Category Archives: Middle Grade

Our Favorite Children’s Books from 50 Years Ago

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(You can listen to this episode here.)

Mary Grace and Deborah ring in 2024 with a special episode where they count down their five favorite books from 50 years ago, defined as published between 1972 and 1974. They (mostly) didn’t reread these books for the episode, so their choices are based on their childhood memories.

As Mary Grace mentions, the format was inspired by the Book Riot podcast, which has done a number of similar countdowns, including a fun episode on the top bookish phenomena of the past 25 years.

Here are Deborah’s and Mary Grace’s favorites–but we suggest that you listen to the episode before looking at the list!

Deborah’s Favorites

5. Nobody’s Family is Going to Change by Louise Fitzhugh
4. A Billion for Boris by Mary Rodgers
3. Victoria by Barbara Brooks Wallace
2. The Genie of Sutton Place by George Selden
1. A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver by E.L. Konigsburg

Mary Grace’s Favorites

5. A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L’Engle
4. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack! by M.E. Kerr
3. Glory in the Flower by Norma Johnston
2. A Billion for Boris by Mary Rodgers
1. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

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(You can listen to this episode here.)

On this episode, Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren’s 1945 classic (published in English in 1950) about an anarchic Swedish girl. They discuss their love for the book as children, their mixed feelings on rereading it, and Pippi as a feminist icon. Mary Grace, who spent a month in Sweden earlier this year, talks about Lindgren’s legendary status in Sweden, where she’s literally on the money.

Discussed on this episode:

The BBC News survey on the 100 greatest children’s books of all time, with Pippi Longstocking at #3

Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren

The Brothers Lionheart by Astrid Lindgren

The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren

Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books

Joan Aiken’s Wolves Chronicles series

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsen

The virtual tour of Astrid Lindgren’s apartment on astridlindgren.com

Mary Grace couldn’t find the interview with Lindgren’s daughter Karin, who one night when she was ill asked her mother to tell her a story about Pippi Longstocking, but Karin discussed it in this 2016 Guardian article.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

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(You can read this episode here.)

On this episode, Deborah and Mary Grace read Carol Ryrie Brink’s 1935 Newbery Medal winner Caddie Woodlawn, which is based on Brink’s grandmother’s childhood adventures on the Wisconsin frontier.

Mentioned on this episode:

Caddie Woodlawn’s Family by Carol Ryrie Brink (previously titled Magical Melons) (1939)

Two Are Better Than One by Carol Ryrie Brink (1968)

Louly by Carol Ryrie Brink (1974)

Mary Grace mentioned what she thought were two different blog posts on a website about portrayals of American Indians in children’s books. Actually, it was just one post, here.

The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich (1999)

The Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here.

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

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(You can listen to this episode here.)

In this episode, Mary Grace and Deborah reread one of their childhood favorites, Mary Rodgers’ 1972 mother-daughter body-switching story Freaky Friday. They also discuss Rodger’s posthumous 2022 memoir Shy, which was a New York Times Notable Book.

Here’s the original Edward Gorey cover:

And the cover for the sequel, A Billion for Boris:

The cover of the paperback edition Mary Grace read, which left her longing for her 1970s copy, turns out to be nowhere to be found on the internet.

Mentioned in this episode:

The intro to the PBS show Mystery!, with animation based on illustrations by Edward Gorey.

Summer Switch by Mary Rodgers, in which Ape Face and his dad switch bodies, with less-than-hilarious results.

Freaky Monday, a supposedly co-authored by actually more like licensed 2009 addition to the franchise.

The 1976 movie starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster.

The 2003 movie starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan.

Vice Versa, F. Anstey’s 1882 novel about a British man who switches bodies with his son.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here.

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

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(You can listen to this episode here.)

On this episode, Mary Grace and Deborah reread Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 classic A Wrinkle in TIme, about…well, it’s hard to describe what it’s about. A troubled girl. A missing father. A genius brother. Three mysterious women. Interplanetary adventure. An evil, throbbing brain. None of this does justice to a book that two science fiction-hating girls ended up loving, and that their grown-up selves had a wonderful time returning to.

Here’s the original cover, which perfectly captures its Cold War atmosphere:

Mentioned on this episode:

Listening for Madeleine, Leonard Marcus’s book of interviews with people in L’Engle’s life.

Cynthia Zarin’s controversial 2004 New Yorker profile of L’Engle.

The ALA website listing the 100 most challenged books of the 1990s, with A Wrinkle in Time at #23.

The recent PEN America report on book banning in the United States.

A 2001 New York Times interview with L’Engle.

The trailer to the 2018 movie version of A Wrinkle in Time.

The Paris Review blog post where Mary Grace read that Madeleine L’Engle rewrote her novel A House Like a Lotus to give it a new protagonist.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here.

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald

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You can listen to this episode here.

On this episode, Deborah and Mary Grace read John D. Fitzgerald’s 1967* novel The Great Brain, the first book in the series featuring John, the narrator, and his older brother Tom, the eponymous Great Brain, who wreaks havoc on their late 19th-century Utah town with his devious moneymaking ventures. Mary Grace, who did not read this book as a child, suspects that this sometimes harrowing read is Deborah’s revenge for making her read The Owl Service.

The first edition cover gives a good sense of Mercer Mayer’s illustrations.

Here’s the Amazon review Mary Grace mentions that gives parents a heads-up about disturbing content in the book.

Mary Grace recommends the Encyclopedia Brown books, featured on a previous episode, for fans of The Great Brain. She also recommends Two Are Better than One and Louly, by Carol Ryrie Brink, which are set in a small Idaho town in the early 20th century. Deborah recommends the Henry Reed series, also featured on a previous episode.

Here’s a June 2023 article by New York Times opinion writer Carlos Lozada, who was born in Peru, about his love for The Great Brain, which he read after his family moved to the United States. Lozada jumps into the article’s comments section to share more Great Brain love with readers.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and you can find Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

*Mary Grace says incorrectly that it was published in 1969.

Rereading Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol

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You can listen to this episode here.

Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective, which was published in 1963, is the first of Donald J. Sobol’s 29-book series featuring Encyclopedia, the boy detective who always gets his man (or boy, or girl). The solution to each crime is revealed at the end of the book. In this episode, Deborah and Mary Grace match wits with Encyclopedia, and with each other, in identifying the culprits.

Here’s the cover of the first edition. The current edition has a different cover but still features the original illustrations by Leonard Shortall, who went on to illustrate many other Encyclopedia Brown books.

You can find the full Encyclopedia Brown series on Goodreads.

You can find Two-Minute Mysteries, a collection of Sobol’s syndicated columns for adults, here.

Sobol’s New York Times obituary, published on July 16, 2012, is here.

Mary Grace recommends the Danny Dunn books for fans of Encyclopedia Brown. Clarifications: Danny Dunn does not, in fact, go to the moon, as Mary Grace thought he might have, but he does go to outer space in Danny Dunn and the Anti-Gravity Paint. Also, the scientist in the book is not his uncle but his mother’s employer, Professor Bullfinch.

Deborah recommends the Henry Reed books for Encyclopedia fans. We discussed Henry Reed, Inc. on the third episode of Rereading Our Childhood.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here.

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and you can find Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild

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You can listen to this episode here.

On this episode, Deborah and Mary Grace discuss Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild’s classic 1936 story of a trio of adopted sisters, Pauline, Petrova, and Posy, who attend a school for professional children in the performing arts in London. Ballet Shoes is the first in what became a series of “Shoes” books about children working in the theater, the circus, etc.

As Deborah and Mary Grace mention, the girls perform in these plays:

The Blue Bird, by Maurice Maeterlinck (a large chunk of which, weirdly, appears in the text of Ballet Shoes)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare

Other Noel Streatfeild books mentioned in the podcast:

Circus Shoes (1938). As Deborah mentions, several of Streatfeild’s books were retitled to capitalize on the popularity of Ballet Shoes. This book was originally titled The Circus is Coming.

Skating Shoes (1951). This is the American title; it was published in the UK as White Boots.

The Whicharts (1931). As Deborah mentions, Streatfeild’s first novel, which is for adults, also features three adopted sisters. (According to an episode on Ballet Shoes on the wonderful Backlisted podcast, the books have identical openings.)

Here’s the cover of the first edition of Ballet Shoes. This will give you an idea of the what the illustrations by Ruth Jervis, who was Streatfeild’s sister, were like. They’re not included in most current editions, although the Puffin edition that Mary Grace bought in London has them.

Recommended by Mary Grace for fans of Ballet Shoes: We Danced in Bloomsbury Square by Jean Estoril (out of print, available from used booksellers).

Recommended by Deborah for fans of Ballet Shoes: other books in the Shoes series. Shoes books available in the United States include Theater Shoes and Dancing Shoes.

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. You can listen to it on Buzzsprout here.

You can find Debby’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading The Children of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston

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You can listen to the episode here.

Oops! Mary Grace made a mockery of the show title by picking a book that it turns out she probably didn’t read as a child. What she (and Deborah) actually did read was The RIVER at Green Knowe. Nevertheless, they had a great time discussing The Children of Green Knowe, the first book in the series, which is about a boy named Tolly who goes to live with his great-grandmother in a mansion haunted by seventeenth-century children. It was well-written but kind of plotless. As they know from being in a book group together for decades, though, not-so-good books often make for the best discussions and that was the case this time.

Here’s the Amazon review that Mary Grace mentioned where the reviewer complains about the book being edited to remove references to a servant’s child being born out of wedlock.

Here’s the first edition cover:

Here’s the cover of the current American paperback edition:

Other books about meeting up with children from the past that Mary Grace discussed:

Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager

George Washington and the Magic Hat by Deborah Kalb (yes, that Deborah Kalb)

John Adams and the Magic Bobblehead by Deborah Kalb

Thomas Jefferson and the Return of the Magic Hat by Deborah Kalb

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. 

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.

Rereading Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh

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Mary Grace and Deborah discuss Harriet the Spy, Louise Fitzhugh’s 1964 classic about an 11-year-old would-be writer, her spying career, and her interactions with her nanny, her classmates, and her parents. You can listen to the episode here.

Other books in the series:

The Long Secret (1965)

Sport (1979, published posthumously)

Fitzhugh’s first book was Suzuki Beane, a parody of Eloise, written by Sandra Scoppettone and illustrated by Fitzhugh.

We also discuss Fitzhugh’s book Nobody’s Family Is Going to Change (1974).

Here’s Deborah’s Q&A with Leslie Brody, author of the Fitzhugh biography Sometimes You Have to Lie (2020).

You can find information on the animated TV series of Harriet the Spy and a link to the (free) first episode at Rotten Tomatoes here.

The review of the Harriet the Spy animated series that Mary Grace mentioned is here.

If you enjoyed Harriet the Spy, you might also like From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg (1967). Older kids might be interested in the work of author M.E. Kerr.

The New Yorker article Mary Grace discusses about Louise Fitzhugh is here.

Here’s the original hardback cover of Harriet the Spy.

Here’s the classic paperback cover, which we discuss in this episode:

The podcast is hosted by Buzzsprout at rereadingourchildhood.buzzsprout.com and is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. 

You can find Deborah’s author interviews on her blog, Books Q&A by Deborah Kalb, and Mary Grace’s adventures in the 1920s on her blog, My Life 100 Years Ago.

This episode was edited by Adam Linder of Bespoken Podcasting.