Readers, we cannot quite believe today is our final episode for our children’s literature semester here on Novel Pairings. It’s been a joy getting to revisit books from our childhood. Thanks for walking down memory lane as we visited with old friends, this time approaching our reading of these precious texts with a literary lens.
We also appreciated the chance to find new-to-us classic stories that really spoke to us in our adulthood and to think about what these books are saying about children and childhood. It makes us even more excited for the day we can pick up these texts to enjoy with our own kids.
Today’s episode is a lovely pairing in itself with our last children’s classic Inkheart. Modeled in the tradition of magical realism that was popularized by Latin American authors in the mid-20th century, The Wild Book tells the story of 13-year-old Juan, a boy who discovers his own mysterious power related to books while staying at his uncle Tito’s home. With another “book within a book,” we found plenty to discuss about what The Wild Book has to say about the nature of the relationship between reader and story.
To hear more of our spoiler-free discussion, you can listen to today’s episode wherever you get podcasts!
“Unexpected Alterations of Reality”
Feeling a curiouser about the tradition of magical realism and where the form began? Check out this primer from PBS’s digital studio Storied for a closer look!
Links
Check out these links related to today’s episode.
Another review of The Wild Book, this time from The Wild Shed
From Slate mag, a short story from Juan Villoro called “Paciente Cero.” This short work imagines China turning Mexico into a massive recycling plant for U.S. garbage.
All Booked Up
In case you missed our special summer announcements, check out last week’s edition of the Novel Pairings Newsletter:
If our special events and podcast episodes caught your eye, there is plenty of time to sign up to join our Patreon community and meet other nerdy bookworms. Patreon is a great option for listeners that would love to get a little more academic, hang out with other bookworms, and chat with us. Subscriptions start at just $5 a month for bonus episodes, with the addition of live events at our $8 tier, and we’d love to have you join the nerdy fun.
Final Words
Readers, we’d be remiss if we didn’t thank you again for a wonderful semester of reading and learning with classic children’s literature. We hope you were inspired and excited by the ideas our selected titles brought forth throughout the semester. We would love to hear any final thoughts in the comments as we move on to our next epic adventure.
We’ll be back next time with an episode about all allusions in classic literature to kick off our summer with The Odyssey.
Until then we declare, “You are good. You are simple. And you like salami.”
-Chelsey & Sara