The Adventures of Nanny Piggins - Chapter 1

The audio book of 'The Adventures of Nanny Piggins' went on sale this week! To promote the release, I've recorded this special episode of the podcast with a reading of the first chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Here's a link where you can buy a CD of the audiobook... https://www.bookdepository.com/Adventures-Nanny-Piggins-R-Spratt/9781867502623?ref=grid-view&qid=1602827770043&sr=1-40

I’m very excited to announce that we now have merchandise for BEDTIME STORIES WITH R.A. SPRATT! You can order t-shirts, sweaters, hoodies, notebooks and coffee cups all with the show’s new logo on it. They look super cool. Here's the link to the online shop...

https://raspratt.threadless.com/designs/bedtime-stories-with-r-a-spratt-2/kids

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:36

Hello, and welcome to bedtime stories with me, RA Spratt, where we've got a special episode this week, because just yesterday, the audio book of the adventures of nanny Piggins went on sale. This is very exciting for me personally, because the adventures of nanny Piggins was my first ever book. So I love it a lot. She's very special to me. It was really exciting when it came out. Oh, it came out in Australia in 2009, I want to say. And in America, 2010, and it was really exciting time in my life because I didn't know how she was going to do when she went on sale, but she seemed to just capture people's imagination straight away. Uh, the former us secretary of state Madeline Albright actually endorsed the book before it was even published anywhere. I wrote to her, I wrote a whole bunch of famous people, but she wrote back and said, yeah, I'll write the blurb for the back of your book. And she wrote, I've got it. I've got her letter on my wall. So I'll see if I can read it from here in my chair. My eyesight's not very good. Um, so secretary Albright wrote the adventures of nanny Piggins is the most exciting saga about a flying pig nanny ever told there's a laugh on every page and a lesson in there somewhere I recommended highly. So it obviously caught her imagination. Um, but it did really well with the reviewers as well. Kirkus gave it a starred review, the American library association, their periodical Booklist. They gave it a starred review and then they even judged it to be the best youth fiction of 2010. That was the year it came out in America. So it was a really, really exciting time. And, uh, I'm, you know, I love the book, obviously, because I'm still writing podcast stories about the character all these years later. So I'm doing this promotional episode of the podcast to encourage you to please buy the audio book. Uh, there's lots of different ways you can buy it. Obviously it's available through places like audible and Google play iTunes. The only thing is I know something like 40% of the people who listened to this podcast are not in Australia and New Zealand, which is where I am. So in other regions, you might have troubles downloading the audio book. I don't know because I'm not in your region. So I can't test it with your local version. So if you have trouble downloading it, don't worry. What you can do is you can buy a physical copy of the CD that's available too, and booksellers can order it. Or you can just go to my website, RA sprat.com, click on the book, depository banner. And they've got the audio book right there on CD. So, and they'll ship it to you anywhere in the world for free. So you just got to pay the standard recommended retail price, which is a about$23 Australian or 1599 American. And it's a four hour audio book. So it is good value for money. So please support the book. So to promote that this episode of the podcast will be the first chapter of the adventures of nanny pagans to give you a taster of what the audio book will be like. But just bear in mind, the audio book will be better cause it was professionally recorded, but you'll get an idea for this story. So I'm going to read to you now, chapter one of the adventures of nanny. Here we go, nanny Piggins and her dramatic entrance, mr. Green desperately needed to find a new nanny for his children in the four weeks, since their last nanny left, he found himself actually having to talk to them, provide them with meals and pay attention to them himself. And all this had to stop. He had a job at a law firm, helping rich people avoid paying their taxes. He could not be expected to look after his own children as well. The reason mrs. Green did not look after the children was because she was not there. Mr. Green said she had died in a boating accident, but the children were not entirely sure this was true. Yes. There had been a funeral. Yes. There have been an obituary in the newspaper. The people on television programs died all the time and that never stopped them from coming back in the next series. So they'd not totally given up hope that their mother just got fed up with a father, which was a sentiment they could fully understand. There were three grandchildren. The eldest Derrick was a fit boy of 11. He was always suntanned or muddy either way. He always looked Brown and he always had long, messy hair, but never went to the barber because the only time his father ever spoke to him was to yell, go and get your hair. Cut. You look like a Scruff bag. The second child, Samantha was a girl. And as such, she had even fewer conversations with her father than Derek. She was a nice girl and pretty enough then not so much as to cause a fuss. Her chief characteristic was that she worried all the time to be fair. She did have a lot to worry about girls whose mothers have drowned in boating accidents would be foolish not to worry. The third child, Michael was only seven, but in many ways he was the most confident he could not remember their mother at all. So he was not saddened or worried about her loss, Derek and Samantha bore the brunt of having to deal with mr. Green. So Michael was able to get on with his life unhindered as a result, he was a little bit on the TBI side because Michael's favorite hobby was stealing food from the kitchen. Then sit in and eating it under a Bush in the garden on the whole, they were three well-mannered, largely self-sufficient children. And they would have been a doddle for anyone to take care of. Mr. Green should have found a nanny in half a second flat, but there was a problem. Not only did mr. Green believe that rich people should not pay taxes. He also believed that he personally should not have to pay for anything. He begrudged giving money to a nanny. In his opinion, childcare should be entirely. Government provided, paid for out of the taxes. His clients never paid, but even more than that, mr. Green deeply resented the idea that he had to pay to advertise for a nanny. There was so much unemployment in the world that in his opinion, nannies should be beating down his door. So despite the fact that he desperately wanted a nanny, he did not have one because he was too cheap to put an advertisement in a newspaper. All Mr. Green had done was paint a sign himself with the words, nanny wanted inquire within, attach it to a stake and bang it into the front lawn. So far, the sign had sat there for three weeks without a single knock at the door. And now the pressure was really on one of the neighbors having watched Michael sit in under a Bush, eating frozen pizza that was still frozen. Had reported this to the government. And a social worker had arrived to inspect all three children. She then made an appointment to see mr. Green, because he was, of course at work. When she visited and threatened him. She told him that if he continued to leave his children unattended for 10 or 12 hours at a time, they would be taken away and put into government care. Now mr. Green would have liked nothing more than to have his children taken away. If that happened, he would not have to go home at all. He could spend all his time at the office, happily reading tax laws without giving his offspring a second thought that mr. Green knew that if his children were taken away from him, it would look very bad. People did not think much of him as it was. What with him being a tax lawyer and him not paying attention. When his wife fell off the boat, it would definitely damage him professionally. If a story got in the papers. So it's at this point that our story begins, mr. Green was so desperate to hire a nanny that he was actually considering paying to advertise. When this painful thought was interrupted by a loud knock at the front door, it was a dark and stormy night. Rain was teaming down. As mr. Green opened the door. He could not clearly see the person in front of him silhouetted by the street light, but he could tell from the shape that the person was wearing a dress. So he assumed it was a woman and he assumed she must have come about the position of nanny. Mr. Green was flooded with relief. Come in, come in. He beckoned as the new nanny stepped into the house, the light hit her and mr. Green could see her clearly for the first time she wore a simple blue dress with a drop waist and a jaunty little jacket. And she was only four foot tall. But mr. Green soon forgot about her lack of height. When he saw that she had a much more shocking feature, the woman was not a woman. She was a pig, a common pink farm pig. The type of bacon came from good evening. I am nanny Piggins said 90 Piggins the pig said mr. Green, I have come to apply for the position of nanny. She explained, well, a split mr. Green buying time as his mind raced. And he tried to figure out what to do well. Um, that is very good. But, um, I wonder if you're quite a suitable UC, I can start immediately said none. He begins. Oh, said mr. Green, he could not deny that. That would be convenient. I have no criminal records in any pickins. Oh, that is good. Said mr. Green, he could not deny it would please the social worker, but I expect to be paid properly. They didn't Piggins Oh, no. That might be a difficulty interrupted. Mr. Green here, he saw he had the perfect excuse for not hiring the pig. I charge 10 cents an hour. Nanny Piggins declared boldly. You're hired exclaim, mr. Green, without even thinking he knew what bargain. When he heard one, I'll be Frank 90 Piggins I would prefer not to have a pig take care of my children, but I am prepared to offer you the job until a suitable human nanny presents herself very well. So nanny begins. I think you will find human nannies are terribly overrated. They are in my experience, very gritty and not terribly clean, but I shall agree to your terms because it's wet outside and I do not have an umbrella. So mr. Green and nanny begins, shook hands on it. Then mr. Green immediately fled out of the house to return to his office in the city where he could read the tax laws in peace. Leaving nanny begins to acquaint yourself with the children, Derek, Samantha, Michael stead nanny Pickens with their mouths agape. It had never occurred to them that their father might leave them in the care of a pig. No matter how well she was dressed. Hello children. My name is Sarah Piggins and I am to be your new nanny on Derrick said, Derrick I'm. Samantha said Samantha, and I'm Michael said, Michael, Derek, Samantha, Michael. I shall try my best to remember that nanny Piggins assured them the children's stared at her. And she stared at them for several long moments before nanny Piggins cleared her throat and asked. So what's supposed to happen. Now, this is the part where you tell us what you expect of us. Derek told her he was quite an experienced hand having had 11 different nannies in his time. Oh, I didn't realize I was meant to have expectations so early in the piece, give me a moment to think of some said nanny Piggins the children watched her. She thought for a few seconds. Okay, I'm ready. She announced, well, children, you need not tell your father this, but I will admit I have never been a nanny before. My only previous job experience was as a flying pig in a circus, which I am proud to say I was very good at. And I don't suppose that nanny and can be any harder than being blasted out of a cannon. So I shouldn't be surprised if I turned out to be very good at this too. The children's stared at nanny Piggins in, or they did not know what to think. They were astounded that she was a pig, but a flying pig, a flying pig who had no idea how to be a nanny. They must be the luckiest children in the world. It was nanny Piggins who interrupted their joyful thoughts. So I've told you my expectations, what am I supposed to do next? She asked the children, considered all the things their father would have suggested. Well, you could tell us to go and tidy. Our rooms suggested Derek, or instruct us to take a bath at Samantha or order us to shut our mouths. If we knew what was good for us said, Michael, Oh, sudden, only begins what you can do that if you like, but I'm going to go to the kitchen and go through all the cupboards and looking for things that contain sugar, then eat as much as I can until I feel sick. You can join me if you like. And they did the children's soon fell deeply in love within you nanny. She let them stay up half the night, watching violent movies. They let them sleep in her bed. The other half of the night, when they had terrible nightmares, she let them eat chocolate, not only before and after breakfast, but instead of breakfast, as well, as far as they were concerned, she was the best nanny ever in the entire world. The only cloud on their horizon was the nanny wanted sign in the front garden for their father, still held out the hope that he would eventually be able to upgrade to a human nanny. And the children lived in dread fear of that day. And that's the end of chapter one. Thank you for listening to support this podcast just by a book by me, RA spread. There's lots to choose from, from across the nanny begins pesky kids on Friday bond series. And now of course, there's the audio book as well. You can order all these things through your local bookseller or go to my website, RA spread.com and click on the book. Depository banner. They've got all my titles and free international shipping. That's it for now until next time. Goodbye.