Rereading Our Childhood

For the first episode of our fourth (!) season, we reread E.L. Konigsburg's Newbery Medal winner From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, which was published in 1967. This book, one of our all-time favorites, has one of the best plot premises of all time: a suburban brother and sister run away from home and camp out at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Mentioned on this episode:
Other books by Konigsburg:
Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth
A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver
About the B'nai Bagels
Also mentioned:
Ban this Book by Alan Gratz
1965 New York Times article about the Metropolitan Museum's purchase for $225 of a statue that may be a Leonardo da Vinci
1996 New York Times article about a cupid statue at the French cultural center in New York that may be by Michaelangelo
Post on the Metropolitan Museum website about celebrating the 50th anniversary of From the Mixed-Up Files
2017 Smithsonian magazine article in which Johnny Doran reminisces about playing Jamie in a film version of From the Mixed-Up Files
Recommended by Mary Grace: Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Other Rereading Our Childhood episodes mentioned:
Rereading Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth by E.L. Konigsburg
Rereading Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers
Rereading Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
You can find Deborah at deborahkalb.com and Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com

For this episode, we reread Madeleine L’Engle’s 1968 novel The Young Unicorns, the third book in the Austin family series. We discussed 1960s New York, racial representation, family musical evenings, and how absolutely bonkers this book is.
Mentioned on this episode:
Other books by L’Engle:
A Wrinkle in Time (1962)
Meet the Austins (1960)
The Moon by Night (1963)
A Ring of Endless Light (1980)
Troubling a Star (1994)
A Severed Wasp (1983)
New York Times review of The Young Unicorns by Maia Wojciechowka
Blog posts on The Young Unicorns on Pickle Me This (this is the one where the writer thinks L’Engle wrote Dave as a Black character) and Lady Fancifull
Article on The Young Unicorns by Mari Ness on Reactor
2004 New Yorker article about Madeleine L’Engle
New York Times article on race in the Wuthering Heights movie (gift link)
Other episodes:
Rereading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
You can find Deborah at deborahkalb.com and Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com

On this episode, Deborah introduces Mary Grace to A Bear Called Paddington, the first book in the beloved series about a bear from Peru who ends up living with a London family. We discuss Paddington’s timeless appeal to children, his status as a British icon, and how the book can be read as a refugee’s story.
Mentioned on this episode:
Paddington, the 2014 movie (trailer here)
“Paddington Bear, Refugee,” by Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, June 28, 2017
Olga da Polga series by Michael Bond
Monsieur Pamplemousse series by Michael Bond
“Ma’amalade Sandwich, Your Majesty?” (video of Queen Elizabeth with Paddington on the British royal family’s website)
Article about the Paddington movie in the New York Times, January 9, 2015
Recommended for Paddington fans:
Mary Grace: Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers, Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne
Deborah: Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren, Stuart Little by A.A. Milne
Other episodes mentioned:
Rereading Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
Rereading Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
Rereading Stuart Little by E.B. White
You can find Deborah at deborahkalb.com, Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago, and Jean at jeanfreedman.com.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com

We celebrated our 50th episode by talking about our favorite picture books and discussing our favorite memories from the two and a half years we've been doing the podcast. 
Mentioned on this episode:
Deborah's favorites: 
Curious George Takes a Job by H.A. Rey
The House on East 88th Street by Bernard Waber
Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik
Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
What Do People Do All Day? by Richard Scarry
Mary Grace's favorites:
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson 
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Also mentioned:
Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats 
The U.S. Postal Service's The Snowy Day stamps
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 
New York Times articles about The Giving Tree (here and here)
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak 
Danny Dunn: Into the Volcano (forthcoming) 
Other episodes mentioned: 
Rereading Stuart Little by E.B. White
Rereading Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin
Rereading Little Town on the Prairie, with Judith Kalb
You can find Deborah at deborahkalb.com and Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.
Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com

Writer and scholar Jean Freedman joins us to talk about Noel Streatfeild’s 1944 book Theater Shoes (originally published in the UK as Curtain Up), the story of three children who attend a theatrical school. We discuss London during World War II and welcome the (offstage) reappearance of the three sisters in Streatfeild’s beloved Ballet Shoes (1936).
Mentioned on this episode:
Other books by Jean Freedman: Whistling in the Dark: Memory and Culture in Wartime London and Peggy Seeger: A Life of Music, Love, and Politics
Books by Noel Streatfeild: Circus Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Tennis Shoes, Skating Shoes
A website on Streatfeild that includes a detailed discussion on Theater Shoes/Curtain Up
Recommended by Jean: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett; Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, and Dress Rehearsal by Monica Stirling; fairy tales by Oscar Wilde
Recommended by Deborah: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright; Half Magic by Edward Eager
Recommended by Mary Grace: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Other episode: Rereading Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild
You can find Deborah at deborahkalb.com, Mary Grace at My Life 100 Years Ago, and Jean at jeanfreedman.com.
This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Podcast website at rereadingourchildhood.com