Monthly Archives: August 2017

Podcast #18: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

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An Interview with C. Lee Mckenzie

For my eighteenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author C. Lee McKenzie about one of her favorite children’s books, the children’s classic Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, pseudonym of the of the British writer and mathematician Charles Dodgson.

First published in 1865, this classic tale of young girl’s adventure as she literally tumbles into a strange dream world continues to be read and to inspire countless other books, films, music and art throughout the world.  Her encounters with such off-beat characters  as the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Duchess, the Queen of Hearts, and the Cheshire Cat remain as just absurdly weird and as nonsensically funny as when it was first published. And though we don’t discuss it in the interview, Carroll’s follow up book,  titled Through the Looking Glass,  And What Alice Found There, is worth checking out as well.

C. Lee Mackenzie is author  of the middle grade fantasy adventure The Sign of the Green Dragon,  as well as several YA novels, including  Sudden Secrets and Sliding on the Edge. You can find Lee’s website at www.cleemckenziebooks.com

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on September 1st, 2017.

Podcast #17: Storm Boy by Colin Thiele

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An Interview with Allison Tait

For my seventeenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author Allison Tait about one of her favorite children’s books, the Australian classic Storm Boy by Colin Thiele, illustrated by Robert Ingpen.

First published in 1963, the short book tells the story of a young boy who lives with his father on the isolated Southern coast of Australia.  One day, a mother pelican is shot, and the boy rescues her chicks and raises them. After growing up, one of pelicans, Mr. Percival, remains with the boy and becomes his closest friend.  And when a fishing boat is threaten to be shipwrecked on the coast, the two of them jump into the fray. What happens after that will change both of their lives forever.  For over fifty years this narrative has been beloved by children and adults alike for its lyricism, and for its timeless narrative of friendship,  adventure, and heartbreak.

Allison Tait is author of the middle grade adventure series The Mapmaker Chronicles, which includes the books Race to the End of the World, Prisoner of Black Hawk, Breath of the Dragon, and the recently published Beyond the Edge of the Map .  She is also host of the podcast series So You Want to be a Writer along with Valerie Khoo of the Australian Writers’ Centre, which is available on itunes. You can find Allison’s website at allisontait.com and the website for her book series at themapmakerchronicles.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on August 16th, 2017.