It's that time of year, back to school. And just to get you ready, we are reprising some of our favorite episodes set in classrooms.
Up first, it's a rather unusual British school, and it's definitely not Hogwarts.
There are World War II tunnels under the floors, and most of the classmates turn out to be Himalayan orphans.
Oh, and there's just one girl at this school, Millie.
Give a listen to Ribble Strop. It's the book club for kids.
The book club for kids. It's the book club for kids.
It's the Book Club for Kids podcast. Hi, I'm Kitty Felde.
This week we head off to a particularly dangerous English boarding school the kind that might give parents nightmares.
I'm not speaking for all moms and dads, a little bit overprotective mom or dad was reading this book I think they would be bothered by it.
Writer Andy Mulligan says Ribbelstrop was inspired by a stroll past an ancient ruin.
We just started speculating as storytellers really what kind of school we build and what kind of insane parent would entrust their child Our celebrity reader is Peter Sagal, a wonderful writer. himself and the host of NPR's quiz show Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
I should say, boys, that rum is a tradition at the finest schools.
And as the heating system here is, Primitive.
Well, a tot of rum keeps out the chill. Captain Scott served it on his way south and it certainly kept me going in the Himalayas even after we lost the tents.
This is the Book Club for Kids, the podcast where middle grade readers talk about books.
We'll tell you how you can be on the show a little later on.
But first, our panel of readers at Wachung Booksellers in Montclair, New Jersey.
Carolina Lucas. Jack Lapin. Eleanor Fitzgerald.
Now, Rebel Strop is one of those books with a lot of plot, so why don't you guys try to sum it up?
From my point of view, I think the book is about a boy whose parents sent him to boarding school.
And then during the middle-ish, when they're all cozy in the school, they find out underground laboratory is under it and A shed burns down and there's a wild car chase.
And finally, it ends happily. They're all happy.
They all go to like this weird boarding school without a roof. and then in the beginning like there's a lot of stuff happening and then like They play soccer and people get injured, but they don't actually go to the hospital or anything.
They kind of fix them in the kitchen, which is kind of creepy.
And then they found out there was like an underground. laboratory like from the war and then they are talking about a kid who they thought ran away and went home, but turns out, He was actually living in one of the tunnels underground. and like they have to like save one of the boys from getting like I don't know, like being made into like a robot or something.
And then they like, save him and it's the end.
How would you describe this book? Suspenseful and exciting and kind of scary at some points.
Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about this book because you mentioned people kept ending up in the hospital, which was just the kitchen where they were taking care of.
It seems extremely dangerous, this particular school and this particular book.
In the underground laboratories where they drill into the children's head, I'm not even sure that would be legal, even if it was during World War II.
Let's get a feel for this strange boarding school by hearing some of the welcome speech from the headmaster.
And since we're here in New Jersey, our celebrity reader is a native of the Garden State.
Peter Sagal is a playwright and the host of NPR's very popular weekly quiz show, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.
Science lessons, yes Science lessons will be underway in the very near future We await the arrival of two new teachers, one of whom has already made her name in learned journals around the world.
Professor Worthington is to be in charge of science.
She is currently gathering... electrical equipment in Scandinavia and hopes to be with us directly.
Captain Rutan raised a finger. Might be worth mentioning the brethren, sir.
"'Oh, yes, indeed, the brethren. What about them?'
"'The vow, sir.' Children, we are privileged in having among us a small group of experienced extremely devout monks, and they live in what was the old chapel in Cloister, half a mile from here.
"'Underground, actually, sir. They moved.'
"'I thought—' "'Very well. That makes no odds.
The thing to remember—' is that if you do see them, don't get scared.
A good morning will suffice. so please do not press them for a response, as they have undertaken a vow of silence.'
I won't mention the cellars and tunnels, because they are strictly out of bounds and locked.
We did lock them, didn't we, Routon? Can't read my own writing here.
The laboratory, sir. I wondered if I should mention that.
Yes, I think you ought to know. Every old house has its history, children, so you must understand that Lady Viner has had various tenants, apart from our good selves.
That includes, well, um... How would you describe those particular tenants, Routon?
It's out of bounds, sir. That's all I'd say.
Yes, absolutely. But I'm thinking it might be worth alerting the children to their presence.
It's what we call a research facility dating back to Second World War and earlier.
"'They ignored my letters, I'm afraid. "'I was hoping to fix up a tour, but they like to keep themselves to themselves.'
It's none of our business why, and the last thing we want is aimless wandering or exploring.
In fact, our new deputy has ordered some no-entry signs which are up in my room, and that very neatly brings me to the last item, Miss Haslett.' who is actually on her way even now.
I'm a little surprised she's not here already. some delay, most likely.
I ought to say just a few words about Miss Hazlitt, because we are very Very lucky indeed to have her.
She's going to be a very important member of this community and brings with her a wealth. of experience and new ideas.
She had retired, but agreed after the events of last term.
Do you think it's time for the rum ration, sir, while you're talking?
Rum? Oh, yes. One boy was snoozing. A high-pitched snore buzzed from a roll of plastic. and most of the orphans had glazed eyes.
"'Just the one pig, sir.' "'Oh, no more than one.
I should say, boys, that rum is a tradition at the finest schools.' and as the heating system here is primitive, well, A tot of rum keeps out the chill.
Captain Scott served it on his way south, and it certainly kept me going in the Himalayas even after we left. lost the tense.
Nowhere was I. Oh, Miss Hazlitt! Yes, on her way.
So. We'll sing the school song, which means I am required to teach it to you. wrote it myself last night.
It is a work in progress, so to speak. So stand up, everybody!
Could you dish out that pile of papers, Anjoli?
Watch out for the mud. It's a bit slippy.
Now, the tune may be familiar. You'll soon pick it up.
First line, after me. Don't be shy. Ready?
Ribble strop, ribble strop, precious unto me, this is what I dream about and where I want to be.
The words may change but this is the first draft.
Early in the morning, finally at night, Ribble strop, I'll die for thee, carrying the light. or possibly fighting the good fight.
We'll see which one fits best. No more verses yet, so feel free to submit ideas.
Did it bother you or scare you that all of these fairly dangerous things were going on in this boarding school?
Definitely because I like, in the beginning I thought it was kind of weird, like no roof.
And I was confused at why the kid who burned down the school wasn't paying for the school.
That kind of, that was like the thing that really confused me.
I don't think this would be allowed for like younger kids to see because it's jaw-dropping terror and Some moms, I'm not speaking for all moms, some moms would not like their children to see it.
Especially the part where people get drills in their heads.
That seemed to stick mostly for you guys.
Was that the scariest part of the book? No, probably, I think the scariest part for me was probably when we saw the statue of Tomas he's just like frozen you can see it's part of his brain and millie just dropped like was crazy about it I think that I got grossed out instead of scared.
Like, I think the grossest part was when The guy's hand was bitten.
I thought that was so disgusting, and I was just like, I don't want to read this.
This is so disgusting. That's what I feel in books.
I don't get scared. I get grossed out and scared, kind of.
You didn't like a thumb getting bitten off?
Yeah, I've only read another book where there's a lot of blood.
And that's what cruises me at, not the fact that they're getting hurt.
Scariest part for you? Well, definitely the drilling in the head, but knowing that this is a fictional book and that it's not my own school.
It's less scary. Well I'm wondering if this is a book that maybe bothers adults more than it bothers kids.
I'm just sometimes... Adult, adult, like...
Say, I'm not speaking for all moms and dads, but if a little bit overprotective mom or dad was reading this book, I think they would be bothered by it and say, I don't think this is appropriate for kids to read.
What do you think? If you have experience and you don't get scared easily, If you have experience with these kind of horror books, it would be fine for you, but if you don't, I suggest you don't read it.
How realistic is this school? It's not realistic.
Just because they don't follow other rules.
They fix kids in the kitchen. they just don't have a real curriculum.
And I don't think that he was running the school Like somebody who really knew how to run a school would.
Some parts are realistic, like there could be a school. that is like a castle and that part of the house was burned down.
There could be some really brave kid living down in labyrinths.
There could be a headmaster or a principal that doesn't know how to run a school. and all pretty realistic.
The parts about the underground labyrinth and the brain drilling is half realistic, half not, because it could happen.
But it's very, very, very unlikely to happen.
Who's your favorite character? So hard. Probably Tomas.
He kind of has like that mischievous... bad boy like personality and I like that personality.
I think in the beginning it was Millie because she was like kind of cool and then at the end Tomas, just because I like like the fact that he was like he was living like that and he was just like a kid and like Nobody had figured him out.
I just thought that was like so cool. Describe Millie.
She changes in the book. Yeah, like in the beginning, she was like a real big troublemaker.
Like, everybody didn't, like, trust her.
And, like, she stole... a lot of things but I think as the story went on and like she like grew to like like the school she became a better person i think definitely millie Well, she's the only girl, and I think that's kind of brave of her, going to a school that's full of boys.
But I also like her because she's kind of like, a troublemaker, like a daredevil.
She's really, really funny. Are you a daredevil and a troublemaker yourself?
Probably not. school is that a school that you would like to attend me Probably because first of all, I've never been to a boarding school and I would have to see how it's like.
And second of all, if I got to explore underground, labyrinth is and I got to like stand up on poles and do construction work and conduct lightning.
I think that would be pretty cool. I would like to go to Rubble Strap.
Definitely not. I wouldn't want to go to school like this.
I like water in school. I hate when people fool around.
And like, this would be like really like the top, the max of that.
They keep talking in this book about how this school is going to prepare you for stuff in life.
Well, I think it kind of does because it prepares you for like, Life is dangerous.
There's people out there who not are not always gonna agree with you.
You're not gonna be friends with them. And you're also going to make a lot of friends during this path of life.
Well, I do think that they learned some things, although I do think that the things that they teach you in Revelstrop are things that maybe you would only need in very, very dire situations.
Although I must say a lot of the students are very well prepared.
Writer Andy Mulligan was somewhat prepared to write Ribble's Drop.
He was a teacher who had one of those what-if moments.
Yes. of which there are many around where I live.
We looked at it and we were just thinking, God, wouldn't it be nice to... buy it and rebuild it as our own school and it was completely silly fantasy because neither of us were in a position to do any such thing but we just started speculating as storytellers really what kind of school we'd build and what kind of insane parent would entrust their child to our care um And we started thinking, it became a kind of train of logical thought, really.
Once you built the school, how would you try and find teachers mad enough to join the squad.
You could only ever afford teachers that have been thrown out of other schools, teachers that weren't really up to the job anymore.
So in that way, we started conceiving this narrative this nonsense school that started taking any child that it could possibly get including third world orphans who'd be glad of a bed anywhere to keep the whole thing going.
It's a throwback to the age when there were no There wasn't that tide of legislation that now cripples us, now guards. guides out every move and makes us nervous before we let children play tag in the playground.
There are actually stories in yesterday's newspapers about a couple of schools who have banned the game of TIG. or tag because children have been tripping over and children have been getting upset.
Um, A day doesn't go by in this country without some extraordinary tale of child protection.
And you know, of course, that somewhere there's motivation that is benign and right. and good and proper, but there is an insanity to it when it starts preventing children being children.
So Ribbstrop is definitely a reaction to that.
And it's, yes, loved and feared for that reason, I think.
Did you attend boarding school yourself?
Not at all. No, I went to a day school. I went to a very tough boys' grammar school, never bought it.
I've worked in boarding schools but I've never had the the terror of actually sleeping in a dormitory myself.
It always struck me as It's a very frightening experience for a child, and yet I've worked with kids who absolutely take to it and love it.
You went on to write the novel Trash, which was made into a film, and then you returned to Ribble's Drop.
Why? I wanted to close the trilogy. I'd always conceived it as a three... term, a three semester project.
And I wanted closure, I suppose. I wanted to take those children and teachers on a journey.
I didn't want to abandon them halfway through. it and I wasn't sure whether the trilogy was going to end tragically in that finally the forces of law and order would would destroy the school and close it down. or whether the school would in some way prove itself and become a kind of beacon. and it was the second thing that happened.
I did write the first version but my Publisher sent it back and said, please don't end on such a downbeat note.
Let's finish with triumph. So did you like the book?
Overall, yes. Plentiful jaw-dropping and very exciting. i like the end a lot like i like that kind of stuff But I didn't really like the beginning.
It didn't have a lot of aspects to keep you reading.
And have a lot of things where like, oh, like we know something's gonna happen.
We're just like waiting for it to. There wasn't any of that.
I really liked it, especially when they give the details about Tomas's underground home.
I also really like the part where they put the letters in the book. like Ruskin's letter to his family, or the letter that Dr. Norcross Webb sent home at the end of the break.
And I like those parts, so they really go into details.
Is this book like anything else you've read before?
Or written before, if you've written a book like this before.
I think it's kind of like a mixture of the Percy Jackson and the book Harry Potter.
And maybe just a tiny bit of Kane Chronicles.
Because they're all suspenseful, jaw-dropping, exciting, and sometimes even funny.
I think it was actually kind of like the book Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, which is one of my favorite books. just because it's about a bunch of kids and something, it's not dangerous, but they have to get out of a bad situation. and it's just kids and I like that in books.
I think it's a lot like The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls, which I would recommend for another podcast because it's really good.
Because they're both about a boarding school where bad and dangerous things happen.
Alright, well we get to the ultimate question, which is what is your favorite book?
My favorite book has to be Harry Potter.
Suspenseful, jaw-dropping, magic. I love wizards.
You're on the entry seat, nearly about to go off it.
Yeah. I actually like the book I mentioned earlier, which is Escape from Mr. Limoncello's Library. because it's just like so cool like you're just like Whoa, I think that is amazing.
I want to do that through the entire book, and you want to know what happens.
Probably Harry Potter because it's so, like, detailed and suspenseful, but not like, su-dispensable.
And with the injuries, this is a big bonus, they don't really go into all the details with injuries.
They just say, this person got injured or this person broke their arm. or stuff like that.
Because if you go into the details of injuries, no one's gonna wanna read the book.
What about you, Annie Mulligan? What is your favorite book?
My favorite book? Oh, it changes fairly frequently, but I would say at the moment.
I'm rereading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
That might still be my favorite book. And if not, you're not allowed to give me two, are you?
But if not, I would probably have to say the book that's never...
Far from my desk is Animal Farm. What's your favorite book?
Want to be on the Book Club for Kids podcast?
Well, send us an email or just... record yourself on the Voice Memo app on your mom or dad's smartphone and send it to us at Book Club for Kids Podcast at gmail.com.
You just give us your first name, the city where you live, the name of the book you love and why you like it. and email the voice memo to bookclubforkidspodcast at gmail.com.
Thanks this week to Jonathan Jensen, who composed and performed our music. and to our celebrity reader Peter Sagal from NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.
Thanks as well to writer Andy Mulligan and Carolyn Ambar and all the crew at Wachung Booksellers in Montclair, New Jersey.
And of course, thanks to our trio of readers, Carolina, Jack, and Eleanor.
And a favor, if you like the show, share it with your friends And if you haven't already done so give us a rating and a review on iTunes.
You can like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and even on Pinterest.
And if you're a teacher, a parent, or a librarian, you can sign up for the free Book Club for Kids newsletter at our website.
You'll get tips from other experts, teachers, parents, and librarians about how to turn your kid into a lifelong reader.
I'm Kitty Felde. Thanks again for listening.
Thank you. Thanks for watching! Thanks for watching!
