support us and get access to bonus content, you can join our patreon here.

Another way to support us is to shop our picks on our bookshop here

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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Episoder(75)

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...

14 Mai 1h 5min

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 (i...

7 Mai 1h 2min

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 pict...

30 Apr 1h 5min

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 ...

23 Apr 59min

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, ...

16 Apr 1h 15min

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 Elepha...

5 Mar 19min

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-r...

26 Feb 46min