Katherine Rundell

She won the Costa Children's Book Award, Blue Peter Book Award, and Waterstones Book of the Year to name but a few.

And here to tell us about her new novel, Impossible Creatures: The Never Fear, it's Katherine Rundell.

Hello.

Hello.

Dogs and Bears by Max Porter is out now.

It's published by Faber.

And Impossible Creatures That Never Fear by Katherine Rundell is also out now.

It's published by Bloomsbury.

Oh, wow.

It is called Why You Should Read Children's Books Even Though You Are So Old And Wise by Katherine Rundell.

Did you hear all the-

I love it

It wasn't fluffed and filled to make it take up more space.

It was perfect.

Katherine Rundell wrote my favorite book of last year, Impossible Creatures.

When I talked about that book on the show, I mentioned that it is middle grade and my children loved it, but it also ended up being my top book of the year because it's exceptionally written.

I'm Andrew Limbong.

If you pay attention at all to kids literature, you know who Katherine Rundell is.

Her Impossible Creatures book series is beloved by kids, and they constantly make the bestsellers lists here and in Britain.

Today on the pod, she talks to Here and Now's Indira Lakshmanan about the latest installment in the series called The Never Fear, but also about broader issues facing children's lit and why you should read books for kids even if you're all grown up.

We're taught that growing up means putting away childish things.

That includes trading the magic of fairy tales for serious adult novels.

But what if discarding children's literature is a mistake? Katherine Rundell believes it is.

She's a Renaissance literature scholar at Oxford and the first British children's author since J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame to hit number one on the US and UK sales charts.

A couple things that I read, uh, since I last checked in.

"Why You Should Read Children's Books Even Though You Are So Old and Wise" by Katherine Rundell.

Um-

Great title

...

Katherine Rundell, who's made a name for herself es- of, of children's book, but this series, "Impossible Creatures" is a real thing now.

You probably-

You'll love it, yeah

And if you answer it correctly, you could win a prize, but more on that later.

Now, in this week's issue of the magazine, we asked Impossible Creatures author Katherine Rundell what the greatest adventure she's ever been on was.

So I want to know: What's the greatest adventure you've ever been on? Eve, uh, do you have one for us?

Yeah.

Um, I'm not too sure what to do with that one.

And while I consider it, let's talk about our Book of the Week.

This week it is the next book in The Impossible Creatures series, The Never Fear by Katherine Rundell.

The story returns to the world of the Archipelago where there are rumors of masked men attacking villagers.