RAR #67: Reading for the Bigger Story, Jonathan Rogers

Hold on to your hats everyone – I am sharing one of my very favorite middle grade series in this episode. I’m chatting with both my daughter Allison and someone who just might be my favorite living author, Jonathan Rogers.

Jonathan is author of the fantastic Winderking series, which has been described as a cross between Tolkien and Twain.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

  • whether characters in books should serve as role models… or not
  • the way stories inspire us to live a better story ourselves
  • how Narnia tells more truth than a non-fiction book

Plus, Allison asks Jonathan about writing his trilogy, and he tells a great story about the origin of some of his characters. You don’t want to miss it!

 Click the play button below:

Books from this episode:

(All links are affiliate links.)

100 Cupboards
The Bark of the Bog Owl
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: A Signature Performance by Elijah Wood
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
The Great Gilly Hopkins
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
A Sense of Wonder: On Reading and Writing Books for Children
The Charlatan’s Boy: A Novel
The Secret of the Swamp King
The Terrible Speed of Mercy: A Spiritual Biography of Flannery O’Connor
The Way of the Wilderking

Links from today’s show:

11 Comments

  1. I’m so grateful for this podcast! Thanks so much for introducing me to this wonderful author – after listening to this I got The Charlatan’s Boy from the library and it is one of my favorite books now! I was hooked from the very first page. I am *extremely * picky about books and this one knocked it out of the park. Definitely the best modern middle grade work of fiction I’ve ever read. One question: do we know if there are any plans in the works to make it into an audiobook?

    1. Hello, Heather. I’m sorry to report that there aren’t plans for a Charlatan’s Boy audiobook. I don’t own those audio rights, and I don’t think Waterbrook Press has any intention of making an audio book.

  2. Thanks for the information your article brings. I see the novelty of your writing, I will share it for everyone to read together. I look forward to reading many articles from you.

  3. I’ve not read any of Jonathan’s books and am looking forward to changing that! Thanks for another fun episode.
    Could you go back to putting the kids’ recommendations in the book link section? I often can’t understand what they are staying (and am always driving so can’t write down ideas anyway), and I’d like to be able to follow up on some of them. Thanks!

    1. I sound like I grew up in a swamp! Geez. I meant “alligator ate”. And I don’t think I will recover from that image. LOL

  4. My husband read this to our children a few years ago and I took that opportunity to be busy with all of the “urgent” items on my list. Clearly I MISSED OUT! Thank you for reminding me that I can and should enjoy fantastic books too! Pulling it off the shelf NOW!

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