Rereading Our Childhood

Jan 23 2025 39 ep. 36 mins 5
Rereading Our Childhood Podcast artwork

Revisiting the children's books that made us who we are today

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Rereading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Jan 23 2025 31 mins  
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.Menti

Rereading Little Town on the Prairie, with Judith Kalb

Jan 09 2025 50 mins  
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 Wild

Our Favorite Children's Books from 60 Years Ago

Dec 26 2024 25 mins  
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 Strange Light by

Rereading The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Dec 12 2024 44 mins  
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 read. (

Rereading The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Nov 28 2024 30 mins  
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 R

Rereading Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Secret Pitch by Donald J. Sobol

Nov 14 2024 27 mins  
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 PitchOther Rereading Our Childh

Rereading The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

Oct 31 2024 32 mins  
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

Rereading The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Oct 17 2024 36 mins  
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 Pilgr

Rereading The Hotel Cat by Esther Averill

Oct 03 2024 26 mins  
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 FitzhughRereading Ramona the Pest by Beverly ClearyRereading

Rereading M.C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton

Sep 19 2024 34 mins  
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 D