Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

We're staying gold through the end of 2020 with arguably one of the most significant YA texts in history! This is ultimate "YA for boys" (although it is written by a woman); it's also deeply nostalgic and kinda terrifying.

Expect comparisons to our previous discussion on Stephen King's The Body/Stand By Me, talk about whose story this really is and why Hinton's staunch refusal of a queer reading is misguided. Plus: Tom Cruise, prank wars and struggles with on-screen violence.

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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!

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In the final minisode of 2020, we each selected a news item to capture a trend in YA for the year.

Brenna looks at an evidence-based study out of the UK that has found improvements in the percentage of published authors of colour

• Flood, Allison. "Number of young adult writers of colour doubles to almost 20%" The Guardian. Sept 29, 2020

Joe , meanwhile, tackles the dominance of Netflix as the main exhibitor of YA TV and films, courtesy of The Ringer.

• Baker, Katie. "The New Generation of Teen Movies Is Nicer (and on Netflix)" The Ringer. Aug 28, 2010

Plus: starting January 2021, we're starting a Book Club! Read The House on Mango Street with us for Jan 19.

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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.

 This week on the pod, we're getting literary with a deep dive into Selvadurai's acclaimed queer coming of age novel (or is it a collection of short stories?) and the long-delayed, highly controversial film adaptation (now available on CBC Gem in Canada and on Netflix in the US).

Up for discussion: how the book seamlessly interweaves history and coming of ages narratives, negotiating discomfort about our lack of knowledge about the Sri Lanka Civil War, comparing the ending of the two texts, and why the film has sparked not one, not two, but three (!) controversies, including one involving Ava DuVernay.

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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're on the edge of great courtesy ofJulie and the Phantoms, the candy coloured confection of a Netflix trifle that isn't good per se, but is incredibly enjoyable. 

Up for discussion: the surprisingly heartfelt exploration of grief and music (shocking no one, both of us cried watching!); the very Vancouver production, Brenna's bemusement at Julie's "hologram" box and an appreciation of "out" director Ortega's cultural contributions.

Plus: our first game on the fully redesigned Book Three YA BINGO board!

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...for a scavenger hunt across NY city! 

Brenna and Joe are feeling nostalgia for Big Apple circa Dec 2019 (when the series was filmed), though there's a bit less passion for stars Austin Abrams and Midori Francis, who are well-cast and also mildly aggravating.

Plus: we speculate who writes who in the book, tackle the ridiculous written ending, praise director Fred Savage and disagree about the use of holiday music. It's a magical episode!

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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.

Happy 2 years listeners! We're celebrating this milestone with 10 essential texts (ok 11, but who's counting?) that we've covered on the show. Care to wager what makes the list?

Plus:

• Our six least fave texts
• Our top ten episodes
• Our "Wish List" of books & comics that we want to see adapted so that we can cover them!

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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.

The time has come to cover the fall season's buzziest YA adaptation, in which high school seniors are mysteriously popping! And the verdict is: both texts are fine. Lol.

For this episode, we're asking the hard hitting questions:

-What happens when a book about friendship becomes a movie about romance? (Bye Tess!)

-Why do so many wealthy, successful people have bad hair? Charlie Plummer

-What's more distracting: the way Katherine Langford's body is shot or her atrocious wig?

-Did Starmer have a plan for this story beyond its great hook?

Plus: great parents! A terrible role for Insecure's Yvonne Orji! And, finally, egregious Dude Bro voice!

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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.

Brenna:

1. Here the Whole Time by Vitor Martins (Nov. 10)
2. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey (Nov 10)
3. The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre by Robin Talley (Dec 1)

Honourable Mentions: 

• Captain Marvel YA Novel by Shannon and Dean Hale (Dec 31)
• Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (Nov 13 - Netflix) 
• The Prom  (Dec 11 - Netflix) 

Joe:

1. The Way Back by Gavriel Savit (Nov 17)
2. Super Fake Love Song by David Yoon (Nov 17)
3. Link by Link: An Anthology of Haunted Holidays, edited by Meg Dailey (Dec 2)

Honourable Mentions:

• Dash & Lily (Nov 10 - Netflix) 
• Alex Rider (Nov 13 - IMDbTV) 
• His Dark Materials S2 (Nov 16 - HBO) 

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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.

As we head into the last two months of the year, we're in need of some guaranteed enjoyment. Enter The Princess Diaries, wherein 15 year old Mia finds out - and detests - that she's the princess of a fictional European nation called Genovia.

Now, we have questions (would the world really be interested in such a small country? Also: why does it have such a tiny banquet hall?). Overall though we're mostly interested in the small stakes and unconventional family structure of the book, as well as how very Garry Marshall (ie: rom com) the film is. 

Plus: why we love Julie Andrews and Fat Louie, the cat. Oh, and Joe forgets Brenna’s inability to recognize pop culture figures (confession: Francis Ford Coppola is Robert Schwartzman’s *uncle*, not grandfather). 

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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're heading to the East Coast of Canada to discuss class, isolation and abortion. The recently released on VOD film is anchored by an amazing performance by Kelly Van der Burg as a small town Newfoundland teen who falls in love with a much older man, Joel Thomas Hynes' Danny Sharpe.

Topics include: how appreciative we are that Oates doesn't attempt to rescue Danny, region differences and universal storytelling in Canadian cinema and two very different reads of the film's abortion scene.

Homework:

• Brenna: Let Me In (Reeves, 2010)
• Joe: Indigenous YA episode of Seventh Row podcast

Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• 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.