I saw Hamlet performed by The Lord Chamberlain’s Men at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire on June 22, 2024. This theater company performs Shakespeare plays the way they were done back in the Bard’s day: no microphones, minimal sets, props, and costumes, and an all male cast. It was a fascinating experience to see Hamlet performed in a way that Shakes…

Jane Austen didn’t wait to become an adult to start writing. As a kid she was telling stories to her family, and in her early work you can see her wicked sense of humor and her ability to step inside the mind of another person — even if that person held views completely different from Jane’s. The History of England was written in 1791, when Jane wa…

This is a recording of “The History of England, from the Reign of Henry the 4th to the Death of Charles the 1st” by Jane Austen, written when the author was only 16 years old. It was illustrated by Jane’s sister Cassandra and completed in 1791.T.Q. Townsend

Peter Jackson is getting the band back together to make movies about . . . finding Gollum?? For real? Will these films be any good? Will this be another case of a filmmaker trying and failing to recapture the magic? Find out what I think about the prospects for these new films. Check out the video version to witness a perfect reenactment of what ha…

Co-hosts T.Q. Townsend and Chloë Townsend recently went to the Curve Theatre in Leicester to see Peter Pan Goes Wrong, a hilarious comedy interpretation of J.M. Barrie’s classic children’s play and novel about Peter Pan, the Darling Children, the Lost Boys, and of course, Captain Hook. The play was put on by Mischief Theatre, a company that special…

I’ve just seen the documentary Butterfly in the Sky, which is about the public TV show Reading Rainbow. This show, which was hosted by LeVar Burton, helped millions of kids, including me, to understand just how magical it was to take a look in a book. Watch me try not to get choked up as I tell you about my favorite moments in this documentary. Als…

Emily Hanford is back with Episode 10 of Sold a Story. I wanted to take some time to listen to this one several times and think about it before responding, because it addresses some very serious challenges in the literacy wars. Some people who were confronted by the failings of Balanced Literacy — the highly profitable but thoroughly unscientific s…

Politics? In a story about a young teen girl from a tiny town in Canada’s smallest province from over 140 years ago? Actually, yes! Politics come up frequently in the classic novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and they have some surprising things to say to modern readers, most importantly that we don’t have to let differences of op…

We went to the St. George’s Day celebrations in Leicester City to have some fun and learn a little bit about the very ancient story in which St. George slays a dragon to save a city from its really, really bad breath. Hear the original tale and find out why it still has good ideas to teach children today, even if it is very ancient and unfamiliar i…

Tennyson’s poem “Lancelot and Elaine” plays a huge part in the plot of Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Anne and her friends decide to act out the scene where the Lady of Shalott dies and floats downriver to Camelot, where the court of King Arthur mourn her. However, Anne learns the hard way that life is more hilariously imperfect than…