Friday First Chapters #37: R. A. Spratt reads ‘The Epically Awesome Odyssey, as told by Nanny Piggins’

June 12, 2026

In this episode of the Your Kid’s Next Read Friday First Chapters series:

R. A. Spratt reads ‘The Epically Awesome Odyssey, as told by Nanny Piggins’

Bestselling author R. A. Spratt reads from her hilarious new middle-grade novel ‘The Epically Awesome Odyssey, as told by Nanny Piggins’

About R. A. Spratt

R.A. Spratt was born in the UK and lived in Dursley, Gloucestershire – a town immortalised by Harry Potter’s deeply unpleasant relatives – until she was two years old. Then, like many ambitious English people cursed with regional accents so strong no other British person can take them seriously, her family moved to Australia.

The tedium of growing up in the western suburbs of Sydney was fertiliser to the growth of R.A.’s imagination. The only thing for a kid to do was get on a bicycle and go to the library, so R.A. Spratt did just that.

Once there, she read everything, devouring the books of Arthur Ransome, Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Robin Klein and Judy Blume, and audiotapes of Shakespeare productions and Sherlock Holmes dramatisations. And so, her young mind was formed, and set on the path of becoming the extraordinary author she is today.

Now based in Bowral NSW, she’s the bestselling writer of dozens of absurd and witty books including Friday Barnes, The Adventures of Nanny Piggins, The Peski Kids and the Shockingly and Astonishingly Good Stories collections. Her podcast, Bedtime Stories with R.A. Spratt, has had over 5 million downloads and connects R.A. with story-lovers across the globe.

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About ‘The Epically Awesome Odyssey, as told by Nanny Piggins’

Finally, Nanny Piggins sets the record straight and reveals what really happened 3,000 years ago on the most epically awesome journey of all time – The Odyssey! Spoiler alert – Homer totally left out the fact that Odysseus was a staggeringly beautiful woman and a pig.

Travel with Odysseus and her crew as they face man-munching monsters, Greek Gods with rage issues, Sirens brandishing cake batter to tempt sailors to their doom and a forbidden sausage sizzle on the Island of Helios.

This is the perfect book for before bed, avoiding homework or for those times when you’re shipwrecked on a desert island, perhaps because you’ve angered the Sea God Poseidon by poking his son in the eye.

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Published by Penguin Books Australia

Friday First Chapters #21: R. A. Spratt reads ‘Romeo v Juliet’

Friday First Chapters #13: Amelia Mellor reads ‘The Wicked Ship’

Friday First Chapters #5: Ashleigh Barton reads ‘How To Sail To Somewhere’

First Chapters #2 (Summer Series): Judith Rossell reads ‘The Midwatch’

FIND A LIST OF ALL OUR FRIDAY FIRST CHAPTERS EPISODES HERE.