Kelly and special guest Sarah Dessen talk about teen life today, how YA has grown and changed in the last two decades, and what “strong female characters” means.

This episode is sponsored by All The Books, Where You End and I Begin by Preston Norton, from Disney Publishing Worldwide and Amazon Publishing.

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Show Notes

The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen

Netflix options Sarah Dessen novels for adaptation

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Little Fires Everywhere by Celest Ng

It by Stephen King

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

Cut by Patricia McCormick

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

There’s Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Slay by Brittney Morris

Sixteen by Megan McCafferty

A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry

Ash by Malinda Lo

Freaky Friday by Mary Rodgers

A Billion for Boris by Mary Rodgers

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

With The Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

On Writing by Stephen King

For listeners itching to know more about the authors we dove into, you’ll do well looking up books by Jacqueline Woodson, Walter Dean Myers, Julie Anne Peters, David Levithan, Neal Schusterman, Jennifer Smith, and Deb Caletti.

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