Always YA

By Always YA

A podcast series about Young Adult books and media hosted by three librarians!... more

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FAQs about Always YA:

How many episodes does Always YA have?

The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.

Always YA episodes:

March 17, 2024 The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson-- and State Book Awards!
Team Always YA is back from hiatus and excited to discuss The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson, which is nominated for the Volunteer State Book Award this year!
We also chat a bit about The Last Airbender, Edward Gorey, and Abbott Elementary.
SHOW NOTES
The Weight of Blood
Born to Be Posthumous: The Eccentric Life and Mysterious Genius of Edward Gorey

Avatar: The Last Airbender
Contact us!
Instagram: @alwaysyapod
Email: [email protected]
Intro/Outro music is “Birthday Cake” by Jahzzar. Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Logo design by Sarah Timmons, all rights reserved.

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43min
May 02, 2023 AAPI Month: Asian-American and Pacific Islander YA!
It's Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and your Always YA librarians are here to discuss some of their favorite picks from AAPI authors. We also discuss how representation has changed in recent decades-- and, as always, we talk about what we've been enjoying lately and what we're looking forward to soon!

Show hosts: Jane McMahon, Kate Pritchard, Susan Timmons
We'll be going on summer break for two months-- look for us back in August!
__________
Contact us!
Instagram: @alwaysyapod
Email: [email protected]
Intro/Outro music is “Birthday Cake” by Jahzzar. Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Logo design by Sarah Timmons, all rights reserved.
Titles mentioned in this episode:
All Our Hidden Gifts by Caroline O’Donoghue
Messy Roots by Laura Gao
Primo tv series (FreeVee)
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
A First Time for Everything, by Dan Santat
Cunk on Earth (Diane Morgan on Netflix)
Making a Scene by Constance Wu
Luck of the Titanic/The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee

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32min
April 04, 2023Alex Award Winners: Some of our Favorites!
You've heard about the Newberry Award, but have you met ALEX??? The Alex Awards are given to books that were not officially published for a Young Adult market, but that are deemed to have strong crossover appeal for both teens and adults. In this episode, librarians Jane McMahon, Susan Timmons, and Kate Pritchard share some of the favorite Alex Award-winning books. In addition, we share what we've been reading/watching lately and what we're looking forward to in the future!
SHOW NOTES
Instagram: @alwaysyapod
Email: [email protected]
Intro/Outro music is “Birthday Cake” by Jahzzar. Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Logo design by Sarah Timmons, all rights reserved.
Media mentioned in this episode...
The Library of the Dead, by T.L. Huchu

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts, by Kate Racculia

Bellweather Rhapsody, by Kate Racculia

Sunshine, by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Hey Kiddo, by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

March, by John Lewis

Dragon Hoops, by Gene Luen Yang

In Limbo, by Deb JJ Lee

Victory. Stand!, by Tommie Smith

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley

The Power streaming on Amazon Prime

Song Exploder Podcast

I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves playing in theaters now!
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34min
March 01, 2023 Born This Way: Queer Representation in YA Lit!
We're dedicating this installment of AYA to YA/Middle-Grade author Ellen Wittlinger, who passed in away in November 2022. In this episode, Kate Pritchard will offer some memories of her mom and give us a timeline of LGBTQIA+ books for young people.
We'll are share our picks for Queer YA books, as well as mentioning what we've been consuming lately and what we're looking forward to next. (With a slight detour to discuss how we feel about reading sequels.)
Titles, Authors, and Other Related Info From This Episode:
“LGBTQ Children’s Books,” a timeline by the Ohio University Libraries: https://libguides.library.ohio.edu/LGBTQchildbks/timeline.
Smith, Richard. “Behind the Story - Section 28.” Gay Times, February 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20150204120913/http://www.gaytimes.co.uk/Magazine/InThisIssue.aspx?articleid=3489§ionid=650.
“Jenny Lives With Eric and Martin - February 2021.” Special Collections (blog), Newcastle University, 22 February 2021. https://blogs.ncl.ac.uk/speccoll/2021/02/22/jenny-lives-with-eric-and-martin-february-2021/.
Gershon, Livia. “Queer YA: The Early Decades.” JSTOR Daily, 17 December 2021. https://daily.jstor.org/queer-ya-the-early-decades/.
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/90990-obituary-ellen-wittlinger.html
https://www.bookpage.com/interviews/8577-john-green-david-levithan-ya/
https://www.ala.org/rt/rrt/award/stonewall/honored
https://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/
https://lambdaliterary.org/awards/lammys-directory-1988-present/
“Boys Run the Riot” by Keito Gaku, volume 1 at Parnassus Books.
https://www.nagoyaisnotboring.com/geisha-nagoya-meigiren/
https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/japanese-culture/no-women-kabuki-theater-japan/
Princess Knight by Osamu Tezuka at Parnassus Books.
Thorn, Rachel (Matt). “Girls And Women Getting Out Of Hand: The Pleasure And Politics Of Japan's Amateur Comics Community”. Online at Academia.
‘American Born Chinese’ Stages ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ Reunion, by Meaghan Darwish.https://www.tvinsider.com/1077101/american-born-chinese-premiere-date-photos-michelle-yeoh-ke-huy-quan/
Tales of a Seventh Grade Lizard Boy by Jonathan Hill
Camp by L.C. Rosen
Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah
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46min
February 01, 2023 Hopelessly Devoted: YA Romance!
Whether you're a Valentine, a Galentine, or a Palentine, February is time for love, friendship, and even a little romance! But how sweet are we on Young Adult Romance as a genre? Tune in to hear what Team AYA has to say about some recent romance reading. And we also share what we've been trying lately and what we're looking forward to next. Panel: Jane McMahon, Kate Pritchard, Susan Timmons.
Mentioned in this episode:
Wicked Fox by Kat Cho. Penguin Books, 2020: https://www.parnassusbooks.net/book/9781984812360
Peter O'Dowd and Kalyani Saxena write about male readers of romance:
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2022/04/01/men-romance-novels
Marina Warner, author of the book From the Beast to the Blonde: On Fairy Tales and their Tellers, wrote a fantastic 2021 analysis of the evolution of the myth of Cupid and Psyche in media for the British Film Institute journal Sight and Sound: https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/beauty-beast-belle-bete-marina-warner
Cursed Objects by J.W. Ocker
https://www.horrorbookstore.com/product/cursed-objects-strange-but-true-stories-of-the-world-s-most-infamous-items/345
My Second Impression of You by Michelle I. Mason
https://www.parnassusbooks.net/book/9781547604128
When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb
https://thebookshopnashville.com/item/oN-upq7FPcUpo3YNhdhEsw
The One True Me and You by Remi K. England
https://thebookshopnashville.com/item/3Czr8TaWU9-LEBbtfSLfUA
Intro/Outro music is “Birthday Cake” by Jahzzar. Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Logo design by Sarah Timmons, all rights reserved.
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35min
December 01, 2022 Mini-episode: Giftable YA Books for the Holidays!
It is a truth universally acknowledged that books make great gifts. In this brief episode we'll share four YA picks you can buy for others or keep for yourself. We're especially excited to have input from two local indie booksellers: Rae Ann Parker from Parnassus Books in Nashville and Amanda McCrina from Bound Booksellers in Franklin, TN.
In this episode:
Puffin Plated Series
The Hunger Between Us
Violet Made of Thorns
Guided Tarot for Teens
Intro/Outro music is “Birthday Cake” by Jahzzar. Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Logo design by Sarah Timmons, all rights reserved.
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6min
November 01, 2022 If We Could Turn Back Time: YA Historical Fiction!
"The past is never dead. It's not even past." --William Faulkner
This week the panel discusses YA historical fiction as a genre, we share some of our favorite examples. In addition, we chat about other YA media we've been enjoying lately and what we're looking forward to next. Panel: Jane McMahon, Kate Pritchard, Susan Timmons.
We want to shout out one of our favorite local shops-- The Bookshop in East Nashville! If you're interested in purchasing any books we talk about, please consider ordering from them!
Mentioned in this episode:
How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, by Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
True Grit, by Charles Portis
Raising the Horseman by Serena Valentino
The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi
The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham
Gleanings by Neal Shusterman
Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid
The Black Kids, by Christina Hammonds Reed
Last Night at the Telegraph Club / A Scatter of Light, by Malinda Lo
The Privilege of the Sword, by Ellen Kushner
The Silent Unseen by Amanda McCrina.
Dresdow, Elizabeth. Why Amazon Doesn't Have The Rights To J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Silmarillion'. March 2022.
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36min
October 01, 2022 YA Books for October: Spooky, Scary, or Slasher?
It’s Spooky Season, y’all! This month the Always YA panel classifies themselves as Spooky, Scary, or Slasher. We all share some YA book picks to read during October, and Susan shares some interesting info about the history horror comics. Listen if you dare!
Instagram: @alwaysyapod
Email: [email protected]
Media mentioned in this episode: The Sandman streaming on Netflix, based on the graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. Prey (2022) streaming on Hulu. Kingdom streaming on Netflix. All of Us Are Dead streaming on Netflix. Cobra Kai streaming on Netflix. Hocus Pocus 2 streaming on Disney+. Into the Sublime by Kate A. Boorman Grady Hendrix’s My Best Friend’s Exorcism streaming on Amazon Prime on September 30th. Sonia Saraiya. The Karate Kid, Cobra Kai, and the Odd Legacy of Mr. Miyagi. Vanity Fair, July 3, 2019. Dade Hayes. ‘Cobra Kai’ KOs ‘Bridgerton’ On Nielsen Streaming List; ‘Soul’ Enters Limbo State. Deadline, February 8, 2021. Problematic Fave podcast on Spotify. Darren Mooney. The Karate Kid Movies Explore Hollywood’s Complicated Martial Arts History. The Escapist, January 1, 2021. Haiyang Yang and Kuangjie Zhang, The Psychology Behind Why We Love (or Hate) Horror. Harvard Business Review, October 26, 2021. Merphy Napier’s Youtube video How Reading Fiction Affects Your Brain explains the benefit of reading Stephen King’s Pet Sematary in helping her process grief. Mike Duran, ordained minister and author of Christian Horror: On the Compatibility of a Biblical Worldview and the Horror Genre, blog post “Is Beowulf the First “Religious Horror” Story Ever Written?” published July 28, 2015. “The Top 10 Most Watched Shows During Quarantine.” Daily Infographic, September 5, 2021. My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones. Beowulf, translated by Maria Dahvana Headley. Something Is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV, Deluxe hardcover edition book one (collects comic #1-15). The Ten-Cent Plague by David Hajdu. Fredric Wertham. What Parents Don’t Know About Comic Books. Ladies Home Journal, November 1953. Joe Sergi. 1948: The Year Comics Met Their Match. Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. June 8, 2012. “How America Almost Destroyed The Comic Book Industry”. CNBC, YouTube, July 17, 2021. Provides a brief overview of the censorship of horror comics. The documentary Comic Book Confidential includes footage from the testimony of Bill Gaines, founder of EC Comics and later Mad Magazine, at the 1954 Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. You can watch some clips from the hearings on YouTube. Kelly McEvers, These 'Paperbacks From Hell' Reflect The Real-Life Angst Of The 1970s. NPR, October 26, 2017. Home to Stay!: The Complete Ray Bradbury EC Stories by Ray Bradbury, Fantagraphics Books, 2022.

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57min
September 01, 2022 Back to School: YA Campus Novels!
Like the opening number in Grease 2, Always YA is going back to school. This month our panel discusses the appeal of campus novels, and we all share some of our favorite picks.
Always YA Panel: Jane McMahon, Kate Pritchard, Susan Timmons
Instagram: @alwaysyapod
SHOW NOTES
Titles mentioned in this episode:
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan, streaming on Amazon Prime
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Reservation Dogs streaming on Hulu
Very Bad People by Kit Frick
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
It’s Not Like It’s a Secret by Misa Sugiura
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
Derry Girls streaming on Netflix
Be More Obi-Wan from Disney Publishing
New Kid by Jerry Craft
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Never Have I Ever streaming on Netflix
Intro/Outro music is “Birthday Cake” by Jahzzar. Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Logo design by Sarah Timmons, all rights reserved.
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33min
August 05, 2022 Introducing the Young Adult Hall of Fame!
Our librarians Jane McMahon, Kate Pritchard, and Susan Timmons discuss the category of Young Adult Literature and make their first selections for the YA Hall of Fame.
Titles Mentioned in This Episode:
Paperback Crush by Gabrielle Moss
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Heartstopper by Alice Oseman
Karen Jensen, “A Brief History of YA Literature, an Infographic” for Teen Librarian Toolbox at School Library Journal.
Stranger Things streaming on Netflix
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Flip the Script by Lyla Lee
All My Rage, by Sabaa Tahir
Thick as Thieves, by Megan Whalen Turner
Tomorrow, When the War Began, by John Marsden
The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
Queen of the Tiles, by Hanna Alkaf
Intro/Outro music is “Birthday Cake” by Jahzzar. Creative Commons License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Logo design by Sarah Timmons, all rights reserved.
...more
39min

FAQs about Always YA:

How many episodes does Always YA have?

The podcast currently has 10 episodes available.