Librarians Penny Walch and Julie Huggins have been sharing their enthusiasm for Aotearoa’s children’s books in podcast form since 2021. Here, Penny takes us through the highs and lows of podcasting.
What do two librarians with verbal diarrhoea who are passionate about kiwi kids’ lit do in their ‘spare’ time? Start a podcast of course…
Julie Huggins and I are Teacher-Librarians at Southwell School in Hamilton, where, between us, we teach all Year zero to eight students. Our main focus is developing a life long love of reading, but we also teach inquiry skills and touch on digital literacy as well. We dreamed up Kiwi Kids Book Chat when we decided that we wanted to promote the work of Kiwi authors and illustrators via a podcast as there seemed to be a gap in that particular market. We are really aware of the fact that all students need to see themselves mirrored in books and so want to promote kiwi literature as a counter (or supplement) to all the non-kiwi fare out there, which is more likely to be a window for local children.
I am a massive fan of the American School Librarians United with Amy Herman podcast and Australian Your Kid’s Next Read, hosted by Megan Daley, Allison Rushby and Allison Tait but back in 2021 there didn’t seem to be anything out there aimed at promoting New Zealand literature for children. School Librarians United is very much aimed at librarians and deals with librarian issues and is less about what children are reading, but Your Kid’s Next Read really delves into what is out there for our children to read next. Megan, Allison and Allison are engaging and knowledgeable about what children are reading, but their focus is very much Australian. Which is all well and good, up to a point! Julie and I wanted to try something similar, but with a local focus. I should point out that since then, SLANZA Sessions has started up, which I also love, although this is more about librarianing (like School Librarians United) with some kids’ lit thrown in for good measure.
We started with a hiss and a roar in 2021, planning out a year’s worth of weekly episodes, and even buying a little microphone to help us on our way. I had to learn how to control said mic, which to be fair is an ongoing challenge—as is using Audacity, our audio programme of choice. The technicalities haven’t always been friendly to me and there have been a number of times when we have had to re-record an entire episode. Not ideal.
Julie really is the expert on the team … she is a born and bred Kiwi and has been a passionate advocate for New Zealand children’s literature for a very long time. She has coached numerous Kids Lit Quiz teams and even took one of her teams to a world title in 2015. I am a relative newcomer, arriving in New Zealand in 1991 and living between the UK and Aotearoafor 10 years, until finally settling in Hamilton in 2000. I have always loved children’s literature, but I haven’t got the same background and depth of knowledge that comes with being brought up and immersed in a literary landscape. That being said, I am always learning and I love what is on offer for our children by New Zealand authors.
Our original aim was to celebrate our amazing children’s authors and their books. We started off with an episode about books on the Treaty of Waitangi, then David Hill’s books, an episode about sporty books and two episodes around myths and legends.
Unfortunately, things took a downturn, when Julie became extremely unwell and we had to abandon ship after nine episodes. It would appear that the dream of weekly chats wasn’t going to be sustained and the podcast was put into early retirement. Some things just aren’t meant to be.
Fast forward to the end of 2023, and Julie’s health was much improved. A group of keen bean manga readers were about to leave Year 8 and our school, and we thought we should interview them about their love of manga before they moved onto high school. We had a good old chat, and decided we should try and rekindle the podcast in 2024.
Which we have done …
We decided to take the pressure off ourselves by aiming for fortnightly episodes, and we widened the net a bit to include some chat about what kiwi kids are currently reading (which would suit the manga chat—I am yet to come across any kiwi manga!). Once again, we fleshed out some episodes, and we got stuck in.
The change to fortnightly episodes was definitely a good idea as it takes some thought and time to whip up an episode—something we don’t always have much of! Often, we really do feel like we are winging it, but luckily Julie always has some excellent thoughts and wisdom to share! We aim for 20 minute episodes, but have recently decided to move to monthly episodes and so they might end up being a little longer.
We wanted to try and provide a bit of variety in what we covered, so one week we might feature an author (the work of Des Hunt, for example), other weeks we might pick a theme (New Zealand flora and fauna, the NZCYA Book Award finalists and ANZAC books have been three such themes) and other weeks we might bring in some student voice. We did an episode which featured our 2024 Kids Lit Quiz team who came second in New Zealand, interviewed some students and a teacher about Brian Falkner’s Shooting Stars and we have done a couple of episodes which are just sound bites of a selection of students telling us about their favourite books.
Sometimes I wonder whether putting our necks on the line to do a public podcast has been a good idea. I have never been one to take risks and this really does feel like a risk.
Do we know enough?
Does anybody want to listen to a couple of provincial librarians?
Can we control the equipment?
What shall we talk about next?
But people do seem to be listening. And, if nothing else, Julie and I agree that our chats are fabulous professional development for us! It makes us think a bit more deeply about the books than what we might otherwise do and it is always fun just to sit down and chew the fat!
In October I was at the SLANZA Conference in Otautahi Christchurch and a couple of delegates did identify themselves as listeners, which was fun, and a little alarming!
The podcast has been a bit of a journey for Julie and me. We have stepped out of our comfort zone to give something a go and that is all I really wanted to do. I know I would have regretted it if we hadn’t given it a crack. We are not out for glory and fame, but if one person benefits from our waffle, then we are happy!
Kiwi Kids Book Chat can be found on Spotify and Apple podcast platforms.
