Episode 11 - So You Want to Be a Wizard, by Diane Duane

THE BABIES ARE BACK. After a painful break from podcasting, we're diving back in with So You Want to Be a Wizard: a technical marvel chock full of magic, friendship and leaving bullies in your supernatural dust.

How can a white hole be so darn charming? Is there a more creative "wrong" version of our world than the Starsnuffer's personal utopia? And just how confusing is it to try to navigate fictional New York? Also featuring a Smaug-style sewer dragon and 2 kids accomplishing way 2 much for their age. Press play and don't forget your wizard's manual.

We're also catching the tail end of #trypod. Recommendations: Madeleine - Sooo Many White Guys / Grace - Imaginary Worlds. Please note - while our podcast is not explicit, these recommendations are.

DESPERATE PLEA: We see you out there, subscribers - and we want to hear from you! Drop us a line at dragonbabiespodcast@gmail.com, DM us on Twitter or Instagram, or leave us a review on iTunes. We want to create more fantasy-driven content you love but we need feedback! If we get enough we'd like to start making mini-episodes announcing the next book so that you can read along with us. But we need more feedback first sooo get your typing fingers tippety tappeting and tell us what you think!

<3, Madeleine & Grace

Episode 10 - The Folk Keeper, by Franny Billingsley

The Folk Keeper really does have a little bit of everything. Looking for a new take on Scottish & Irish mythology? Sealfolk abound. Interested in a coming of age story complicated by hidden heritage and gender swapping? Meet Corinna Stonewall. Developing your career as a poet or a rapper? The Last Word is all you need. No matter why you've come to The Folk Keeper, Franny Billingsley's sweeping prose and alternately prickly and winning heroine will leave you satisfied. As a special bonus, enjoy part 2 of our ongoing debate - Oceans: Friends or Foes? As well as some excessive giggling about cakes.

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What our cover once looked like - shoutout to our book jacket, wherever it may be in space and time.

Complete The Folk Keeper experience by renting one of the many fine Scottish castles currently available on AirBnb (conversely, visit Seattle to join Grace in renting a shack on a lake).

BLACK ICE CREAM

(Via)

Episode 9 - A Wind in the Door, by Madeleine L'Engle

Soothing, terrifying, and utterly glorious, A Wind in the Door made us feel all kinds of things. If you're looking for an incredibly detailed discussion of fictional bodies within mitochondria and whether boy geniuses are more annoying than valuable, well, you've come to the right place. We cover how this book helped form our understandings of life, death, and fewmets, and get more than a little metaphysical along the way. If you're struggling through these bleak winter months, the Murrays' hot chocolate (made over a bunsen burner) is sure to help.

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Proginoskes Second Life Video -

A selection of farandolae fanart -

Art by tiffso, divinedecedance, and ogamagirl (L-R).

The Toast article (i.e. a better discussion of this book by far more learnèd adults) -  http://the-toast.net/2015/03/09/three-adults-discuss-wind-door-seriously-length/

Episode 8 - Mort, by Terry Pratchett

Discworld has been a part of Grace's life since a kind camp counselor took pity on her silent bookishness and sent her boxes of Terry Pratchett paperbacks from the U.K. Madeleine has only recently fallen in love with Pratchett's hilarious, disarming fantasy, but we can already tell she's a lifer. If you love cats, filthy cities, misplaced realities, and above all, DEATH, you're in the right place. Mort is a perfect Discworld entry point for the uninitiated, and always a welcome revisit for those familiar with Ankh-Morpork, obnoxious wizards, and a bumbling teenager tasked with taking lives (at just the right moment).

Sharpen your scythes and hop on Great A'Tuin!

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Favorite Mort quotes, excavated from Grace's childhood quote book:

• "Death grinned because, as has so often been remarked, he didn't have much option. But possibly he meant it, this time."

• "It struck Mort with sudden, terrible poignancy that Death must be the loneliest creature in the universe. In the great party of Creation, he was always in the kitchen."

• ON SCUMBLE: " 'You like it?' he said to Mort, in pretty much the same tone of voice people tended to use when they said to St. George, 'You killed a what?' "

• “Magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten.”

• Albert's porridge "led a private life of its own in the depths of its saucepan and ate spoons.”

• ON THE GOOD OLD DAYS: "Princesses were as beautiful as the day is long and so noble they could pee through a dozen mattresses."

Episode 7 - Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine

After an all-too-endless holiday break, we're back, we're reading, and we're loving on Ella Enchanted. Don't write this well-rounded world off as a children's book - we gained so much from rereading it and Grace had several key epiphanies related to (you guessed it) personal perceptions of food. Do you love love? Then you'll enjoy listening to us attempt to articulate what makes Ella and Char's romance so appealing and feel Ella's pain as her curse isolates her from her loved ones. Struggling to break a curse laid upon you by an overeager fairy? It's time to get some tips from the master of finding tiny ways to overthrow an oppressive force. Ella is here to help!

Equal parts disturbing and delightful, this book has been a part of our lives longer than most, and we're excited to share it with you.

Star mispronunciation of this episode: Cary Elwes as Cary Yools - Should be El-wis! Also, Grace's voice cracking is at an all-time high, so. Enjoy.

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Gail Carson Levine's fractured fairy tale novelettes, the Princess Tales:
http://www.gailcarsonlevine.com/ptales.html