In this episode Carl and Mark take a light-hearted, nostalgic look at their favourite maps from children's literature. They reminisce over Pooh, Willows and the colour palette of a 1970's Austin Princess. The Top 10 reveals some surprises, including Carl's 80's fandom and the best way to lose friends along the way...
They also reveal the #eduTwitter Top 10 Children's Literature Maps of all time. Featuring contributions from @KensalRiseLady, @LTeacher, @LifeattheNest, @MrTRoach, @dilyswillis, @Rocknonagon and more...
But the question is, which book will be crowned the winner?
In this episode Carl and Mark take a light-hearted, nostalgic look at their favourite maps from children's literature. They reminisce over Pooh, Willows and the colour palette of a 1970's Austin Princess. The Top 10 reveals some surprises, including Carl's 80's fandom and the best way to lose friends along the way...
They also reveal the #eduTwitter Top 10 Children's Literature Maps of all time. Featuring contributions from @KensalRiseLady, @LTeacher, @LifeattheNest, @MrTRoach, @dilyswillis, @Rocknonagon and more...
But the question is, which book will be crowned the winner?
Hello, I'm Carl McCarthy and I Mark first and we're two teachers that make up part of the reading school a place to share our love of books and the magic of literacy. This podcast features, reviews, insights and questions about some of our favorite books and texts that we like to use in the classroom. Some you might have heard of and some maybe not. But through curiosity, questioning and building responses together, we hope that we can help teachers and families take reading for meaning from the classroom into the home. It's a chance to enjoy books and maybe think about them in different ways. It's a chance to build empathy, pass on ideas from generation to generation and help our children to stay connected.
Speaker 2:Hello, Mark, how are you doing? Morning Carl? I'm good, thanks. Yeah. Um, nice to be here listening to you from afar. Uh, once again, it's a surreal situation. Uh, the, the school's kind of open but not open and trying to manage that situation. Uh, I've been in school over the past few days and they've gotta say it's, yeah, quite hard to get. Okay. Get my head round to be honest. Yeah. Um, as you will know, I mean prior to the Easter holiday if we can call it that, I was obviously in an out on the, on the in school rotor and we had up to 10, 15 well to begin with 20 children, which was a bit more real if you like, but uh, I've heard we're down to five or six now and yeah, hard for them as much as anything to to keep coming back with those few numbers and yeah, the whole, the whole time as we know is, is one of uncertainties and days change from the next to the other, if that makes sense. Um, yeah, really strange times, but again, so many positive messages that when you choose to look for them come out of it, you know, there is a lot of positivity there and thinking about what needs to change and what can be done to keep us happy in, in, as we say, unprecedented times. There's some lovely moment that on the rare occasion where you do get to go out and do like a dog walk, you know, or something. So once I put the music on the headphones and walk with almost nobody the, and it does feel like you're, you're reenacting a scene from some kind of film or movie that's not, not yet been shown and written and uh, yeah, it's, it's quite magical in a way. I mean, that's a good thing that you mentioned, the politics, the rainbows in the windows and people on their driveways and some of the drawings and an artwork that the children have done. I think that's, that's really beautiful. You know, that definitely call in our estate. Certainly. Um, people come round and they draw smiley faces outside the door. Um, you know, we think we know who they are, but we're not sure. So that's another little thing. That's just while it, it's possibly happening beyond our States. Um, but was a nice little thing. And as
Speaker 3:you say, there's those rainbows everywhere. The Teddy bears in the window for the going on the bear hunts, um, of the children. As you say, when you, when you walk a little bit further afield from your house, I've got banners up on their, on their front Gates or their railings. I'm supporting the NHS and all the work that they do there. Um, so, uh, yeah, and, and as you say, when, when you do go for a walk on that, on that, so once, once a day trip, everyone seems very pleasant and smiley and aware and conscious and just maybe, you know, is it, is it, is it raising all our ways of being and doing and, and respectfulness and, and awareness of each other maybe. I don't know.
Speaker 2:So the, there are, there are odd, odd, funny things I suppose, but you've got to keep a sense of humor and I think you've got to keep that idea that we're all sharing something and doing something together or even on Twitter, some of the conversations that are joined in, which are outside of my comfort zone. I think I've got that. I can't almost like a Twitter hesitance when it comes to, you know, what's your favorite dance to it? To this or what's your favorite eighties movies that I was always a bit reserved without thinking. Well, no, I'm not sure if I should join him with that, but since this, I don't know, I've felt like, well come on, we're all in the same position. We're, we're all trying to do the same thing. So yeah, let, let people know that you like wham or let people know. Yeah. First folks, Carl McCarthy's declaration, he was, is a wham fan. Honestly, nothing come on. And it's not to like edit the podcast now, um, or you know, favorite movies or whatever. And on that note, I had a very rare Twitter, I can't call it a success cause I don't think it's about a success isn't defined by how much interaction is there. I think it's just a, a vehicle from my point of view. There's lots of great CPD, you know, of, of writers have access to professional development, uh, and share it in a very timely way. You know, you get access to it straight away. So it's been a great professional development tool for me. I was feeling not too great and struggling with sleep and just posted the idea of what, what is the best map from a children's book? You know, those when you open the front cover and inside off when you see that the the fictional setting.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Yeah. And just to interject at this point, the map that you talked about that you put out first.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. To illustrate the point, I chose the wind in the willows, uh, map and, and said, you know, what do you think is the best? And to my surprise, 31,000 interactions later, there's a sea of, of suggestions. Some I've heard of, some I had no idea about. And this podcast is about saying, okay, then let's try and up with some kind of list cause who doesn't? Yeah.
Speaker 3:Micah good lists. So it's, it's actually now a list. A list is good. We've, we've debated it, haven't we? I think we're going to look for a sort of top ten-ish type thing. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, because these are personal, aren't they? The maps that you explored as a child in the front of those books that will have some perhaps some nostalgic personal connection to it's a[inaudible]. Perhaps you can't pick out the best or the top five, but we just thought, you know what, it'd be interesting if you, you know, to come up with some reasons. So, so the way we, we've put this together is I've got top a top 10 of maps, which have got some kind of significance or, or a reason why I think it should be 10, nine, eight all the way to one. Then we'll debate that and see if there's maybe any movement, anything missing, uh, anything that perhaps should be there that, that I haven't included. And then in the big reveal, I can reveal the top 10 Twitter children's maps as voted by edgy Twitter.
Speaker 3:Fantastic. Okay, let's let,
Speaker 4:that's not good. Okay. So let's have a look. Number 10 number 10 on list
Speaker 2:was one that I didn't know about, which I felt a bit embarrassed about. Now it's the lone pine, Malcolm Savile, sorry. So they were written over 35 years from 1943 to 1978 the characters the only age a few years across the series and it's got a very kind of forties 50s childhood feel, very easily blight and famous five the children basically having adventures with no adults around at all and it seems like great fun. And they were illustrated by Bertrand[inaudible] and uh, yeah, basically that, that was number 10 but one key thing, why it made it onto the list above some of the others is one of the stories was set in Whitby. So you know, a children's book, a set set in Whitby, a map, the outdoors that that perhaps should make it.
Speaker 3:And as you say, and with any good top 10, you always need a, a late entry, don't you? Sometimes something has come from, from nowhere. Not that that would necessarily be like a wham song. Mr. McCarthy always be straight in at number one, wouldn't it? And I signed up. Perhaps that's just, you know, come from nowhere. I like it. I, I'll need to look into it because again, this was what you said on, on your, on the Twitter feed, um, people just coming up with ideas and books that you didn't know.
Speaker 2:I didn't know about the lone pine, so, uh, but yeah, looking at it, I can see, I can see why that would be that, that nostalgic feel and certainly the connection to different areas and places. So, and yeah, Malcolm salvo was an author, I didn't know
Speaker 4:[inaudible]
Speaker 2:number nine. So only at number nine we have the Hobbit, Y J R R tock.
Speaker 3:Yeah. The hobbits are favorite for me. And, and the map there as I guess for me with all maps kind of takes the reader on that journey before you've got past the first page of text itself. So you can already kind of formulate that idea in your head where it might go if you like that inference through picture rather than words. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it was one of the first, which I think I spent time looking at and feeling lost in enjoying or certainly one of the first that I remember that, that way. Um, and you know, and the blurb to go with it, it was children's fantasy novel, uh, is from 1937 won awards, the Carnegie, or it's an honor for being best juvenile, uh, fiction and remains popular and illustrated and written by J R talk in which I think that elevates its status slightly in the fact that if you've got the author who's illustrated it as well, for some reason I find that, I don't know, just a bit, a little bit more
Speaker 3:magical. Absolutely. And I'd also, I think, although it wouldn't always work hand in hand, I guess when you've had something like that that has been made into film and you've kind of got that parallel as well, you come back to the map and maybe as an adult when you've seen the movie and obviously it's been set and located in various places around the world and you think, yeah, that works. Or maybe that doesn't, or I can really, Oh, it just, again, it's all about connections, isn't it? And, and, and reevaluate in things through time and, and, yeah, yeah, no, totally buy into that.
Speaker 2:So some might disagree, some might put that higher on the list, some might have it, maybe not at all. Some might have it right at the top. Um, but w well, we'll explore the listeners top 10, uh, after after this, this sec
Speaker 4:[inaudible]
Speaker 2:number eight, the Chronicles of Narnia, C S Lewis illustrated by Pauline Baynes, uh, published in London, uh, 1950, 90, 56, and it spinned well everywhere, hasn't it? Radio, film, television. Uh, it's, yeah, something special and yeah, great map.
Speaker 3:Totally. And obviously there was a lot of coverage of this one on the Twitter feed. Again, wasn't there. And for me, perhaps the thing that stood out a little bit more was that the ones I saw, perhaps not the original, I don't know, but there was, there was coloration to the map. There was that kind of classic sort of beige tope, slightly curled furled Brown feel. You could almost sniff it and think, my goodness, yeah, I could unravel this and, and go on a journey wherever, wherever, however, with whomever, just that, that magical sort of
Speaker 2:feel again, isn't it, of of opening a book and being transported. Yeah, and I love, I'll come back to the color. Uh, w when we get further up the charts as number seven, again, maybe controversially might be higher for some or not swallows and Amazons, Arthur ransom. Um, so published December, 1930 and set in the Lake district, a protagonist John Susan titty, Roger Walker, their mother, Mary baby, sister Bridget and Nancy Peyki, uh, uncle Jim, uh, who's captain Flint and Molly Blackett. And although it wasn't illustrated at first, um, it was later Clifford Webb and Arthur ransom. So it gains a bit of a kudos for Arthur and some having a goal as well. A definite classic. And for me, Carl, I have to say it would have been in my top three just because as a, as a teenager in the early eighties, as I think I may have mentioned to you before, I'm not sure my parents were, were that obliging that we went to the Lake district for a summer holiday specifically for me, but we did and it was typically wet. Um, but I got hold of this book, um, captain Flint's trunk by, uh, Susanna Haldeman's, which basically went into the details of everywhere in the stories that Arthur some had ever written about. And obviously he'd named places in his own fictitious way, but it, it went through everywhere around the Lake district that he'd used. And, and we retrace the steps via maps and places. And it was a bit of a personal Odyssey for me, um, being lost in those stories and, and using those maps to find the places in real, in real time. And as I think I mentioned, we, we definitely, uh, we, we hired a canoe. My dad and I are much to, my mom's concerned, I was about 12, 13, and we Indian canoed across Coniston water to Wildcat Island and actually got off at the Island and, and put foot down. And, and I stepped on the Island, which still for me is like a, wow, it's one of those, sorry, I've, I've taken, Oh no, that's good. Because the, you know, what is it about these maps that makes, you know, one more significant or poignant than, than another. And this, and it's gotta be about connection. There's gotta be that link between generations or the link passing on a story for one person to another. And it's not just yourself. There's a few people who responded who said that they have found the places in real life that were contained within the maps. And I just think that's such a magical concept and idea. Obviously you can't do it with all of them, but for some of them, um, yeah, yeah. We've said before, haven't we? Stories are all about personal journeys in, in words, pictures, imaginations, reality. So yeah, no good call, but only at number seven though in, in my top 10 Mark. So I think maybe I didn't have as deep a connection to it as what you've expressed. Um, but still still have good map number six. Then th this one I didn't know about, uh, this is purely from Twitter. Um, but the response though was really surprising. So the map that was described was the village with three corners, a series of books called one, two, three in a way. Do you know about them now? I don't know. I'll have to say it escaped me on the Twitter feed as well. So, um, this is new to me. I am now going to go away and obviously have a look, um, but go on, talk to us. Yeah. Okay. So written by Sheila McCullough, um, sometimes known as the Roger hat books and illustrated by Eccles or[inaudible], I think it's fair. Lith equals Williams published by Collins in the 60s. And when you look at the maps, they've got this really, uh, I suppose it's 70 style colors and labels and texts that you look at and you have that, that feeling of curtains and carpets that almost, you know, from a, from an era of, Oh, I've got to say wrong. That's, that's not maybe the best way to describe the 70s, but you know, just kind of, um, vinyl seats and Morris marinas. Yeah. I'm not sure there's, you know, I'm sure there's lots of aesthetically wonderful things about the 70s, but, uh, yeah. For, for, for me that map curdle slightly. It's slightly painful, but you know, it was popular and, um, and you say, well, well, hang on a minute. What, how is that, uh, above swallows and Amazons or Chronicles of Narnia? Come on. Well, at the bottom of the page, I noticed that wonderful word of Frogmore. So on the bottom of that map, um, for whatever reason, there's a connection to Frogmore. So I thought, you know what, that's going higher up the list because it's got a bit of, kind of a 70 style about it. It's a little bit different. It stands out in the crowd and it's got fro more on it as well. Okay. Why not super, but I will definitely look out for it and, um, and have a read
Speaker 4:[inaudible]
Speaker 2:next. Then number five, we have the wind in the willows, Kenneth Graham, dramatic pause and illustrated by he hate Shepard and also later Arthur Rackham. So my goodness, if, uh, you know, with those kinds of illustrators, um, adding the magic to the stories then wow. Yeah. Arthur Rackham, I didn't realize that.
Speaker 3:I remember as well, very quickly that as a child about the age of nine or 10 getting a, an illustrated Grimms fairytales by Arthur Rackham. That was scary. Yeah. At best, but also amazing. Um, right. Sorry, it didn't realize that. Fantastic. Okay. So yeah, when are the willows go on? So
Speaker 2:yeah, so when did the willows for us at number five S that was the map that was featured at the front of the thread on Twitter and I w I don't know, maybe it would have scored highly if it was separate, uh, if it was introduced separately to the others because what I didn't do when I counted up all the likes and so on and, and who retweeted, et cetera, et cetera. Um, I didn't include the wind in the willows because it was a very top of the thread, but on, yeah, for my, for my personal top 10 yet, number five, it comes right in the middle. And I'd say, uh, when I read the places, uh, to the town, things like that, it's just that there's a bit of magic there.
Speaker 3:Yeah. The, it was fairly simple, wasn't it? In terms of ratty is home moles house toad hall. But it was enough. And the fact is in the copy, I think we looked at, I'm not sure whether that's the general case, but the map was at the front. So again, it's that initial turning the book page cover and looking and thinking, okay, I can go on this journey in my head you read it and then at the back and there is a duplicate of the same map. So you can again just put it all into context and take it away. You will. That's really good.
Speaker 2:It's really good. Okay. Number four. This one was popular, a fictional anthropomorphic Teddy bear created by he hate Shepard. It's number four. Winnie the Pooh, the hundred acre wood. Gosh. Yeah. I, which personally? Lots of connections to the map and spent plenty of time pouring over the map. But the story, the texts, I've just never, I've never got it. Never really connected with me.
Speaker 3:Um, is that bad? I got some kind of vilify him. Um, he likes warm hate. Ooh, what's going on again? I can't really follow that. Can I? Um, for me as a child, yeah. I mean it was red. I think there was, now we are six wasn't there as well? That was like an offshoot that I had. I think it was like a presentation book. I think in the 70s they were quite often, is this fair to say? I don't know. It was often a Christmas present from an aunt or an uncle. The special book of Winnie the Pooh very quickly, again, something that you may be aware of called[inaudible] has brought it back for me in the last two or three years is the book finding Winnie, which again contextualized is the whole story. And with the, with the Canadian soldier that saw the bear and then, and then the bear went with him to the front and then the bear became sort of this, this, this icon of the Canadian, um, regimen that he was with. And then obviously it didn't go actually to the, sorry, I said it went to the front. It didn't go to the front. It went on training to Salisbury plain. And then when he was called up, um, it was taken to the zoo where, of course, um, Christopher Robin, the son of AA, Milne, saw him and had the opportunity to be friend the bear, which obviously in itself is amazing. And, and from there, the stories came. So I think for me, as with all good stories, time is irrelevant really. Yeah. Perhaps like you, at the time, I kind of liked the honey thing. I liked the, the piglet and the Tigger thing. Um, when he himself maybe, well, I can see it on air like you, that I wasn't the biggest fan, but, but coming back to it now with that extra story, it's like, wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:And there may be listeners who, uh, who are listening thinking, well, what on earth is he talking about? Um, you know, this kind of a Winnie, they're not you. You're, you're all right. It's me, the cultural Luddite who has a, you know, he's just a put what we're Winnie the Pooh at, uh, number four. And, um, you know, we've got classics like the Hobbit and Chronicles of Narnia, uh, lower down. Um, but I don't know. I didn't get, I did have a close encounter with a bear once. Really? Yeah. Go on. So this was in a Yosemite park in, in America and uh, I was there with one of my friends who've just traveling around from place to place in America. And the advice that they give you is to make lots of noise if a bird comes anywhere near you. So, uh, you know, in my head having never encountered a bear before, I thought, well, you know, I'm never going to need that if ice, but I'll just, I'll log it just in case. Uh, sure enough, the moment that the rain begins to pour and w inside the, the woods on the side of this mountain, I see my friend T goes off to the toilet and as he's gone in the minutes that in the minutes that he's gone, I become aware of this great big nodding head. Wow. Which wasn't my friend. It was, it was, it was a bird that's just, you know, just kind of sniffing away. Um, and you know, rather pathetically I run like a, a not a coward. And probably the, the worst thing. So at this point I have to ask you, Ron, so your friend who was just going off to the toilet, was he aware of the bear at all? Did he come back and think, you know, did you, did you share the whole story as to why you left him or, well, you know, when I returned cautiously and he was sat kind of thinking, well where did you go? I was like, ah, you didn't see the bear? No. And he didn't see the bird. No bird gone off. So maybe, maybe that's the deep rooted, um, auntie Winnie the Pooh sentiment, you know. Okay, well that makes sense. I've never been in that situation call. So, um, yeah, my love of Winnie is slightly stronger, but I, I get, I what you're saying and as we've said throughout, it's, it's that, that exposure to the book isn't it? It's the circumstances around it. It's the whole personal story that that brings you to a, a particular book over another one. So we'll buy into that one. And just to record, if you are ever having a close encounter with a bird, make lots of noise. Don't run away like I did. Okay. Just make a note that
Speaker 4:[inaudible]
Speaker 2:number three then we have, and this was one that I didn't know about, but it was recommended. And when I had looked at it was thought, yeah, that's all the things inside that map that as, as a young child I would have been completely, uh, lost by not turn. Terania Laura Ellen Anderson, welcome to the world of Nocturne here where darkness, rain Su-Preme glitter is terrifying. And unicorns are the stuff of nightmares. The immediate Fang. Yeah, I saw this one come up as a, as a late entry, wasn't it? And uh, again, I'll be honest, it's not what I'm familiar with, but the map in itself just did, as you say, it took you to that place wherever it was in your own head. And, and you could create a story from the map on its own really. Um, which I think perhaps is one of the main reasons why they're there, isn't it? And whether the story then that you read mirrors that it almost doesn't matter. But yeah, that was a cracking map. And again, one I wasn't aware of. Um, yeah, good show. Nice to have something from the outside coming in.[inaudible] something, you know, more modern as well. Something relatively new. Number two are again, this, the reason why this is so high in the charts was partly because of the popularity. Yeah. Partly because of the simplicity. Go on and, and you'll, you'll see as we get further up the charts that the simpler ink drawings, the black and whites, the simple maps, they're the ones that I feel drawn to. Number two, Milly, Molly, Mandy, yes. Children's books written and illustrated by Joyce Lancaster. Bristly okay. Yeah. Again, not something I'd read, but obviously I'm aware of and saw the pictures on Twitter. Um, yeah, I can see why it's there. Absolutely. Um, yeah. Good, good. Again, a good vote, but number one, so this made it to the top of the charts for the car, McCarthy, uh, children's maps that he might have heard of or seen or, or encountered or not. Uh, number one was the map of moon Valley toe Yansen Finnish writer and illustrator also did a translation of the hobbits. And when, I don't know, for me, when I looked at that map, there's the simplicity. There's the characters that you can see inside the map, which is a bit of a bonus. You've got the ink pen and ink and just a lyrical, and I say beautiful, imaginative, just something that captured my imagination and transport in me from wherever I was to where I was as, as a young child. So yeah, I don't, I don't know about the movement generally or how, you know, people's take on that. Butch personally as a map at the front of a children's book, I saw that and thought, yeah, I'd be lost in that. Wow, okay. Yeah. Again, I obviously aware of the moments and had a bit of move in red to me I think as a child, but I wasn't aware of the map until I saw it on the thread. And again, yeah, a good, a good choice. And as you say, it's, it's personal to you. It's, it's what takes you from where you were or you are to that magical place. So, um, yeah, I'm not going to disagree obviously,
Speaker 1:but then are the listeners or edgy Twitter, they certainly did disagree there. We've got a top 10 voted for by them, so I'll quickly go through that and say who recommended it. And then these are literally grouped by the number of likes or shares or retweets or whoever the boss that voted for them. Okay. Okay. So the most popular, top 10 and number 10 from at rock[inaudible], which was the Moomin troll. Okay. So you're one was there ten eight was, yeah, none at number nine at Jeff Brewer with swallows and Amazons and benign. Gosh, I'll swallow that. Okay. That was it. Bad joke last night. I'm sorry. Move on. Number eight from Kensal rise lists at Kensal rise lady is the lone pine series of maps. Okay. Number seven at mr T Roach voted and introduced the weird stone of Brighton bruising. Herman presentiment Zingerman[inaudible] gold olderly edge. Hang on, let me say that. So olderly edge[inaudible] how can I not, sorry, go on. So, so at number seven introduced by mr T Roche, the weird stone of pre Zingerman for Zingerman as an older man. Just look, just tell me just down the road pish I should, I should know. I should be all over that. But I don't know. I don't know if it's just my age or just maybe I'm, I dunno, I'm sheltered in, in, in my experience of this, I'm beginning to regret this podcast. It's another great shout though, cause the words done in prison and then my mum read me that and my dad was generally the story reader at home and, and it, yeah, just coming back to me now I think you, well, why wasn't that mentioned? Why didn't I think of that? And now it's there in my head I'm thinking. Yeah, great. Greg is a good one. Number six from at Kensal rise lady, the village we three corners. Okay. That our 1970s inspired yellowy greeny. Um, I have no, can I say ugly or you have, as you say, it's incredibly popular. There were loads of volts for, for the village with three corners and that series. Okay. The Morris Marina, I think I refer to the Morris Marina of, of children's maps. That's asked us a great, great award number five. Then again from mr from at mr T Roche, the Chris riddle, which yeah, that you know, their pen and ink. Okay. And I see them and I loved them and I think, wow, they're almost too good. Does that sound silly? Those two, you know, not too good. The artwork, they're like pieces of art in themselves.[inaudible] they're amazing. But yeah. Anyway, put number five. My fifth most popular. Okay. Number four from at Jeanette WW was the Narnia. Yeah, that's, that's, that's unsurprising, isn't it? I'm glad it's in the top five. Number three at Benjamin ad tech with the Hobbit. Top three, top three. That's number three. Number two. So number two, we're getting close now to finding the most popular children's map as voted for by Atty. Twitter at number two, voted for and suggested from at life at the nest at sch underscore HT at delis Willis at Ms. Graham teach. Go on Millie. Molly man.
Speaker 2:Oh wow. Okay. It's a little bit like whammed last Christmas, so can 1984 car, which you would of course know well, I'm missing out to bandaid. Who is going to be the bandaid? Bam. That number one. Where are we going to go at number one voted by a El teacher. One, two, three. Sorry. Hey, why don't we on the phone? See I've lost it now. Number one at El teacher, one, two, three at Wainwright. Miss at Mrs. Berg, NQT at Jan Mar now at Hector Katz at Laura V. Cole at J Webby at Tate fairs. They all voted for the most popular Golan. I remember there was 31,000 interactions in this. A lot. A hundred acre ward. Winnie the Pooh. It's the bear. It's the bear. The bear that, yeah, we, we, neither of us had a, I'm making lots of noise. Massive affinity running away quickly. The, the one, the one that called left his friend in the woods for. Okay. Now it's a good choice. It's a classic, isn't it? And that's, that's, that's good. Do you know? It was great. It was great fun to explore them. Are there any maps or any books I'm missing Mark?
Speaker 3:Um, um, I think just for me, well, I've got a personal affinity with Kanzoo key's kingdom by Mark Morpurgo. It's something that I've read myself as a child. I've read it to my son, I've, I've done it in school and, and it's just for me something again where you can share the map in splendid isolation with the children and they can tell you a story without reading the story, which is arguably as good as the actual story, which is amazing. Um, but you know, just making links and ideas and asking questions, why is that there? Why could that be there? Why is there an Outrigger there or a boat there or an orangutan there? Look at the paths and the trails, why they link tablet and look at the key, answer your own questions. It's, it's just another classic for me, which, you know, it's okay. It's not in the top 10 of either list now, but I'll, I'll live for the great, great book though. Re it's a story that I shared with classes, uh, several times and enjoyed, explored. Uh, every time I read it. Really it's, it's, it's quite, it's really special. Uh, anything missing? Anything that you, you think, you know, you're looking at that list or listening to it and thinking, Whoa, Whoa, hang on a minute. You've missed. Um, I'm not sure there is, although obviously we, we spoke briefly this morning and I talked about a book that again was a childhood favorite that had escaped me. It's, it's a, a picture book with, with basic text alongside called the tiger voyage illustrations by Nicola Bailey who was responsible for the manual cat. So anyone who knows it will see the similarities there with the pictures, um, which in themselves are beautiful. And there is again, just a sort of classic, fairly simple map at the, at the start, um, without too much detail on it. But again, it's just sufficient to sort of wet the appetite and as a little child or as an adult even really, you can just, you know, put your finger on it and perhaps go from a to B and think, ah, okay. And then once you've read the story, you can go back and reevaluate it. And we also talked in a way, it's, it's a map with that classic component, the compass, the North, South, East and West. It generally in some sort of extravagantly styled frame or background, which again, it's just that kind of magic of travel and journeying and exploration. The compass, there was one of the examples that was shared on Twitter. The, the compass point was accompanied by a quote which said that the Islanders, when the Island moves, uh, didn't quite know where they were. So, you know, that was a, yeah, a different take on the compass, but I thought that was quite cool. So no for me, I will, I will sleep okay with, with both those top 10 lists. Um, but as ever, you know, there'll be things that we've missed, things that I've missed that will come back into my consciousness at some point. I'm sure you're happy with both obviously. And one of them is yours.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think, you know, look, we'd love to hear feedback from anybody out there if they disagree with the list or if they've got other recommendations we might have missed. And, um, you know, it's all a bit of fun really, but we're exploring the idea that when you picked up a book as a child, it meant something quite magical. And if, if in any small way, picking up the, the maps as an adult and looking at them and reflecting can just prod that memory at all, then especially at a time when we can't go out, we can't really go on any great journeys, then maybe a journey with the imagination is, is about as good as we can get. Definitely. And again, you know, as, as parents at home, if you are listening to this and we've talked about perhaps trying to come up with something separate to this specific podcast, but you know, a story that your child knows a story that you know, you know, would, could you map it yourself. Obviously most books don't have maps per se, but we, we did argue it and we did discuss whether maybe any piece of fiction really you could map it however, which way you wanted to. Um, just to, just to build on that overriding story really. Um, cause maps are special and again, not a child of the 70s and the eighties before sat navs sat in the back of a, not a Morris Marina. Actually my dad's car was a very unreliable Austin princess. I don't know if you remember those Carl, but of course any, any journey of, of notes was always done with the, with the map in the glove box wasn't it? And uh, again, just thinking back to Lake district and few trips to France, you'd have the old Mitchell in map with all the marks on it and the, and the, and the terms of reference. And, and they were just fascinating things. And I know even now on those rare occasions you show an O S map to a group of children, they are fascinated by and um, I only say that because again, as a regular visit to Oxfam shops when they're open, which of course they're not at the moment, there is always a huge map section where you can pick them up for a pound to go and, and they aren't just full of wonder in what I think anyway. And with a little bit of support from a parent as well. You can, you can take children on an amazing journey through there just just with what you see, especially some of those large scale maps that cover certain parts of the world. Fascinating things. So yeah, map maps are good. That's my message that they are good and I think in the world of Google maps and instant technology and virtual reality that sometimes we might forget that that actually to pick up a map and just explore it and try to use your imagination, there's value in that in itself as opposed to trying to open it fully in the passenger seat. When I was princess in 1982 and thinking it's too big, I'm not on the right side, which is what happened regularly in our family. So I'm trying to think. It was Austin Maestro, was that a car? It was, yeah, it was Brown. If I, in fact it's the identical color pallette to the pallets to the the village with three corners that we see. There we go. You know what? There was a similarity there. My, my, my idea of the Marina wasn't, it wasn't that far away, but no, I very quickly, I know the, the, the Austin princess, we were in France one year and it broke down twice significantly. So when we came back, the Austin princess was, was sold on for, for a Swedish alternative was markedly more reliable. But there we are. That's, that's time's gone. Well, we've covered so many topics in this episode of the podcast, we'd gone from wham to, uh, Winnie the Pooh to how to frighten birth to the Austin princess uneven and Austin Maestro, which, uh, I really thought that had been banished from my memory. So however we got there, I want to thank all of the people who took part
Speaker 1:in the, uh, the thread on Twitter and Mark, thanks for just giving some feedback on my slightly bizarre, um, Russian, can't speak my slightly bizarre list of favorite apps. How it was a pleasure. Thank you for inviting me here remotely again to take part and uh, yes. I'm trying to think more of the story. I know more of the story. Don't go on a camping trip with Carl because he's just not gonna get you back. He's going to run the mile is great in a sense that have, there are many more unanswered questions out there. Just about that particular time. Is your friend still here? Is he now, is he still your friend?
Speaker 2:Did you, did you leave Canada, America together or
Speaker 1:you know, he's, I know he's, he lays in Japan now. He's got a very, um, the other side of the world cup. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We stayed close after that. Um, I've got, yeah, I've got a friend who works in Japan and you know, quite fashioned his life and stuff like that and enjoys it. So I thought, I don't know. I mean, look, it did get mold by burning. I mean, had it been mowed and said, Oh, by the way is he's got one leg, you know, um, then yeah, maybe let's leave it. Mark, thanks so much for today. I hope things are all well safe and found at home catching up trans Carl. Absolutely. I know we've got, so I think treasure Island, the person the next time, whenever that will be sometime soon. Thank you.