Eleanor & Alasdair Read That

We Read Charlotte's Web

Just like women be shopping, E. B. White. And White's 1952 novel Charlotte's Web is a blackly comical tear-jerker about a spider coming to the aid of a pig who doesn't want to be eaten. Are Eleanor and Alasdair fans of spiders? Or are we absolutely t…

We Read Johnny and the Bomb

Eleanor and Alasdair step into the trousers of time, with Terry Pratchett's 1996 novel Johnny and the Bomb. Five inept British teens find themselves in World War Two with bags of time on their hands. Was Johnny and the Bomb "The Bomb"? Or will it bom…

We Read The Cat in the Hat & The Tiger Who Came to Tea

1957–1968 was a golden age of big cats breaking into kids' houses and smashing up the joint. For this episode, Eleanor & Alasdair read Dr Seuss's The Cat in the Hat and Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came to Tea. We aim to decide, scientifically, wh…

We Read The Wind in the Willows

Eleanor and Alasdair are fighting! Eleanor is in love with Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, but for Alasdair... it's complicated. The 1908 classic is a tale of motorcars, misadventure and yearning glances on the riverbank. But is it really …

We Read The Borrowers

She's small. She's ginger. She's very hard to get out of your house. No, not Eleanor Morton. We're talking about Arietty Clock, the tiny teenage protagonist of Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers. The Borrowers are a diminutive people who love ste…

We Read The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (Part 2)

We pass judgement on The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis. Is the book a Turkish Delight? Or is it a Turkish Delight (like in real life)?

We Read The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe (Part 1)

For our two-part Christmas special, we read C. S. Lewis’s furniture-based classic The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. In this episode, we recount the story of Lucy’s Adventures in Narnia and enjoy a platonic hot-tub with Santa.

We Read Watership Down

Eleanor & Alasdair take you down to Watership City, where the grass is green and the girls are... hang on, where are all the girls?   We read Watership Down, Richard Adams's 1972 epic. It's Brer Rabbit meets Mad Max, but does the novel live up to…

We Read The Worst Witch

A boarding school for witches? Imagine that! No, not Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Bigotry. We're talking about Miss Cackle's Academy, from Jill Murphy's 1974 bestseller The Worst Witch. In this episode, Alasdair discovers the ropey TV Movie from…

We Read The Railway Children (Live)

The Railway Children is an Edwardian children's classic and health & safety nightmare. Edith "E" Nesbit's novel is packed with unforgettable characters, railway mishaps and an exiled Russian dissident who no one remembers. In this episode, record…