Middle Grade Mavens - The Podcast

20/12/2022

Our last episode for 2022 is here, with a couple of big announcements!

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app:

Our final episode of the year - find out our top picks for middle-grade readers in 2022. If you've enjoyed our podcast this year, please do us a favour and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We would love to hear from you. And stay tuned for a new look Mavens in 2023. We ... Read moreEpisode 112

14/12/2022

Check out Maven Pamela’s poem on the Australian Children’s Poetry website today.

Visit the post for more.

06/12/2022

Don’t you love a podcast crossover? This one was a party and a hoot to boot. Check out the Writers Off the Page podcast to hear the Mavens chat with Australian lit podcast royalty!

24/10/2022

In Episode 111, Julie chats with author Kate Template about her debut middle-grade novel, The Dangerous Business of Being Trilby Moffat.

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Julie chats with Kate Temple, author of The Dangerous Business of being Trilby Moffat.

06/10/2022

Episode 110 is here!

Julie interviews Reece Carter and has some exciting news about her new services. Head on over to the Mavens' Instagram to find out more.

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We catch up on the latest middle-grade releases and Julie chats with debut author Reece Carter about his new release, A Girl Called Co**se.

20/08/2022

Look! We have a new episode!

Tune in for new reviews and an interview with Jack Henseleit and Chris Kennett.

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We catch up on the latest middle-grade releases and Julie chats with Jack Henseleit and Chris Kennett about their new junior fiction series, Crossbones.

20/05/2022

Huge congratulations to Susanne Gervay for her Crystal Kite Award for her wonderful novel, Heroes of the Secret Underground. Susanne works tirelessly and exuberantly to bring story to children all around the country, to share her own stories and as regional advisor for SCBWI Australia East & New Zealand. We wish Susanne all the best as she recovers from major surgery.

To learn more about The Heroes of the Secret Underground and hear about its origins in an interview with Susanne, see Episode 82 (https://www.middlegradepodcast.com/episode-82/)

Congratulations to our fearless leader Susanne Gervay Author!

18/05/2022

Episode 108 is ready to go. Julie chats with debut author Brett Perkins and we discuss what middle-grade readers are actually reading in the wild...

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-y7

Julie chats with author Brett Perkins, author of The Prison for the Magically Cursed.

03/05/2022

Episode 107 is go. In it, Julie chats with Nat Amoore about her latest release, We Run Tomorrow.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-xY

Julie chats with author Nat Amoore about her latest book, We Run Tomorrow.

26/04/2022

Episode 106 is here! We mix it up with some non-fiction, a classic retelling, and lots of monsters...

>>Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-xJ

Myth, monsters and Lego legend. We're mixing it up today. Listen in for our latest middle-grade reviews. Plus Julie chats with debut author of Prometheus High, Stuart Wilson.

11/04/2022

Here we go with Ep 105. We cover graphic novels for younger kids, picture books for older kids and a new timeslip novel shedding light on untold Australian stories.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-xq

We review two new graphic novels, a picture book for older children and a timeslip novel. Plus Julie chats with Remy Lai.

17/03/2022

Episode 103 is live!

In this episode, we talk about books older kids like to read, mysteries and four new middle-grade novels. Plus Julie chats with Alyssa Bermudez.

>>Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-wM

We talk about books older kids like to read, mysteries and review four new middle-grade novels. Plus Julie chats with Alyssa Bermudez.

08/02/2022

The Mavens are back for 2022!

In Episode 102 we have four new reviews PLUS we chat about our favourite writing app, Scrivener, and Save the Cat by Blake Snyder.

https://wp.me/paD8dC-wy

We're back for 2022 with four new reviews PLUS we chat about our favourite writing app, Scrivener, and Save the Cat by Blake Snyder.

25/12/2021

Best wishes of the season to all our listeners! The Mavens will be back in 2022 with more podcast goodness!

14/12/2021

Episode 101 - our final for the year! Find out which books we loved in 2021.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-wo

Our final episode of the year - find out our top picks for middle-grade readers in 2021! If you've enjoyed our podcast this year, please do us a favour and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We would love to hear from you!

02/12/2021

Episode 100 is a go!

We review some awesome books including Pony by R.J Palacio and The incredible talking machine by Jenni Spangler (illustrations by Chris Mould). Plus we recommend some great graphics novels for Christmas.

We give a shout out to a fantastic Instagram account you should follow: .

And we have two great interviews in Craig Cauchi from GenreCon and Sam Rutter from new Australian publisher Storytorch Press.

And if you want to grab a magnificent discount count when booking your GenreCon tickets for Feb 2022, head on over to Instagram and comment on our Ep 100 post and we will DM the magic code!

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-w7

Our final reviews for the year reveal two amazing novels, PLUS Pamela chats with Storytorch Press publisher Samantha Rutter and Julie chats with GenreCon Project Officer Craig Gauchi.

02/11/2021

Episode 99 is a go and it's chock full of amazing women and a dingo, including interviews with Favel Parrett and Angela Buckingham.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-vP

We have four new book reviews PLUS Pamela chats with Favel Parrett and Julie chats with Angela Buckingham.

18/10/2021

Episode 98 now live and it's a whopper! Four new reviews PLUS a chat with Andy Griffiths - we talk creativity, humour and the importance of children's books as an escape.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-vo

We have FOUR new book reviews and, to celebrate the launch of The 143-Storey Treehouse, Pamela chats with Andy Griffiths about creativity, humour and the importance of entertaining children's books.

08/10/2021

It's throwback time! Here's an episode that might get you excited about a recent release that we'll soon be featuring...

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app:
https://www.middlegradepodcast.com/episode-53/

Jacqueline Harvey worked in schools for many years but has had a passion for storytelling since she was a child. She is the author of the popular Alice-Miranda and Clementine Rose series, which have sold over one million copies in Australia alone. Her books have received numerous short-listings and....

27/09/2021

Episode 97 has dropped with two beautiful, magical books plus interviews with their authors, Karen Foxlee and Samantha-Ellen Bound.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-v0

In this Episode… About Karen Foxlee Karen Foxlee’s young adult novels The Anatomy of Wings and The Midnight Dress have been published internationally to much acclaim. Her books for younger readers include the much loved classic Ophelia and the Marvellous Boy, as well as A Most Magical Girl and t...

14/09/2021

It's Australian Reading Hour! What are you reading today?

Thankfully, Episode 96 is here if you need suggestions. There are three new reviews, we chat about the Creative Writing Quest for Kids run by the Australian Writers Centre and presented by Allison Tait, Tristan Bancks' new Ginger Meggs gets a mention and Julie interviews Jason Pamment, author/illustrator of The Treasure in the Lake.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-uI

It's Australian Reading Hour, and have we got some suggestions for you. There are three new reviews, we chat about the Creative Writing Quest for Kids run by the Australian Writers Centre, Tristan Bancks' new Ginger Meggs book gets a mention and Julie interviews Jason Pamment, author/illustrator of....

08/09/2021

Australian Reading Hour is next week!

Given the state of things, and that we already read a lot, we will be pulling out the joke books and seeing who can cause the most laughs. But we will also set aside time to read an Australian book along the theme of .

What will you be reading?

07/09/2021

Listeners, have we got some exciting interviews coming up for you! I'm so excited I could burst!

But I'm not telling.

Instead, I'm posting a throwback to episode 58. Enjoy!

https://www.middlegradepodcast.com/episode-58/

Nat Amoore is a Sydney-based writer who is passionate about encouraging kids to read and write and explore their imagination without boundaries. Her first middle grade novel Secrets Of A Schoolyard Millionaire came out last year with Penguin Random House. It had great success as both Dymocks and QBD...

01/09/2021

Polish your pitches... The JWFK Pitch It! Competition is on again and Maven Pamela is on the judging panel.

30/08/2021

Episode 95: It’s a potpourri of book chat this week - CBCA Book Week, StoryKids, Little Scribe, two fabulous picture books, an adult novel and The Song of Lewis Carmichael plus Pamela chats with author Sofie Laguna and illustrator Marc McBride.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite podcast app: https://wp.me/paD8dC-uj

Buy The Song of Lewis Carmichael from Booktopia (affiliate link): https://booktopia.kh4ffx.net/jWOjB5

It's a potpourri of book chat this week: CBCA Book Week, StoryKids, Little Scribe, two fabulous picture books, an adult novel and The Song of Lewis Carmichael plus Pamela chats with author Sofie Laguna and illustrator Marc McBride.

26/08/2021

Are you a writer? If so, this competition is for you! Maven Pamela will once again join the judging panel for the junior/middle grade/YA category. Get those pitches ready!

The Just Write For Kids Australia Pitch It! Competition 2021 is for Australian writers of children's and YA books. Open Sep 1 - 30, 2021.

26/08/2021

Here's another throwback to a great episode (and another hint of an upcoming episode).

https://www.middlegradepodcast.com/episode-33/

Marc McBride is the illustrator of Emily Rodda's best selling Deltora Quest series, which has sold over eighteen million copies around the world and has become an Anime TV show. He has illustrated two hundred book covers, ten picture books, countless magazines and has had work exhibited with the New...

21/08/2021

What a beautiful list, congratulations to all of the winners and the honours recipients!

18/08/2021

We're back in lockdown and back with a new ep. We've got new reviews, a look back at what we learned from Kidlitvic - Meet the Publishers 2021 and a chat with Maddy Mara, co-authors of the new Dragon Girls series.

>> Click here or listen via your favourite app: https://www.middlegradepodcast.com/episode-94/

We're back... We may be a little rusty but we have reviews, a Kidlitvic look-back and Julie chats with Maddy Mara - aka Hilary Rogers and Meredith Badger, authors of the Dragon Girls series.

02/08/2021

Missing the Mavens? We're still here, but enjoying a break and planning upcoming episodes. In the meantime, here's a throwback to episode 10 (and also a hint for an upcoming interview):

>> Click here or listen via your favourite app: https://www.middlegradepodcast.com/episode-10/

Gabrielle Wang is an award winning author and illustrator of novels and picture books for children and young adults. She was born in Melbourne of Chinese heritage. As a result, Gabrielle's books are a blend of both Australian and Chinese culture with a touch of fantasy. Her books include A Ghost in....