Your Kid's Next Read With Allison Tait and Megan Daley

YKNR 245: 10 minutes with Matt Stanton

• Rah Gardiner

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Bestselling author Matt Stanton is back in our interview hot seat, and Allison takes the opportunity for some updated insights on kids and reading, as well as taking a deep dive into Matt’s writing process and his latest middle-grade novel ‘Duck’.

00:00 Quality Waffle
04:06 Book Mail for This Week
11:12 10 minutes with Matt Stanton
44:57 What Else is Happening This Week

Read the show notes for all book references at yourkidsnextread.com.au/podcast

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Visit allisontait.com | megandaley.com.au

Allison

Welcome back to your.

Matt

Hello, how are you?

Allison

I'm very well, and you know, it's always a pleasure to talk to you and this is certainly not our first go round, uh, in the interview chair for sure. Um, but our last discussion was actually a really interesting one, and that was the one around boys and reading

Matt

Yes,

Allison

Justin Corson back in episode 222. Do you like how organised I am to actually remember that number? I'm so proud of myself. Um, so before we get to your new book, which I promise we will. I'm gonna be asking you, I'm, I'm sort of interested in your thoughts on whether you think we are seeing any positive movement in the space of kids and reading since our last chat because, um, there's a recent, uh, Australia Reads report, uh, for instance, which had a bunch of simple ways that Australians could integrate reading into their lives. And I'm just. I feel like there's a lot more discussion around it now, and I'm just wondering whether or not you are seeing, you know, any movement in that area.

Matt

I think it's so interesting. I loved that chat that we had and I mean, know, like we are both in this space all the time. We're thinking about it all the time. I, I have been off the road a little bit for the last few months, and so I. I haven't been in school. I'm about to be in schools a lot

Allison

Hmm.

Matt

next six months, but I, I'm, I'm a, I'm feeling a little bit out of touch. I'm feeling ready to kind of get back in there, but I tell you what I am feeling and that is I'm feeling more optimistic than I used to, and that's kind of catching me by surprise. I feel like. I feel like, you just said, we're talking about it more. I feel like it's in the conversation. I feel like maybe it's just my algorithm, but the I'm, I'm seeing a lot of content online where people are talking about reading. they're talking about books that they love. Um, I am loving, there's a kind of like classics resurgence happening amongst young males,

Allison

Interesting.

Matt

America and the uk, where you've got these like guys who you would not expect to be kind of championing. Reading and they're talking about how great count of Monte Cristo is and how much like East of Eden has changed their life. I, and they're, and they're not reading in, they're not reading on Kindles or audio books. They're walking around carrying a paperback. Now, some of that might be performative, I love it

Allison

Um, this is so interesting. Your algorithm is so different to mine 'cause I'm not seeing any of that, but now I'm going to go looking for it. What I think I am enjoying and what makes me feel a little bit more optimistic about it all is the notion that what I'm seeing, um, is the conversation around reading. I mean the, obviously like the warning lights have gone out and the, um, you know, in the UK for instance, they're having that sort of year of reading. Um, and I think. That has made me feel also more optimistic because I feel as though there's a spotlight on it. It's not just us talking about it anymore. I feel like the conversation has gone out to a broader, um, a broader audience, which is where it needs to go. Um, and I think around kids and reading, I think there's a lot a, a more sort of like, um, practical steps being taken to actually try to engage and to try to, um. And acknowledgement as well. And I think this is where our, your next read series came in and acknowledgement of the fact that yes, we need to teach kids to read, but such an important part of this is actually keeping them reading. And that notion that discoverability is such a huge issue with school. Um, you know, school librarians, you know, being taken out of schools and, um, you know, indie bookshops, not as many of them, although I'm seeing new bookshops opening up as well, which is even more exciting. Um. And so that sort of stuff, to me, I think the fact that people are starting to research and put their finger on exactly where those hot points are is, is great. And I, I liked the Australia Reads report, had some very simple kind of. Um, you know, things that you could do to sort of get kids or get people more engaged in reading, et cetera. Um, and of course the thing that makes me laugh is that it's stuff that you, you and I and you know, everybody in this, you know, particularly the children's space has been talking about for a very, very long time. Um, and those engagement points are actually not dissimilar, but I'm, I'm so happy to see them out there in the mainstream and I'm happy to see them. You know, uh, promoted to adults because that role modelling of reading as we know, um, that role modelling of reading for, for kids is so incredibly important. So if we can encourage more adults to pick up a book and also to read to their kids, um, I think we're gonna see more of a take up of reading in general. Would you agree with that?

Matt

Absolutely. And I, I mean, you know how much I rabbit on about this, but, but the

Allison

I, I, I wasn't gonna mention the reels because there was some rabbiting on in that for sure. But I love the rabbiting, so keep doing it.

Matt

um, the importance of. Parents and guardians reading to the kids in their lives, often longer than we think. We often think like, oh, you, once they're out of picture books, then they don't want it anymore. Um, but what I'm seeing, and I mean, I live in a little country town and the conversations that I'm having where, you know, the reading culture, to be honest, isn't. Very strong here. I've come from the city where I was an environment where, you know, we all kind of thought about it the same way. And here what I'm, I'm noticing is that parents possibly haven't valued. Instilling a love of reading in their kids because possibly it wasn't instilled in them. And now looking at their kids and going, oh, hang on a minute. They're using tech all the time. They're using devices all the time. But actually this is not what I want for my, we are missing something. And so the kind of. Us being out there evangelising books, books, books, um, I think is helpful because I think parents are reaching for books and going, I want something, um, more connecting with my child. Um, I want to support them and, and books, libraries, bookstores, just. Can empower that space and give a parent a feeling like they have something that they can do. And, and we're, we're starting to move the conversation, I hope from just, this is something that happens in schools. Your, like your child's reading journey is just totally in the hands of their teacher to like, no, this is something that you integrate into your family life.

Allison

Yes.

Matt

I feel hopeful about that.

Allison

That's, I I love that too. And I mean, that question comes up in your kids next read sometimes as you know, how long should I read aloud to my kids? And the response to that from us as a team, but also from the community in general, is always as long as they will let you

Matt

Yeah.

Allison

just keep doing it for as long as they're willing to sit there, um, and listened to it. And I read both. To both of my boys until they were, you know, practically into high school. And I think my younger son would've quite liked me to have just read all his school novels to him so that he would You just read this out loud to me, please, mom, that'd be great.

Matt

I have thought about that. So my eldest is, has just started year seven um, and has a book, has been assigned a book that she is not particularly interested in. And

Allison

Mm

Matt

remember what that felt

Allison

oh, yes,

Matt

I still, I

Allison

hurts.

Matt

struggled to read something I don't wanna read. Have a terrible time with that. And so like, so my thought has been, and I've started doing it with that, like, can I bring this to life because I actually value this book that she's been assigned. Can I bring it to life for her in a way? And we kind of read it together. Um, and so that's been quite fun

Allison

And that's a connection as well. But we also, the other thing we do talk about, 'cause you are not, you know, not all parents or have time, they're not, not all parents or, you know, caregivers, um, are confident with, with doing that as well. Um, and so we often talk about, you know, the role of audiobooks in some of this, or even listening to the same audiobook together, or, you know. Getting your kid to, to do that. Like one of the things I did with my son was, you are going to the gym. 'cause he's a massive gym junkie. I was like, you're going to the gym, put an audio book in your ears. Like if you've gotta read this book and you don't wanna sit down and do it, put it in your ears while you're doing, you know, like you're lifting weights or whatever it is you do anyway, like. Okay. We are not actually here to talk about this. We could though, couldn't we Like you and I could. go on about this for some time. We're actually going to move from the general to the specific at this point. And we are gonna start by talking about your most, um, your funny kid novel, your most recent one I think it is, which is A CBC, a notable book this year. And it's like number 14 in the series, which you know, to me is not just testament. Testament to your, you know, long career because you have been working consistently and you know, in this space for a long time, but also to the consistency of that series. Like if number 14 is good enough to land on the notables list, then you're doing something right. So I think I'd like to talk to you about how you manage to maintain that consistent quality across the series, but also how you keep it fresh for yourself and your readers.

Matt

Oh, thank you. You've been very kind. Um, I, I was so, um. Pleasantly surprised, delighted to see, um, to see Funny Kid on the, on the CBCA list this year. Um, look, you're right, it's book 14. Um, and so,

Allison

What's it called? Remind me what it's called because of course I've written

Matt

Seriously, soccer.

Allison

thank you. Oh, that's right.

Matt

Um. Yeah. And, uh, and so, and I've just, I've, I've just finished editing, uh, the next funny kid, 15, so I'm about to start illustrating that one.

Allison

Wow.

Matt

This series has been like such a learning curve for me, such so stimulating creatively. Um, it's been a long time. I can, uh, hang on. It's 2017. I think the first one was, so

Allison

Right.

Matt

a year for the first of the while,

Allison

Wow.

Matt

one a year. But so much of the kind of. The secret of it has, has been a few things I did by accident and a few things I did on purpose, which is kind of how the characters fit together. Creating a, I really thought about this series at the beginning as, as though I was trying to create a sitcom. so how could I create a cast of characters where, so there's five kids and one duck uh, and. A cast of characters that I just really enjoy writing their interactions together. So they, they are friends, but they are often at odds with each other. Um, but it nev they have a dynamic between them where they can kind of really fight. So I can bring real conflict into their relationships, but it always feels safe. It always feels secure. I have this little, um, the kind of main rivalry in the series is between Max and Abby uh, and describes Abby as his kind of arch enemy and uses very dramatic language to talk about how terrible she is. And in the back of my mind, I hold this idea that like one day they're gonna get married. And, and that just keeps them kind of deeply connected. Like they, they drive each other nuts, but they also need each other. And so that enables me to, like, every year I get to come back to these kids and throw some new situation at them. Which I'm usually trying to connect to something that I know kids are really enjoying at the time. So soccer being the, the last one. And then the next one is about, uh, I'm bringing back Billy cart racing and, uh, and channelling my love of Formula One.

Allison

Oh wow.

Matt

so I love kind of bringing different, um, things, themes and ideas in, and kind of throwing them at this cast and seeing what they do.

Allison

Been drive to survive.

Matt

I love that show. Yeah. I'm a full Formula One junkie.

Allison

I know, but it's interesting 'cause I'm not a Formula One junkie, but I am 100% a character junkie. And what I find fascinating about that series, and I've talked about this on the podcast before, is the edit and the characters and the, the way that the stories. put, the stories are put together. It's so clever and

Matt

And

Allison

um.

Matt

a limit, like there's 20 or, and now this year there's 22, but normally there's 20 drivers. So you have the, you have a cast,

Allison

Yes. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then you had like this year, like the current series, you've got all these rookies, you know, so it's like all these new people coming in, and I'm interested in you talking about. The way that you think about Funny Kid as a sitcom because, um, I know Ra Sprat with her incredibly successful Friday barn series. She, she told us in an interview, I can't even remember when, so don't, don't ask me to pull that episode out. Um,

Matt

number? What number?

Allison

she, she, 'cause her background is television and writing for tv and so she. Also brings that kind of, you know, she had that sitcom vibe in her head as well. So it's interesting to me that, you know, two incredibly successful series and you're, you're always sort of thinking about that, um, that dynamic as you say, as it goes out across the series. Um, now your new book, let's get to the new one, Julie, about, we're only about 20 minutes into the interview. Um, your new book is called Duck Look. Who's talking Tell us about the book.

Matt

Okay, so Duck is, uh, as I mentioned, one of the characters in Funny Kid. Now Duck is, um, in the first Funny Kid book Duck has kind of imprinted on Max. Duck is a, uh, is a sort of pet, like he's a wild, he's not a pet duck, but he hangs around and he becomes a kind of sidekick to Max. And in the Funny Kid Series, max always thinks he under, he knows what, what ducks, quacks mean. So, so it feels a bit like Duck is talking in funny kid, but he never is. It's max. Like

Allison

Putting his own thoughts on it. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt

di like dialogues in inverted commas and uh, usually at the kind of like darkest night of the soul type moment, um, for Max. And, uh, and so Duck has this kind of Oracle type persona, but I got thinking about the fact that I've, we don't actually know what's in Duck's head and when we, I mentioned before we moved, um, to this little country town. We're on six acres of bushland here. And when we moved in, uh, there were the, there was this family of mag pies that already lived here in like, on, on our block. And, uh, I have, I've always kind of hated mag pies, um,

Allison

controversial.

Matt

just been swooped too many times as a kid, I

Allison

Mm.

Matt

Um, and, uh. Anyway, um, we've got to know this little family, and the family has grown since we've been here and, um, and they're these like. I've never been swooped by these ones. And uh, and it got me thinking what, like they were here before we were. And so they watched us move in. Like they really did watch us. They watched us move in and it got me thinking like, what are animals thinking when they look at us? duck in the funny kid, like Duck is always there in funny kid. He's always watching Max. He must have all of these opinions that we never get to hear and so that kind of drew me into the world of animals and thinking, hang on, I've got a whole cast of animals here in the Funny Kid Series. there, but we never know what they're thinking. Just like in real life, we often don't notice or think about what the animals are that we share, which animals we share our spaces with. And so, um, so that's taken me into a kind of like, oh, there's a whole unexplored kind of hilarious world here where we get to look at ourselves through the, the imagined lenses of animals. And, uh, it's just, it's just been so fun to write.

Allison

I, yes, I can tell. I can tell from the book two things. I'm gonna need the magpie. Book, at some point I'm gonna need the Mag PPIs watching you move in there because Mag PPIs talking to each other is actually beautiful. That Carol, that they do, unless they have a fledgling and then it is just absolute chaos out there in Magpie world when they're just shrieking at each other. Um, and secondly, this, um, I, my understanding from this is that Duck is the first book in a series. Did you know straight away that there would be more than one

Matt

Yes,

Allison

right.

Matt

certainly knew that I would do more than one, and then we see how we go.

Allison

Okay.

Matt

usually,

Allison

How it works.

Matt

but, again, I've taken the same approach here with Duck, which is, uh, which is not an approach I've taken with. Necessarily all of my other series. So Odds, for example, that's a trilogy, that's a closed story across three books. I had that whole arc at the start.

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

Duck, I'm doing here what I did with Funny Kid, I'm, I'm building a cast

Allison

Right.

Matt

uh, so some from the Funny Kid series and lots of new animals as well. And I'm creating a whole kind of universe right there in the town that we already know of Red Hill, uh, but uh, but a whole kind of new layer.

Allison

Okay, so it starts as a graphic novel, like almost comic strip in style. So I'm reading and I'm thinking, oh, this is nice, this is fun. And then of course we broaden out like more text, but then the comic strips remain, you know, sprinkled throughout. And I like, I feel as though this is a deliberate choice and a response to us needing to offer young readers. Broad diet of text types. Is that correct? Like are you, are you kind of responding to the, I'm trying to wean my kid off. Graphic novels thing

Matt

Yes. Yes.

Allison

in short,

Matt

so two things. Two things. One was I was watching my, um, then 4-year-old read in the inverted commas, uh, a dog man book

Allison

Right.

Matt

And so she is watching her then 7-year-old older sibling reading Dog Man. And she also wants to, she also wants to read Dog Man, but she can't read yet. Uh, and so she's sitting there flicking through she's just following the visual story. And I was thinking, you know what? We, we. I like in Funny Kid, for example, the, the books are highly illustrated. There's an image on almost every page, but you couldn't. You don't really know what's going on there unless you've read the book. So when you're flicking through, you're just kind of passively looking. But what my daughter was doing with Dog Man is, you know, some of the gags are visual and you can decode them visually. And so she really felt like she was reading so, so one thing I was thinking was, how can I put illustrations into. This book that for the kid who is flicking through, or the kid who is deciding if they're gonna read this or not, that actually the illustrations themselves work as specific jo as individual jokes. So, so that kind of idea of hooking a reader, hooking a kid into the book,

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

them in, whether they like it or not,

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

the flick through to be funny and so. That brings me to the second part, which is I have always loved those kind of three panel newspaper comic

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

Garfield, Calvin, and Hobbes, uh, peanuts, love them. Love the simplicity of story structure that is happening across three panels. And I started to think about building out the world of the animals. In this book, that kind of three panel strip felt like a really beautiful device to do that with. So we started to look at it and go, well, what if I put a three panel strip on every page? Uh, so there are 170 or something of them in the book, and what they do. Yes, they reference what is happening in the text, in the body text, in the story. Yes, they reference it, but they also, they're standalone jokes. So for a start, if you are reading the novel, you could skip past them and it flows fine. There's no crucial story moment happening in those, in those comic strips. But also if you're just skimming through. You can have a great time reading, um, and you might just read all the comic strips first and then that might draw you into, hang on, I wanna know what's going on, be between the comic strips

Allison

Right.

Matt

you're reading a novel.

Allison

That's, you're so interesting and also so complex. What were you thinking, Matt? Like the concept of like sprinkling these things through? I'm just trying, I'm, I'm sitting here thinking I, yep. No, I'm gonna leave that to Matt. That's gonna be Matt's job right now. I'm not, I won't be doing that. Um, now. Um, who, what sort of age do you think is the ideal age for the reader of this? Of, of this series?

Matt

So I'm, I'm, I'm pitching it and imagining it at the same kind of age as funny kid, which I, what I, my answer to that question is seven to 11, depending on reading

Allison

yeah, yeah. Always.

Matt

So

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

be, um, because

Allison

Depends on the kid.

Matt

neat as an age,

Allison

No, that's right. Okay. Now I have to say this and, uh, we have talked about this and you laughed, and I'm gonna make, make you laugh again with this. But, uh, when I see your characters, like any character really, I can see you in them. Like I can see, I can see Matt stand and it's like, oh, there's Matt in talking duck form. Um, and there's an element I know,

Matt

Is

Allison

I know.

Matt

like you look like your.

Allison

I, I've, I'm wondering about that. Um, and Liz, um, an element to your voice as well, your writing voice that is obviously recognisably you as well, and that, you know, comes from, um, having, you know, spoken to you several times, many times. Um, I, I have to ask you whether it's taken you a long time to develop that individual style. Did you start out with Matt in talking or did you sort of like, has that developed over years?

Matt

I, I'm not sure I, I, to be honest, I find it hard to see, like I believe you. Um, but I, um, but I've, you know,

Allison

I'm gonna,

Matt

your

Allison

I'm gonna put a photo of you and then a photo of the talking dark in the show notes so people can compare none.

Matt

yeah, I'm just hiding my duck. Yeah. Um, I think. I, I am, so I'm, I've of 45 books in or something in

Allison

It's a lot.

Matt

and, and I do feel like I'm finding my voice,

Allison

Yes.

Matt

sense.

Allison

It's only taken 45 books and here you are. Yep.

Matt

Um, and, and I think that that's interesting to me, and, and I will, I continue to think about it because. It takes a long time, I think, to feel, well, sorry. It took a long time for me to feel confident in my own voice

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

to not feel like I, I needed to be someone else.

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

Um, so my background, I always wanted to be a writer and I've always written, but the career I had before this one was as a book designer.

Allison

Yep.

Matt

And one of the kind of skills or attributes that you need in that job is to almost not really have a style.

Allison

Mm.

Matt

need to be able to work in whatever style is required for that genre. You're doing a cookbook one day and you're doing a sports biography the next, and so you get quite good at going, okay, so this needs to look and feel like that. And so I think it's taken me a, a while to unpick that and to feel confident enough to go, no, I think this looks and feels like me. Um, but um, but that's evolving. Like, and that continues and, um, I think that's part of the work.

Allison

Absolutely. I, I really love the cover of the book. Like it's got that brilliant, obviously book design, you didn't even have to tell me. Um, is, is just, you know, like it's. On like the expression on the dark, the, the colour palette, the whole lot is, it's great. Um, when you are thinking about a cover illustration, what's going through your mind?

Matt

Oh, that's a great question. So this cover looks pretty simple and the title looks pretty simple, but let me tell you.

Allison

Lemme tell you.

Matt

This is concept like about 70 or 75. Uh, yep. This went, we explored every possible direction we could think of this series had, I reckon, 20 different titles,

Allison

Wow.

Matt

um, in order to find this.

Allison

Yeah. Right.

Matt

one of the things that I feel really happy with where we are, and I. In a sense, the cover to me now feels super obvious, it sometimes it takes a while to get there.

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

one of the, one of the things I kind of wanted to, when you're designing a cover, you want it to both fit within the genre so that people get a sense of what the book is like if it looks super different to everything that's out there. No one will think it's the sort of book they're

Allison

Yeah, that's right.

Matt

to fit,

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

but you also need it to stand out.

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

And so you're trying to hold those things in tension. of the things I wanted to react to a little bit in current. Middle grade cover design was just how loud and busy everything is and how, um, how everything feels like it needs to be in your face. Um, and I think there's no greater example of that right now than the bunny versus monkey type

Allison

Yeah. Yeah.

Matt

are just like hyperactive

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

and, that can be great. Um, but I decided actually. I mean, it was similar to the vision for the book. I wanted, I wanted you to flick through this book and feel like it's a novel, like it is a novel. In every sense. It's not a book trying to be something else. It's not, um, it's not trying to be Kone Magazine, it's not trying to be a video game. It's, um, it's a book. um, and so again, sometimes it takes a while. You try a whole lot of different things to come back to the confidence to go, no, this is what this is.

Allison

Yeah. Okay. I also feel like it, it's sort of like, is the kind of book that might take quite a long time to Perfect. So when, when's the next one coming? You know, I know you, I know that the, the, the first one's only just out, but when's the next one, Matt? This is how we roll. Right.

Matt

Well, so the next one is written and I'm illustrating it now, and we are working towards, uh, getting the second one out before Christmas. So we're trying to get two out in the

Allison

Oh wow. Okay.

Matt

do, um, because I've always had this kind of thing of like publishing timelines and kids timelines,

Allison

Yes,

Matt

totally different.

Allison

they totally different.

Matt

In a, in a publishing world, it can be very acceptable to say, let's do the second one in 18 months. But there's no way a kid is reading what they were reading 18 months ago. And so, um, Most, again, with a, with a series. For me, most of the creative work, the design of it, the conceptualising of it, what it's trying to do is done in the development of the series as a whole.

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

I've just done

Allison

Yeah.

Matt

now by publishing this book, I've created a whole lot of rules for myself.

Allison

Yes.

Matt

and if I've done that well, then it will, um. Those rules will continue to work as I

Allison

Support the next one. Yeah. And there's, there are gonna be, there's another funny kid, uh, for the fans as well, I believe. Yes, we talked about that. yes.

Matt

funny. Kids do a funny kid kind of towards the end of every year. So I do one a year.

Allison

Yeah. Okay, great. Um, so you're busy,

Matt

Yes.

Allison

always busy. Um, and where can our listeners find out more about you if they, you know, have yet to discover the glory of Funny Kid and Duck, et cetera?

Matt

Oh, thank you. Uh, Instagram is where I am the most active. Facebook a little bit. Um, matt stanton.net is my, um, website. I need to update it uh.

Allison

And you are. It's Matt Statin here, aren't you on Instagram?

Matt

Instagram? Yes,

Allison

of course. Alright. Now, before.

Matt

I'm, trying to do TikTok, but you

Allison

Oh, what,

Matt

weird. Yeah.

Allison

what whatcha thinking? Um, and uh, okay. Before I let you go to create your next TikTok, um, I'm gonna ask you for your recommendations of books you've read and love that you think our listeners need to know about.

Matt

Okay, so. I'm gonna base this on books I've recently read with my own kids,

Allison

Okay, great.

Matt

and my kids range from age four, uh, five, sorry, five through to 13. And every night we pretty much read to them together.

Allison

Okay.

Matt

So obviously they have different interests in the books that they read themselves, but Beck and I try to choose things that we can read to them altogether at bedtime. So. we have loved recently, um, and I, I may have spoken about these before, but, um, the Shower Land Trilogy by Nat Amor, we have absolutely loved. We've done, we've read them in print and then we've also listened to, she records the audio books, which

Allison

Oh, great. Yep.

Matt

of.

Allison

Yep.

Matt

we've listened to those as well. Uh, mega Rich Guinea pigs by the Temple. I hope there are more of these coming,

Allison

Yes.

Matt

because, uh, speak about, like, talk about creating a cast

Allison

Yep.

Matt

really well together, that sets them up for all sorts of things. Um, this should be, uh, not just a book series. It should be a movie. Um, and then the other one, the one that, uh, I have been reading to the kids, which. Um, is the Hobbit.

Allison

Ah, great.

Matt

now I had, I've never actually read it and, uh, I've read a lot of the rings, but I'd never kind of, I'd tried her Hobbit a couple of times as a kid and never quite got into it. Um, I didn't realise how funny it

Allison

Yes, I think yes,

Matt

a great time, so

Allison

and I think it's actually.

Matt

good,

Allison

For kids. I think it's actually better as a read aloud than if you give it to them to read themselves. Like I, um, because I remember reading it when I was about 13 and I really, really liked it and I tried giving it to my older son who was, um, you know, quite an advanced reader and I thought he would love it. I gave it to him when he was about 10 and he was just like, I'm just finding this a little bit boring mom. I'm like, what? What, you're missing something here, you know, like, um, yeah, so it's interesting, isn't it? That different experience that you can have, depending on whether you're ready for it or not. A but also I think as a read aloud, it's really good.

Matt

Yes. And you can, I love when you're reading aloud to your kids, how much control you have as to how kind of dramatic or scary you want to make

Allison

Yes, that's true.

Matt

for instance, I started reading Golum and I did the Voice 'cause, you know, and uh, and it kind of freaks the kids out a bit. And so we went, okay,

Allison

Eh, we better hold,

Matt

do the voice.

Allison

hold back on the voice.

Matt

Pull that back, right back. Whereas if I was just reading to the 13-year-old, sure that would've, 'cause there's a 5-year-old in the room too, um, you just have so much control over. So when I'm talking to parents and they're like, is that book, you know, is that book too scary for your kids? Or something like that? I'm like, well, if you're reading aloud, you have so much control over how you deliver that.

Allison

Absolutely.

Matt

love that.

Allison

And you can also just leave bits out if you want to.

Matt

Yeah, totally.

Allison

Alright. Matt, it's just such a pleasure to chat to you as always. I mean, again, we could have just done the full hour. I feel like we already probably have. So thanks for sticking with us listeners, if you're still here with us at the end. Um, best of luck with the new series. I think it's just really fun and so great and I think that um, young readers are going to love it and you know, we'll wait to see how funny kid rolls out over the. Book of the Year awards. Right.

Matt

Thank you. And can I, it's so lovely to chat with you as always. And can I just shove in a little plug for the, your next read series? 'cause this is brilliant

Allison

thank you so much.

Matt

such a good job.

Allison

Thank you so much.

Matt

I'm gonna be part of it a little bit further down the line

Allison

We're excited.

Matt

I, uh, I just think what you're doing is really brilliant and, uh, we need these on every shelf.

Allison

Thank you so much, Matt, and uh, we'll, we'll, you know, no doubt we'll be chatting again at some point in the.

Matt

Absolutely. See you.

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Allison Tait

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Megan Daley

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