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 Kevin". Our brave heroes are just about to take on this quest when they're captured by Captain Howl and his pirate crew. There are mermaids and sharks, a kraken and a mutiny. Everything you could want from a pirate story, up to and including being marooned on a desert island. In this case, the island is just a kind of cosmic naughty step for thinking about what you've done. Our chapter book is the fourth in MG Leonard's Time Keys series: Attack of the Sea Dogs. Sim, Jeopardy and Nelson are off on an adventure to Tudor London! Or at least, that's where they think they're going. Uncle Emmett has different ideas and takes them to Plymouth and onto Francis Drake's ship instead, to get a look at the sacking of Cadiz. Tall ships! A suspected Dutch assassin! A cameo from a young Will Shakespeare! It's a story about family and loyalty, pirates and renegade keys. This is the biggest, broadest adventure of the series so far, the world is opening up, the team is growing, and the mysteries are getting deeper. Hop on board, and don't forget your doublet. You can hear our previous episodes about the Time Keys series here and here. We also mentioned Claire Linney's The Time Tub Travellers and the Silk Thief. The episode about that book is here. 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

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 Badgering in Badgers Are Go!, our chapter book by Susannah Lloyd and Nici Gregory. Lulu is soon let in on a huge secret: not all humans are human. Some of them are Badger Operated Persons, or BOPs for short. After all, how else would those humans get anything done? The arc of human history bends toward progress, and it is the badgers who are doing the bending. Full of heart and a laugh a minute, this is a brilliant Wallace and Gromit esque early chapter book. Our picture book is a much gentler, quieter book. School's First Day of School, by Adam Rex and Christian Robinson does exactly what it says on the tin. We follow the life of Frederick Douglass Elementary School, from the pouring of its concrete foundations, to the first time the children stream in, climbing all over its jungle gym, learning about shapes and making pictures to pin to the walls. The experience of this anxious young building is lovingly mediated by Janitor, who spent all summer preparing the school for its purpose, and comes and picks it up at 3.30 in the afternoon, after the children have come home. We love a Christian Robinson. We love a personified building. Get it for the nervous school starter in your life. The schools book conference Matt talks about is called Inspire Reads. It isn't open to members of the public but if your kid goes to school in or around Derby, perhaps they'll take part! Nina mentions another favourite illustration in a chapter book - she's talking about the missing tomato in Bicycling to the Moon by Timo Parvela, as reviewed in episode 26. We refer to a different Christian Robinson book, Another, as reviewed in episode 63. 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

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 Barnett's words are colloquial and accessible. This book is a balancing act between the terrifying and the funny, and a collaboration between friends who love Tudor portraiture. When was the last time you read a story named after the villain? And what do you think Rumpelstiltskin wanted with that baby? Then we're closing up a story we started back in 2022. This is the second and final Rumaysa book by Radiya Hafiza, illustrated once more by Rhaida El Touny. Rumaysa has broken out of the tower and taken her power back. She's on her way to find her long lost parents!... Well, she will be when she gets done with solving other people's problems. It's a story about a legendary girl choosing (sometimes wisely, sometimes not) who to share her gifts with, and finding her way home. Set in a pseudo-medieval fairytale time, it also manages to feel thoroughly modern. Get it for your Shrek fans and your lovers of Disney princesses. You can catch up with the first part of Rumaysa's story here: episode 30. Our other episodes about Carson Ellis' books: episode 64 and episode 3 (please forgive how messy this first season was - we got better!). And our episode about Pattan's Pumpkin is here: episode 14 SHELF, the picture book magazine Nina mentioned, can be ordered here 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

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 shipwreck. For the next decade of her life, she was cared for by the strange and kindly man who found her: Charles Maxim. After the Victorian social services decide he isn't a suitable guardian for her after all, Sophie and Charles flee to Paris, there to seek out the mysterious owner of Sophie's cello case, her mother. The French police are less than helpful, but Sophie falls in with Matteo, a boy who lives on the rooftops of Paris, who helps her to continue her search from above. Our picture book is the one that started the whole podcast off, the story that Nina told Matt in the pub on the last day of 2019. It's The Sad Story of Veronica, Who Played the Violin, by the inimitable David McKee. Veronica was an ordinary girl who played the violin. At first she was very bad. But she practiced loads? She was determined like that. Gradually, she became very good. So good that she was signed by a music man who made her music into records that sold and were played all around the world.  Veronica becomes a superstar, touring the world. But she grows bored of all that. Really, she wants to go and see the animals in the jungle. What happens when a talent like Veronica walks into a clearing to encounter a lion, a leopard and a tiger? Listen in to find out! You can find our more about Ria and her show here And the BBC bitesize study guide to Rooftoppers is here 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

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 diplomat in 1961 Marseille. He's been advised to look upon this posting as a holiday, but he's not having it. While he's out alone and writing, Charlie's very nice pen is stolen by a boy about his own age. The theft is so thrilling and beautiful that instead of getting upset about it, Charlie makes a deal with the pickpocket. He can keep the pen, if only he'll teach Charlie to steal like that. Before he knows it, Charlie is getting a crash course in pickpocketing, and in the particular moral codes that govern the art. Charlie falls in with a proper gang, a real group of friends, and for the first time in years, he's happy. But how long can such an idyll last? Can Charlie keep his life as a diplomat's son along side his new identity as a child pickpocket? The Three Robbers, written and illustrated by Tomi Ungerer, feels like it's set in the same world as the Whiz Mob. It's a strange fable about a set of robot-like highwaymen in cloaks and hats who terrorise the countryside, holding up coaches and stripping travelers of all their worldly goods. They keep all the loot in a cave until they accidentally steal a child. The child asks them what all the money is for, and the question is so profound that it fundamentally alters the course of their life. Whether or not it changes for the better? Only you can tell. You can read the bad review of The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine Kid here in full (I abridged it for our purposes) 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

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. It's beautiful, open ended, and slightly, slightly trippy. We really enjoy this art style and we love how much wordless picture books make us pay attention to the art. Our chapter book is The Barren Grounds by David A Robertson, the opener of the Misewa Saga. Narnia meets Swampy Cree sky stories. The Barren Grounds is about Morgan and Eli, two Cree children, living in the same foster family.  Together, they discover another world by pinning up a drawing by Eli. The drawing becomes a window to the village of Misewa, trapped in an endless winter and peopled by human-sized, clothed, talking animals. Eli disappears through the portal, and Morgan follows. What ensues is a quest to bring the green time back to Misewa, before everyone starves, and before anyone notices that the children are missing. This week we referred to quite a few books we've reviewed previously. You can find those episodes here: Is it red? Is it yellow? Is it blue? The Boy Who Climbed into the Moon , Not Now Bernard and Charmed Life. 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

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 serve with the mole people. Dring dring! We're having dinner and card games with a family of badgers. And now the badger dad is digging a hole through the side of his own house. Lovely soft colour pencil drawings, low danger, high whimsy. Get this for your Brambly Hedge fan. Our chapter book is The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall. This gem from 1959 starts very safe and cosy, in a lovely Minnipin village called Slipper-On-The-Water... and then swerves suddenly and completely believably into the rise of totalitarianism within a small, idyllic community. It's a book about government, about how we live with each other, about what taxes are for (!). What a surprising and radical book in cute, Hobbit-like clothing. There are also glowing swords. We discussed the cover art by the brothers Hildebrandt, whose Tolkien art you can see here. They also illustrated the sequel to the Gammage Cup, the Whisper of Glocken. Matt mentions Brisingamen a couple of times in relation to this week's chapter book - you can find our episode about Alan Garner's classic The Weirdstone of Brisingamen here. 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

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 same house. Mostly it's fine. Except when it's not. Except when the Dark lures you into the cellar and hits you with a wall of text... We're not joking! That's how this book goes. It's fantastic. Our chapter book, released just last year, is When the Storm Comes, by Polly Ho-Yen, who is fast becoming an auto-buy author for us. This is a disaster movie in book camouflage. It's a climate change book. It's a bullying book. It's a survival story. What if you became trapped inside your school with your firm but fair, very pregnant teacher, and three other kids, two of which you don't really care for, and one you actually despise? CHILLS. Get it for your kid who can't sustain the attention for reading. It's gripping. We reviewed Polly Ho-Yen's first book, which you can find here And we briefly mention our episode about Coraline, which you can find here 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

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 use of texture and colour are on full display in this masterpiece of interactivity. How many legs are too many legs? And what is the difference between pointy things and prickly things? For our chapter book, we've a classic of British fantasy literature, it's Alan Garner's debut from 1960: The Weirdstone of Brisingamen. Matt read this one as a child and has lingering memories of being deeply disturbed and impressed. This one is worth seeking out and revisiting. It is formally so strange, linguistically so beautiful, often very funny and not infrequently terrifying. We read a lot aloud from this one because it's just too good not to.  Come play with us by Alderley Edge - just watch you don't fall down any disused mine shafts or the svarts'll get ya. Matt mentioned the review of The Weirdstone of Brisingamen over on Eleanor & Alaisdair Read That. Shoutout to a fellow kidlit podcast! 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

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 photographs and a game to play together with your little one. A historial artifact and a serious art book to put on the coffee table. We wonder how this one lands with young people now - is the 70s essentially as far away as the 90s nowadays? Is it all just The Olden Days? Our chapter book is Entangled by Emma Rae, newly released by Firefly Press. We were privileged enough to be sent a review copy by Netgalley for this one and we adored it! Really great, playful writing, beautiful descriptions of colours in Venice and a classic-feeling adventure. Massively cool disability rep with blind character Tia, and the funniest descriptions of what it feels like to be clumsy that you ever did read, from her brother Thomas. Stuffed with Dylan Thomas quotes and really touching character moments, this is a gem. You can read the first couple of chapters of Entangled for free here. 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