Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

What is important about "setting" a narrative in a specific location and why does it seem somehow less important to white writers? We dig into how place contributes to YA stories - particularly indigenous and migrant stories, list the best examples we have covered on the pod and identify our own knowledge gap (fantasy books!) .

Plus, in homework:

Brenna

• Ashley Garcia S2: Genius in Love (Netflix)
• Bloom by Kevin Panetta 
• Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell  & Faith Erin Hicks

Joe

• Ragnorak S1 (Netflix)

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a comment about book club? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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It's time to close the rom-com fairy tale book on Lara Jean and Peter! 

Up for discussion: Joe's struggle to connect with Covey, the appropriate size of backyard weddings, letting teenage girls get drunk, the ramping up of stakes between novel and film and the strategic use of the "Korea trip" in both properties.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a comment about book club? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a sprawling inter-generational tale of displacement, poverty and racism, Jacqueline Woodson has written an evocative, lyrical novel about her time growing up. 

Special shout-outs to listeners Melissa and Kailie who chimed in with their thoughts.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us on Twitter: @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod.

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a comment about book club? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're unintentionally tackling another text with accusations of ableism this week. After a brief lament about the lack of reviews from disabled readers, we dig into the book, which we think is doing pretty solid work, and the film, which takes a few Hollywood shortcuts, but is also decent.

Up for discussion: a gentle male friendship for Brenna, Canadian stunt casting, the visual depiction of schizophrenia in the film and why we would politely like to recommend Charlie Plummer to refrain from taking any more "Bang roles".

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or want to chime in about book club? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Let's talk about ableism, shall we? In the new YA film dealing with a teenager on the verge of losing his hearing, there are a few tone-deaf moments that no Sick Lit properties should be making.

Plus: musicality, aggrieved mothers, emotional manipulation, the sad temporary ramifications of the #MeToo movement and the film's great use of silence...but not voice over.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a minisode topic? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special thanks to listener Emma for recommending A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, which proved to be a great companion to last week's The House on Mango Street. This coming of age narrative takes its time, allowing for tangents as it tells its tale of class struggle at the turn of the 20th century. 

Up for discussion: female friendships, put upon mothers, widowers in the wings, the surprisingly feminist read (for the time). 

Plus: the film's condensed timeline and why we love Aunt Sissy, even if she caused a real life scandal!

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a minisode topic? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Considered a classic of Latinx literature, Cisneros' book is a series of vignettes set on a street in Chicago. Brenna selected this book to complement our regularsode next week, so we tackle the novel's class and feminist themes. Plus: an ode to lyrical, poetry-like texts!

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a minisode topic? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who's ready for an abusive relationship? What about "storytelling" as opposed to good writing? Do you like your FX dodgy and your vampires sparkly? 

The truth is...we didn't like Twilight. But we do try to be fair about how it became a cultural juggernaut and with whom, in addition to dissecting why it is harmful, problematic and filled with bad representations. Hope you're ready for a mega-sized discussion, because we have thoughts!

For reading context:

• Feminist Mormon Housewives
• Sucking the Quileute Dry
• Reckoning with Twilight, 10 years later

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a minisode topic? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We felt a responsibility to address the breaking news from the holidays surrounding Trickster and Inconvenient Indian director Michelle Latimer. We also offer some context and include statements from writer Eden Robinson and film director Jeff Barnaby.

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a minisode topic? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Saved By The Bell mega-fan Brenna introduces Joe to the wonders of Pacific Palisades as we tackle the very self-aware new version, who is surprisingly smart, class-oriented and progressive. It's also very funny!

We also follow-up on our holiday activities.

Brenna:

• Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
• Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram
• Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds

Joe:

• PEN15
• Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Slay by Brittney Morris

Wanna connect with the show? Follow us at our new Twitter handle @HKHSPod or use the hashtag #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer to say or a minisode topic? Email us at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.