I've got a show to recommend that I genuinely think you and your kids are going to love.
It's called Lightcatchers, a brand new award-winning cinematic audio adventure from the team behind Batman, High Volume and Story Pirates.
If your house is into pinna favorites like Grim Grimmer, Grimmest or Hero Hotel, this is absolutely your next play.
Stick around for a preview at the end of this episode.
Then search Lightcatchers wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, I'm Adam Gidwitz.
I know you're all waiting for new episodes of Grim Grimmer, Grimmest and I promise we are working to make that happen soon.
In the meantime, though, I just published a new book called Max in the House of Spies.
If you happen to be near Riverside California, on March 13th, I'll be speaking at Cellar Door Books at 6pm.
Come see me.
If enough fans of Grimm Grimmer, Grimmest, show up.
I'll tell you a fairy tale you've never heard me tell before.
And if you can't come to Riverside, California, here's a very short preview of that new book.
I know it's not an episode of Grim, Grimmer, Grimmest, but it does have two small magical men.
They're not Smurfs though, okay?
Get that straight.
They are not Smurfs.
Okay.
Here's the first few pages of Max in the House of Spies.
Chapter one.
Once there was a boy who had two immortal creatures living on his shoulders.
This was the fourth most interesting thing about him.
The first most interesting thing about Max, that was his name, was that he was a genius.
He could make a working radio from the junk at the bottom of a trash can and he could usually predict what someone was going to say 10 minutes before they said it.
The second most interesting thing about Max was that when he was 11 years old, his parents sent him away from Germany, where he was born and grew up to England all by himself, even though he'd never been there, didn't know anyone there and barely spoke any English.
The third most interesting thing about Max was that when he got to England, he fell in with spies.
Real, honest-to-goodness spies.
A lot of them.
And the fourth most interesting thing about him was that he had two immortal creatures living on his shoulders.
But that's probably what you have the most questions about, so let's start there.
The two immortal creatures appeared the day his parents sent him to England.
His family had been arguing about it for weeks.
Their small Berlin apartment shook as Max had stomped from the living room to his bedroom, to the kitchen and back again, shouting things like you can't make me go and everything is fine.
Who cares about the stupid Nazis?
They don't matter.
And what if you need me?
And more quietly, alone in his room, what if I need you?
But no matter what Max said, his parents had refused to change their minds.
His mother had held him at the train station.
His father had stroked his hair.
They'd watched as the train pulled out taking Max and the 198 other Jewish children to Holland and the ferry
Max hadn't waved back.
He'd just stared at them and thought, how could you do this?
The children had left the train station in Holland and boarded a steam-powered ferry.
With a blast of its foghorn, the ship had pushed out into the North Sea, bound for England.
31 minutes later, Max had fallen asleep.
This might be a little surprising, but after a trauma something really awful that happens to you, your brain often makes you fall asleep right away.
Maybe to help you process the trauma.
Or maybe because your brain is scared of more traumas and figures.
You won't have to experience them if you're sleeping.
Whatever the reason is, it happens a lot.
And it happened to Max.
So he fell asleep 31 minutes into the ferry ride.
32 minutes into the ferry ride, he heard a voice in his ear.
Max!
Max!
Max jerked awake and looked around.
Max, you are drooling!
Max quickly wiped his mouth.
Wait, who said that?
He looked to either side of him.
He was sitting on a bench in the belly of the steamship.
There were other kids on other benches.
Some boys were sleeping, leaning against each other, not too far away.
A girl had her face buried in her handkerchief, crying.
But the voice had been right next to his ear. and it had not sounded like a kid's voice.
What'd you wake him up for, said another voice, very near his other ear.
He was drooling.
It was disgusting.
I thought he would want to know.
Max spun from side to side.
Where were these voices coming from?
You don't think he's got bigger problems than drooling in his sleep?
The poor kid just lost his country, his home, his family.
You can't let him drool a little bit?
Now Max was staring at his left shoulder.
His eyes came into focus.
Crouching there was a tiny man with a bulbous nose, thinning hair, twinkling eyes, and a sour smile.
Hiya, he said.
Max screamed and fell off the bench.
That was the first few pages of Max in the House of Spies.
And remember, while you're waiting for new episodes of Grim Grimmer Grimmest, you can always read my books A Tale, Dark and Grim In a Glass, Grimly and The Grim Conclusion.
Or listen to me read them in the audio versions.
Okay, we'll be back with more episodes as soon as we can.
In the meantime, stay grim.
Or grimmer.
Or, for those of you really weird kids out there, grimmest.
Far away on the high Caribbean seas roams a swashbuckling pigeon-loving, burrito-gobbling pirate who's well a bit different than the other pirates.
Bless my Brussels sprouts!
Introducing the new podcast Lightcatchers, Season 1, Bob the Bad Pirate.
Bob the Bad Pirate wasn't bad because he liked to hurt people or call other pirates' names like Petunia Pillow Pants.
Bob the Bad Pirate was bad because he just wasn't very good at being a pirate.
Give her me tutors!
Listen now to Lightcatchers, wherever you get your podcasts, and learn more at BeALightcatcher.com.
Light up the lanterns and follow me.
