RAR #273: Imagining the Childhood of C.S. Lewis, with Judith McQuoid

Read-Aloud Revival ®

Sarah Mackenzie

Books, Homeschool, How To, Read-aloud, Kids & Family, Teaching From Rest, Reading, Education, Parenting

4.9 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 October 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many of you will already know that I am a huge fan of The Chronicles of Narnia. Today, I want to introduce my fellow Narnia lovers to a new book that jumped right off the shelf as soon as I saw it.

Giant is a middle-grade novel by debut author Judith McQuoid where we meet Davy, a fictional working class boy from East Belfast, Ireland who is sent to work in the wealthy Lewis household in 1908. There, he forges a friendship with Jacks–as C.S. Lewis was known to his friends and family–over books, stories, and building worlds of imagination and adventure.

Giant is a must-read for Narnia fans that adds a whole new depth of experience to C.S. Lewis’s world and will help you read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in a fresh way. And today, I’m chatting with the author about what inspired her to write the book, how much of the story is fictionalized, and how the process of writing the book shaped her identity. And you’re going to love her Irish accent!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

The way her dad’s love of Narnia and Lewis’s Belfast heritage inspired Judith to write this story
How Judith started with a “skeleton” draft and added layers of detail and depth with revisions
The faith that carried Judith through the ups and downs of creating Giant

Learn more about Sarah Mackenzie:

Find the rest of the show notes at: readaloudrevival.com/judith-mcquoid

Order Flora and the Jazzers by Astrid Sheckels!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Flora and the Jazzers is the newest picture book written and illustrated by Astrid Sheckles.
0:10.0	Amazon named it one of the best books of October, and reviewers are calling it a triumph.
0:16.0	It's a 1920s New York City Jazz Age Cinderella story, starring none other than Flora the Ferret.
0:24.9	And I dare you not to fall in love with all the critters in their period clothing in this book.
0:31.8	Oh my goodness.
0:33.0	Flora and the Jazzers is available now, anywhere books are sold.
0:36.1	You can also just text the word Flora, F-L-O-R-A, to the number 33-777.
0:42.8	You'll be glad you did.
1:12.0	You'll be glad you did. Welcome to the Read Aloud Revival. I'm your host, Sarah McKenzie, and this is the show that helps you make meaningful and lasting connections with your kids through books. You may have heard me say before that I think
1:19.2	the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is one of the best, if not the actual
1:26.7	best, middle grade novels ever written. I think it's
1:31.3	deceptive in its simplicity. It's got really complex themes and it's absolutely stunning in its
1:42.1	spellbinding characters, page turning quality, plat. The Lion, the Witch,
1:46.4	in the Wardrobe is only about 38,000 words, which might not mean anything to you if I just say
1:51.8	that like that, but most middle grade novels are close to twice that length. And so 38,000
1:59.9	words is quite short, actually, for a children's novel. It's
2:04.7	stunning to me because if you think to yourself, imagine yourself in Narnia. Anyone who has
2:10.2	read these books can instantly close their eyes and be there. The immersive storytelling
2:15.9	that C.S. Lewis was able to accomplish in 38,000 short words,
2:21.3	most novelists can only dream of doing in twice that length.
2:25.9	I love The Line the Witch and the Wardrobe so much.
2:28.3	We actually chose it here at RER for the RAR Premium Family Book Club for fall.
	...

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