Hi, I'm Kitty Felde.
We continue our back to school theme with another episode set in a rather unusual school.
This time it's Hypatia Academy, a place with invisible bullies, ancient magic and even little green men.
Give a listen.
It's the Book Club for Kids.
It's 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.
Are you one of those kids starting a brand new school this fall?
A little nervous?
Well, at least your new school won't be full of invisible roommates and kleepracons.
It's kind of a kleptomaniac leprechaun.
And frankly, this one's not a very good one.
One, she asked for a book and he came back with a xylophone or something like that.
That's our trio of readers from Maryland.
Our celebrity reader is NPR Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin.
She lets us hear what a clip recon sounds like.
Cornelius B. K. Lip recon at your service.
He put his hat to his chest, made a little bow and stuck out his right hand to shake.
Pleased to meet you, he said.
The book is Hypatia Academy by Esther Goldenberg, who introduces us to the ancient wise woman named Hypatia.
Mathematician and a philosopher and an astronomer and a teacher, this amazing woman who lived in the time of The great library of Alexandria.
We'll talk about Hypatia and boarding schools and magic, and even the appropriateness of swear words and literature.
But let's start at the beginning.
Why don't you guys introduce yourselves?
My name is Chelsea.
I go to North Chevy Chase Elementary and I'm in sixth grade.
My name is Maggie Locker and I go to St.
Bartholomew Catholic School in Bethesda and I'm in seventh grade.
My name is Bridget, and I go to Eastern Middle School, and I'm in sixth grade.
The book is about a girl named Hope, who is a direct descendant youngest direct descendant of Hypatia, who is a sorcerer, and she goes to a school called Hypatia Academy and must defeat an evil sorcerer named Rames.
Talk to me a little bit about Hypatia.
So Hapatia is a sorceress, and she was an Egyptian sorceress, and she founded Hapatia Academy.
And she had a brother named Remus, and they were not the greatest of siblings, definitely.
She has to protect her magic power of her family from her evil brother who wants it all for himself, and she passes on, like all this knowledge, to her descendants to help keep fighting back against ramus.
Talk to me a little bit about this school.
What's it like?
It's a little different than where you guys go.
I take it.
Yes, definitely.
Um, so a patient academy?
Yes, as you said before, it's not a normal school.
They have not just uh, normal children, but they have invisible children and they have little leprechauns and Hope befriends, one called Cornelius.
So she meets a lot of unique friends and they have a lot of libraries classrooms and the classes are not as you would normally expect either.
One of the reasons Hypatia Academy is different is that attendance to class is not mandatory.
You only attend class when you... feel like it.
Otherwise, it's not really mandatory.
But you still have to get good grades in class.
Would you like to have that kind of an attendance rule at your school?
It would be kind of weird honestly, because there'd just be students walking around the halls during class time.
I don't think anyone would get anything done.
Personally, I would still go to class, but most of the people I know probably wouldn't.
I think it really depends on what kind of people go to your school, because I know in my school more than half the people would not go to class.
So again, as Chelsea said before, nobody would be getting anything done and people would not get as good grades.
Yeah, I agree, because how are you supposed to know when something important is going to come up in school and you're just going to completely miss it and your grades will just plummet and everybody will just be walking around the halls doing whatever they want.
How else is this school different from your school?
The libraries are very different.
They have a couple of normal libraries, but one of the libraries is there are no books.
There are actually just words in every language, just random words on the walls, because they want anyone who comes into that room to read and they will read, because there are random words on the walls that do not make sense.
Again, anything you'd like to have at your school?
Personally, I think the words on the wall would be interesting, but also weird.
No, really good use for them really, because after you read all the words on the wall, what's the point?
Nothing else to do.
Just read a wall, and then that's kind of it.
Also, one thing I would like to have at my school, that is, at Hypatia Academy, is the food, because the food sounds really good and the school lunches at my school are not the best.
Plus, that one chef they have, Chef Baker, who apparently makes the most amazing blueberry pancakes.
I would love to try that.
Yeah.
They aren't really leprechauns in this book.
They are what?
Actually they are called leprechauns, who are supposed to be different from leprechauns.
Well, let's hear a little bit more about those cleprechauns courtesy of our celebrity reader this week.
You are probably very familiar with her voice.
She is the host of npr's weekend edition sunday.
Rachel martin hope put her hand on the doorknob to leave, but the small squeaky voice wasn't nearly as intimidating as the first loud one.
She didn't really want to meet another invisible person, but maybe this was your chance to be brave.
Hope paused.
Who are you? she asked.
And where are you?
Cornelius B. K. Leprechaun at your service, answered the voice.
Hope turned around to follow the sound.
In the back corner of the room she saw a little green man step out from behind a green beanbag chair.
He was about the size of her hand and dressed in yellow overalls and a yellow top hat.
He removed his hat, revealing a green tuft of hair sticking straight up on his head.
He put his hat to his chest, made a little bow, and stuck out his right hand to shake.
"'Pleased to meet you,' he said.
Surprised by his size and color, but pleased he wasn't invisible, Hope extended her right hand and Cornelius took hold of her pointer finger and gave it a hearty shake.
Thank you for your help, she said.
I've never seen an invisible girl before.
Come to think of it, I guess I still haven't seen one, Hope shrugged.
But I never even knew people could be invisible.
Which one was the invisible one?
Cornelius asked.
Um, the one who we couldn't see?
Maybe you should get you some glasses, Cornelius suggested.
I could see all of them, canasty backtalkers.
Weird, thought Hope.
Though this little green dude is pretty weird, too.
I've never met a leprechaun before, Hope said.
You're my first one.
Bashers, girl, don't ye ever call me a leprechaun again.
I am cannot a leprechaun.
I could never was a leprechaun.
And I can never will be a leprechaun.
Have you got that straight in your head?
Sorry, sorry, Hope apologized quickly.
I thought you said you were a leprechaun.
I could never would say such cononsense.
I said I was Cornelius B. Key Leprechaun.
I am a key leprechaun.
World of difference.
Sorry, Hope apologized again.
I thought I was just having trouble with your accent.
I didn't mean to call you the wrong thing.
I've never heard of a key leprechaun before, and I'm very pleased to meet one.
Can you tell me what key leprechauns are?
Besides handsome and charming and brave, of course.
Cornelius blushed.
He had meant to correct her, to tell her that he wasn't the one with the accent.
She was.
But the compliment distracted him and he went right into his explanation.
Keleprecons is magical creatures that come from the woods.
Our ancestors were kleptomaniacs and con artists.
We are famous for being the best in the world at stealing and tricking.
The main kleprecon in the story is...
Cornelius says they're supposed to be the best at tricking and stealing.
In the beginning of the book Hope thinks that would be a problem, but then she finds out all the biggest things he can steal are buttons, and it's kind of funny.
Clipper cons are very small, too, so they cannot transport big things.
So whenever she asks Cornelius to steal something for her, he doesn't often comes back with the wrong thing.
Like?
Well, one, she asked for a book, and he came back with a xylophone or something like that.
Oh, yeah.
So things like that.
He does his job well, but at the same time, sometimes he does not succeed.
Let's talk about our main character.
When she comes to the school...
What kinds of powers does she have?
She does not know she has any sort of power and she's very confused, until she meets Cornelius the clipper con, and she meets other friends, such as the twins.
She meets Arthur and Walter.
Yes, and she becomes very good friends with them.
But at first, she's very confused and almost angry and sad, too, because she's homesick.
And also she doesn't know why she was transported here, so she does not know anything.
So she's very confused and actually a little bit mad.
She had this pleasant and really nice life back at where she lived, but now she was immediately shipped for no reason.
And then, all of a sudden, her aunt comes randomly out of the blue and takes her on a plane to England, which is completely random, and so she's like really homesick and really confused, like she doesn't know what's going on at all.
Any desire on your part for uh to go to a boarding school, overseas or otherwise?
Uh, i would kind of want to see what it's like.
My mom uh, went to a boarding school in switzerland in high school and she loved it, so i kind of want to see what it's like.
Um yeah, i would want to try it.
Yeah, i think a boarding school might be interesting, but it sort of depends on like, the people who are at the boarding school and sort of what it's like.
I'd just like to go to a boarding school because I didn't feel like Harry Potter, and I've finally been accepted to Hogwarts.
Finally.
That would have been cool.
So let's talk a little bit about Hope's journey.
How does she change from the beginning of the book to the end of the book?
I think in the beginning of the book she's just feeling really mixed emotions.
She's confused and nervous and homesick.
She discovers that she does know sorcery even, and that she is a natural at it.
But she at first did not know anything about her powers and she didn't know that she was related to Hypatia and she actually didn't know who Hypatia was.
She also became a lot more confident in herself, because when she first found out about this stuff she was like there's no way I can do this and stuff.
But near the end, when she was about to battle Remus, she feels more confident and she keeps repeating these same words.
You are strong, you are wise, you are connected, and you are powerful.
Is that a mantra you guys could use in your lives?
Definitely, because sometimes I feel really down and I think everyone has those days and I think that those words can really help lift you up again.
I agree.
You don't have to have special sorcery powers to be a special person.
So Chelsea, why did you fall in love with this book?
You know...
I'm not quite sure.
I just find it really interesting.
Even though it's a short book and it's an easy read, I just find it a really good book.
And I've already read it like three times.
I'm planning to read it a fourth time because it's just a really, really interesting book.
It really shows that anyone can figure it out.
Anyone can be smart and stay strong even in the toughest of times.
So it was really inspiring too.
Yeah, it really builded upon the idea that anybody can do whatever they want and as long as you have the confidence to do it, you can do it, and that's really inspiring.
So what's the things that you don't like about the book?
I think we can all relate to this one certain part of the book where there are a couple of bad words.
I'm glad you brought that up because that was the thing that kind of surprised me.
There's a portion in the book where she basically starts using words that might get a lot of people in trouble.
Yes.
I am not a fan of bad words and I do not say bad words.
So I did not like that scene at all.
And I know she was in a tough situation, but I still think she could have used better vocabulary.
Swearing does release a chemical into your brain that helps you feel better in situations like that.
And it actually did say that she felt better about it.
So it might have been the characters.
And to be fair, in the book she was in a very stressful situation.
Even though I don't much like to say bad words, I think that if I was in a really, really stressful situation like that, I might have said something as well.
In some books.
It makes me frustrated when, like the hero is facing a near-death situation and they're incredibly calm and making jokes about stuff, and sometimes it makes me slightly annoyed.
I do think that was slightly appropriate in the book, because it just makes me know that even when people with incredible powers are going to face something, even they can be a bit nervous as well.
And also it said in the book that Hope knows not to say that.
It also makes the character seem a bit more true to life, because a lot of girls our age would say something like that because that's starting to be the new thing swearing and stuff.
So it makes it a lot more seem like the character is real and not just this perfect perfect, Good girl.
Yeah.
My dad always said that when you say bad words, it is basically showing that you do not have a very big vocabulary, because you can't think of anything else to say.
I think parents don't want their kids saying that, because it not only gives the kids a bad reputation for doing bad things, it gives the parents a bad reputation as well.
And I think my mom can highly agree on that.
Yeah.
I know you guys have some questions for the writer and we are lucky enough to be joined by Esther Goldenberg.
Welcome, and who wants to start?
How did you get the idea for the book?
I was reading online one day when I came across Hepatia, the actual Hepatia, who lived in ancient Egypt a long time ago.
And I read her story briefly, about her being a mathematician and a philosopher and an astronomer and a teacher, this amazing woman who lived in the time of the Great Library of Alexandria.
And I was disappointed by the ending of her real story.
And so I just got this idea of how I could change it more to my liking.
Mm-hmm.
Where did you get the inspiration for the different characters in the story?
The little guy Cornelius is actually – there's a book that I absolutely love and highly recommend to everybody, called The We Free Men.
And there are characters in The We Free Men that are these little guys who are the we free men the little ones – who can do lots of things that the humans in the book can't do.
And I thought well, that's a really great thing to add in a book, because Cornelius can do lots of things that the people in the book can't do.
So how did you think up Hope's personality?
And what was your process for naming the characters and characterizing all of the books' unique people?
When I first started this book, Hope's name was Janie.
And this book started out as a book called Plain Jane, and the main character was named Janie.
And as I developed the story, or maybe I should say as the story sort of developed in my mind, I realized that I needed a main character who had a first name that started with the letter H, And so Janie became Hope.
Are you thinking about making a sequel, and what might it be about?
I'm so glad you asked me that, because I wanted to ask you guys a question about the sequel as a matter of fact, because I do have a couple of ideas for a sequel, but I would love to hear what your thoughts are about what you would want to see next.
What would you look for in a sequel?
I would probably look for like another quest she has to go on and more difficulties and maybe meeting new characters.
So that kind of thing.
I was thinking, maybe like one of Remus's descendants, possibly trying against helping him against the Hypatia.
Instead of a sequel, I was thinking more of like a prequel, like the story of Ramas and Hypatia when they were kids.
That's a good one.
Thanks for your ideas.
Thank you.
What's your favorite book?
I love the Harry Potter series.
That is my favorite series and books of all time.
So I know that's a series, but I just love all of those books so much.
They're my favorite.
I love J.K.
Rowling.
She's great.
So that's probably my favorite.
Yeah, they're just amazing books.
I love the Harry Potter series.
That might be why you like this book, because it also contains magic boarding schools, and That's probably why we all liked it.
Yeah.
I think that might be the reason why.
Well, I love fantasy fiction books, but I also really love realistic fiction.
So I read this a long time ago, but I always really recommend it.
For someone who's looking for a sad but inspiring book is out of my mind.
I love that book so much.
Oh, my goodness.
So that book was really inspiring.
So if you're looking for an inspiring book that also has its tragedies, I would highly highly recommend that book.
And, by the way, it was a previous book club selection.
So if folks want to hear a discussion of Out of My Mind, they can go to the website and we'll have a link right there.
I think another one of my favorite books is the Savvy series by Ingrid Law.
It's about a group of family members, and they all have special powers called Savies.
They get on their 13th birthdays, I believe, and there are three books in the series.
I liked them because I feel like a lot of books lately only feature girl heroes.
It happens a lot.
So I liked the series, partly because there were both boy heroes in it and girl heroes, which was nice to see.
And it gives you the feeling that even though they're supposed to be really big heroes and all save the day and everything, they still get nervous sometimes.
Well, I really like sci-fi or dystopian books like The Hunger Games and stuff, but one of my favorites is called The Fifth Wave, which just came out as a movie by Rick Yancey.
I've wanted to read that for a long time.
It's about this alien invasion and they're sending different attacks and it causes all this death, disease and all this tragedies.
Why do you like that in particular?
Well, it's interesting thinking that that possibly could happen to us if a very slight chance, but it possibly could and that's really interesting how that might happen.
But tell me why you like it.
I mean, i always find it interesting that dystopian novels can be so depressing, But people really like them.
I mean, why?
I really like dystopian societies because it makes me wonder what is our future really going to be like?
A book I recently read, it's also a series, is the Divergent series.
And that's recommended for probably an older audience, a little bit older audience.
But I really liked that series because it did make you wonder, what is our future going to be about?
Yeah.
I also like those dystopian society books and adventure books to make me wonder what would I do in that situation, such as the Hunger Games.
Where what would I do?
Would I survive?
That kind of thing.
And I also like adventure books as well, like survival books, because it really makes me wonder would I be up to that challenge or not?
Well, you guys were certainly up to the challenge of tackling Hypatia Academy.
We'll have a list of all your favorite books at our website, bookclub4kids.org.
And if you'd like to be on the show yourself, just have your teacher, your parent, or your librarian send us an email to kitty, K-I-T-T-Y, at bookclub4kids.org.
That's bookclub4kids.org.
Either we will come to your classroom or library or we will tell you how you can record yourselves and we'll put you on the air.
Again, our new email is kitty at bookclub4kids.org.
Thanks this week to Jonathan Jensen, who composed and performed our music.
And thanks to our readers, Chelsea, Maggie, and Bridget.
And as well we want to thank Lynette Clementson, who organized this group.
Our celebrity reader and PR Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin and our author Esther Goldenberg.
We have a free newsletter for teachers, parents and librarians full of tips about how to turn kids into lifelong readers.
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I'm Kitty Felde.
Thanks again for listening.
