In Lauren’s words, ‘mothers are the scariest thing in children’s literature’. Find out why in this episode! You can download it HERE (28 min), subscribe to us on iTunes, or play it in the sidebar of the website.

In this episode you’ll hear about:

• Different traditions of motherhood in children’s literature: from the saintly mother to the evil mother.
• The absent mother, or rather, the presence of the absence of the mother.
• Motherly sacrifices, literal and figurative.
• Dysfunctional, bipolar, depressed, teenage mothers… and how they still love their children in spite of all.

Comment on this post, send us an email at kidyounotpodcast@gmail.com and share the podcast if you liked it. And if you have any suggestions for topics, or any questions, get in touch – we’re on Twitter too.

And yes, this is the 11th episode, coming after the 12th episode. This is because we’re highly postmodern (and a bit confused)
Here are some of the books we’re discussing in this episode – a full list can be found on our Books page.