In the Reading Corner

It's 20 years since the publication of Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men, the first book in the Tiffany Aching arc within the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. To celebrate, Terry's daughter Rhianna Pratchett and Gabrielle Kent have produced a handsome gift book, Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch, stunningly illustrated by Paul Kidby.

Rhianna and Gabrielle joined Nikki Gamble In The Reading Corner to talk about the joint venture.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Peter Brown is an American writer and illustrator. He is the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for his illustration of Creepy Carrots (written by Aaron Reynolds) and the author-illustrator of picture books Mr Tiger Goes Wild, My Teacher is a Monster, Fred Gets Dressed and The Curious Garden.

His novel series about Roz, the Wild Robot has garnered lots of critical praise and many fans. In this episode, he talks with Nikki Gamble about the third novel in the series, The Wild Robot Protects,

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Rashmi Sirdeshpande is the author of We've Got This! Six Steps to Build Empathy and Miranda McKearney is a founder and director of Empathy Lab. In this episode, they talk about the science behind empathy and ways to develop it with young people.

An extended version of video version of this talk is available on our website.

About We've Got This
We've Got This! Six Steps to Build Your Empathy Superpower, written by Rashmi Sirdeshpande in partnership with EmpathyLab, is the essential empathy handbook for young readers. In just SIX simple steps, readers will be taught how to harness empathy as theirhuman SUPERPOWER, and discover how using this power can change their lives and the world around them for the better. The emotional well-being of children is just as important as their physical health, but it's not something that all children are taught about or are offered support for.

Harnessing empathy and growing their emotional intelligence allows children and young people to develop the resilience to cope with life's ups and downs and understand and experience other people's emotions, feelings and points of view.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Pippa Funnell is well-known for her equestrian achievements. She's an Olympic medalist and Rolex Grand Slam winner 2003. She is also the author of a series of books for children, Pippa's Pony Tales.

In this episode, Pippa talks to Nikki Gamble about how her love of horses inspired the books and how she hopes the books will encourage children to follow their dreams and be prepared to work hard to achieve them.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Roland Chambers is a writer, illustrator and storyteller. He is the author of a biography about Arthur Ransome and the children's stories, Nelly and the Quest for Captain Peabody and Nelly and the Flight of the Sky Lantern.

His new series, features Billy Shaman - a shaman by name and by nature, who embarks on a voyage of self discovery from the museum that is the former home of scientist and explorer, Charles Darwi., It's an exciting adventure, told with wisdom and humour.

In the first adventure of the series, Billy, travels to the Arctic Circle, where he meets an Inuit girl Ahnah, a Greek explorer, Pytheas and a powerful shaman, Sedna.

Roland dropped into The Reading Corner to tell Nikki Gamble all about it.

About The Adventures of Billy Shaman: The Rage of the Sea Witch

Shaman by name and shaman by nature - Billy just hasn't found his magic ... yet.

His selfish, globetrotting parents abandon him for yet another summer in Charles Darwin's strange, museum-like house, where Billy stumbles across a 200-year-old giant talking tortoise named Charles Darwin, by the famous man himself. Charles D, the tortoise, knows every inch of the house and every artefact in it, and he's keen to help Billy realise his powers and set him on the path to adventure. A beautifully carved Inuit ivory necklace is the first object that whisks him back in time to the shrieking chaos of an Arctic blizzard to meet its rightful owner, a girl called Ahnah, her shape-shifting grandmother and the mysterious explorer Pytheas.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Jo Ellen Bogart and Maya Kastelic are the joint creators of the wordless picture book, Anthony and the Gargoyle. In this episode, they talk about their different roles in producing the book.

Jo Ellen Bogart is a US and Canadian writer of children's books living in Ontario.

Maja Kastelic was born in Slovenia, where she studied painting, philosophy and the theory of visual arts.

About Anthony and the Gargoyle
A boy befriends a baby gargoyle in this magical wordless story from award-winning creators Jo Ellen Bogart and Maja Kastelic. Anthony wakes up one morning to find his favorite rock has cracked open - and it's hollow! He discovers a strange-looking hatchling inside, and the two become fast friends. When Anthony asks his mother where the rock came from, she shows him photos from their trip to Paris, including of Notre-Dame cathedral, with its familiar-looking forms perched on top.

Could Anthony's new friend be a gargoyle?

This magical wordless story is brought to life in stunning, silent, hand-painted panels, and is a touching tale of true friendship and letting go.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

David Wolstencroft is a screenwriter who has notched up a number of BAFTA awards, including one for the TV spy drama Spooks. He has also written two spy thrillers, Good News, Bad News and Contact Zero.

In this episode, Nikki Gamble chatted to David about his debut children's book, The Magic Hour, a thrilling and pacy magical adventure.

About The Magic Hour
Eleven-year-old Ailsa Craig is always late! To everything - her own birth, school, and even her own house exploding! Although it is certainly better to be late for that than early...

But then, one day, Ailsa discovers the secret of a lifetime: An extra hour in the day. The Magic Hour which exists in a fantastical, parallel Edinburgh, accessed at twilight. As she explores this extraordinary place where anything seems possible, Ailsa can't believe her luck.

Her grades improve, and life seems to be on the up - even the popular kids start liking her. But messing with time can have desperate consequences. When Ailsa discovers that the extra time comes at a terrible cost, she must battle the sinister forces at work and save herself, her parents and the world.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Mark Bradley is a comics writer and artist who lives in Yorkshire with his family. He grew up reading stories about ghosts and monsters and promptly decided that he preferred them to humans. Having worked for the probation service for many years, he saw first-hand how important emotional literacy is and hopes his debut series will help young readers explore feelings in a fun setting. Bumble and Snug developed out of characters he kept drawing in the margins of other projects until he launched them on his Instagram account (@markbradleyillustration) and found himself with a book deal – something he never even dared to dream was possible.

In this episode, Mark talks to Nikki Gamble about his new comic book Bumble and Snug, which readers can enjoy from around age 5 upwards.

Originally recorded in April 2019

About Bumble and Snug
Best friends Bumble and Snug are Bugbops – little monsters filled with BIG feelings! In this full-colour graphic novel, join them on a funny, imaginative adventure with some VERY angry pirates, learning about the world outside and inside along the way.

Bumble and Snug are going on a big adventure to … have a picnic! But when they accidentally get lost, they’re both cross – is their adventure ruined?

Working together to find their way home, Bumble and Snug come across a pirate treasure horde. But taking treasure that isn’t yours is a good way to get into trouble; sure enough, some VERY angry pirates aren’t far behind.

Bumble and Snug are certain they can replace the treasure and fix things to make everybody happy. But there’s another monstrous obstacle in store – and this one has TENTACLES.

Bumble and Snug and the Angry Pirates is a story about being cross and how to listen, friendship and sandcastles, and one GIANT octopus!

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Jasmine Richards is an author, editor and entrepreneur. She's the founder of Storymix, a company with a mission to increase the visibility of characters of colour in children's books and to mentor writers of colour in the early stages of their writing careers.

Jasmine's books include Oliver Twisted and The Unmorrow Curse and Oliver Twisted (under the pseudonym J D Sharpe).

Books from the Storymix studio include Aziza and the Fairy Door, Future Hero and Granny Jinx.

Jasmine joined Nikki Gamble In the Reading Corner to talk about her career in publishing and her hopes for the future of Storymix.

All books are available from our partner bookseller Best Books for Schools

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk

Kwame Alexander is an American poet and author of books for children, including the verse novel The Crossover, which was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2015 and is the basis for a new series from Disney Plus (2023). It is also available in a graphic novel adaptation illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile. Kwame's novels often use sport as a metaphor for the characters' struggles or the books' themes. In Booked, the sport is football, And in his most recent book, The Door of No Return, the main character, Kofi, is learning how to swim,

Kwame's father was an academic and activist in the civil rights movement. And Kwame has written a picture book, Undefeated, celebrating Black History and the extraordinary strength and bravery of those that transcended their circumstances.

Two new books, The Door of No Return and the picturebook Unspoken (published in the US as An American Story), also assert this strength and the refusal to be defined by one aspect of Black History - slavery.

In this episode, Kwame talks with Nikki Gamble about both books and their origins.

About The Door of No Return
Eleven-year-old Kofi Offin has dreams of water, of its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets. He has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, where he lives.

He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father's father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. But when the unthinkable - a sudden death - occurs during a festival between rival villages, Kofi ends up in a fight for his life. What happens next will send him on a harrowing journey across land and sea, and away from everything he loves.

Yet Kofi's dreams may be the key to his freedom...

About Unspoken
How do you tell a story that starts in Africa and ends in horror? About strength and pride and refusing to be broken? One that still hurts and still loves?A powerfully moving, poetic exploration of the story of slavery: from Africa to the tall ships, from back-breaking work in a strange land to resilience and eventual emancipation, Kwame Alexander tells the story that's hard to hear. Told through the lens of a teacher speaking to their young pupils, and in multiple art styles from award-winning artist and sculptor Dare Coulter, the story of slavery becomes one that you can tell with the bravery to lift your voice.

Thank you for listening.

If you enjoyed this podcast, please support us by subscribing to our channel. And if you are interested in the books we have featured, purchasing from our online bookshop Bestbooksforschools.com

In the Reading Corner is presented by Nikki Gamble, Director of Just Imagine. It is produced by Alison Hughes.

Follow us on Youtube for more author events YouTube.com/@nikkigamble1

For general news and updates, follow us on Twitter @imaginecentre

Full details about the range of services we provide can be found on our website www.justimagine.co.uk