Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

The time has come for Brenna and Joe to discuss Laurie Halse Anderson's revelatory 1999 YA bestseller, Speak, its 2004 made-for-television film adaptation starring Kristen Stewart and the recent comic with art from Emily Carroll. Joining us for some difficult conversation is Lucia Lorenzi, who helps to unpack why both book and film are so powerful and important.

This episode is quite broad, and it addresses sensitive topics such as rape, suicide, depression and trauma. Many of these topics can be triggering, so we recommend listeners proceed with their own self-care in mind. 

Up for discussion: the humour that Anderson embeds in the text, the use of symbolism and allusions to classic lit such as The Scarlet Letter (see previous Book One episode) and why the film's ending does and doesn't work for us. Beyond the texts, we chat about the importance of institutional rules, training and creating a space for both teens and adults to  speak their own truth, as well as the issue of responsibility. 

It's heavy, but it's important.

In homework: Joe (re)introduces The Babysitter's Coven by Kate Williams, Brenna promotes a contemporary Indigenous Hardy Boys  series called The Mighty Muskrats by Michael Hutchinson and Lucia strongly recommends Renee Watson’s Piecing Me Together, as well as the Call Number Subscription Box which is a subscription service for books by Black authors.

Want to connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote
• Lucia: @empathywarrior

Have something longer to say? Send an email to [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

Lock up your hat store and prepare to meet the wizard because Brenna and Joe are jumping aboard British author Diana Wynne Jones 1986 fantasy novel Howl's Moving Castle and Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's 2004 animated...interpretation.

That's right, we're calling it: in a first for the podcast, we have two titles so radically different that the film is barely an adaptation of the source material. The novel is a female coming of age narrative that's a little draggy and a little too full of serialized adventures. The film eschews its female character to tell a war story, replete with stunning visuals but thin characterizations.

Up for discussion: Jones' musical depiction of the Welsh language, the book's connection to Enchanted (see previous episode) and the challenges of examining older YA through a modern eyes. For the film, Brenna admits her struggle with subtitles, we discuss which character designs work for us and the grieving process inherent to analyses about adaptations.

In homework: Brenna reads a listener review, while Joe outlines the 2019 YALSA Teens’ Top Ten.

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

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Have something longer? Send an email to [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

Is the third time the charm? After The Fault in our Stars and Paper Towns, Brenna and Joe are checking back into Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory with John Green's problematic first novel Looking for Alaska, which was just adapted by The O.C. and Gossip Girl scribes Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage into an eight episode Hulu series. 

Up for discussion: does the book contain enough sign posts that protagonist Miles' perspective should not be trusted? Does the book suffer without its titular object of affection? And how has the controversy around this novel driven Green's entire career? 

Meanwhile, in the film (as Brenna keeps referring to it), we discuss an odd case of streaming creep, the decision to re-structure the novel's "Before" and "After" section and Brenna dives into the adaptation's iffy track record on race and class. Plus: has Joe fallen for John Green's ploys by falling in love with Alaska?

In Homework: Joe keeps the Green "love" alive by discussing the trailer for the author's anthology film Let It Snow, which debuts on Netflix Nov 8. Meanwhile, Brenna tackles reader mail.

Want to connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: bstolemyremote

Or send us something longer at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

Part of HKHSPod's mandate is to highlight the work of Canadian YA Lit writers. In this exclusive interview, Brenna and Joe are joined by writer, performer, cultural worker & speaker Kai Cheng Thom to discuss her YA novel, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir, her refusal to write a conventional trans narrative for cis audiences, her political and historical issues with the concept of "Canada", and why Guillermo del Toro needs to contact her ASAP.

Find out more about Kai's work on her website or on Twitter.

Connect with the show on Twitter using #HKHSPod:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Or send us an email at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

With Halloween fast approaching, Joe forces Brenna to indulge in a creepy (not scary) pick for the pod: noted speculative science-fiction author Ray Bradbury's 1962 novel Something Wicked This Way Comes and Jack Clayton's 1983 Disney adaptation. How does Brenna fare with this tale of a dark carnival that arrives in the middle of the night to feed on the souls of small town Americans?

Just fine, it turns out! The pair discuss Bradbury's lyrical prose, his disinterest in writing women and the text's fairly simplistic moral message. The film, alas, doesn't fare quite as well: the child actors and the penchant for FX sequences, as well as a safe ending, all get a dressing down, though Joe lauds Jonathan Pryce's villainous turn as Mr. Dark. 

The true mystery in both texts, however, is whether Charles Halloway is a janitor or a librarian?!

In homework: Joe provides an update on The CW's modern take Nancy Drew, while Brenna champions There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon.

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

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

If you have something longer to say, send us an email at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

Riverdale is SO last week! This week, Brenna and Joe are solving mysteries - with convenient expertise - in River Heights, as we both tackle our first ever Nancy Drew mystery in advance of the new CW series. 

Just to make things extra complicated, we're discussing the first two books by Carolyn Keene (The Secret of the Old Clock & The Hidden Staircase) as well as two movies - Andrew Fleming's Nancy Drew (2007) and Katt Shea's Nancy Drew  and the Hidden Staircase (2019).

Up for discussion: how post-war American history contributed to changes in Nancy's characterization in the 30s and the late-50s, speculation about why the character has endured and some of the many challenges in modern attempts to adapt the teen sleuth for film and TV. Plus: the wild swings in tone of the 2007 film and the more successful, grounded characters in the 2019 version.

In Homework: Joe excitedly introduces the news that Julie Murphy is writing a Faith adaptation, as well as the title of the new Suzanne Collins Hunger Games prequel. Brenna, meanwhile, discusses Meredith Russo's latest, Birthday.

Want to connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

If you have something longer, send us an email at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

Building on the discussion that began in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and continued in Josie and the Pussycats, Brenna and Joe travel to a place outside of time and space to discuss the long history of Archie comics. Specifically we're tackling Mark Waid and Fiona Staples' revitalizing run on Archie, Vol 1 & 2 that began in 2015, as well as Roberto Aguirre-Saca's television series, Riverdale, which began in 2017.

Up for grabs: the unconventional friendship between Jughead and Betty, the nebulous tonal balancing act that is undermined by Archie's pratfalls and Staples' iconic art. But the focus is really on Brenna's not-quite-guilty-pleasure TV show, its curious sprawl and sense of nowhere (and simultaneously everywhere). Plus: Archie's eyebrows and pecs, praise for Lili Reinhart and criticism over the show's treatment of Jughead.

In Homework: Joe reads listener email, including curated picks from Max, a warning from Leo and some constructive criticism by Andrew, while Brenna discusses Check Please! by Ngozi Ukazu, Wil Shriner's 2006 film, Hoot and a shout-out to Put A Blurb On It podcast

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

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote

Or send us something longer at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

For only the second time, Brenna and Joe venture far into the past for a classic lit / contemporary adaptation comparison. Thankfully we have Jane Austen superfan Brennan Klein around to lend a hand unpacking her 1815 text, Emma, as well as Amy Hecklering's "loose" adaptation Clueless (1995).

On deck for discussion: how Austen uses her narrator to comment on her most "unlikable" heroine, Brennan's queer reading of Emma and how quietly groundbreaking a book that is seemingly just about marriage actually is.

And for the film, we talk about Cher's progressive take on virginity, the litany of likeable actors, and why the term "cake boy" needs to be (re)appropriated.

In Homework: Brennan discusses Darius The Great Is Not Ok by Adib Khorram, Joe encourages resistant viewers to take a chance on Taika Waititi's coming of age Nazi comedy film Jojo Rabbit and Brenna stans a possible Saved By The Bell revival.

Want to connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote
• Brennan: @itsrainingbrens

Have something longer to say? Send us an email at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

Brenna, Joe and special guest Alex Heeney are ready to volunteer as tribute as we dive into the 74th annual Hunger Games, courtesy of Suzanne Collins and filmmaker Gary Ross.

The trio have plenty of thoughts on the value of Peeta to the text, how the film sets up future franchise instalments for failure, why Collins is such a skilled world-builder and the retroactive damage of Mockingjay on perspectives of the first book/film.

In Homework:  Joe discusses YA Forecast pick Destroy All Monsters  by Jeff Jackson, Brenna dips her toe into Buffy water with  Kiersten White's Slayer and Alex pitches 1980's coming of age film, Gregory’s Girl.

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

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote
• Alex: @bwestcineaste /  @seventhrow

Have something longer to say? Send us an email at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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

Prep your cynical disdain and your green tint (or is it blue?) because Brenna and Joe - plus special guest CC Stapleton - are headed back into comic territory with Daniel Clowes' 1997 comic and Terry Zwigoff's 2001 film adaptation, Ghost World. 

The discussion includes the depiction of teen ennui, the idea that certain texts are more meaningful if you read them at a particular stage of development, as well as the film's focus on new character Seymour (Steve Buscemi). Plus: thanks to a completely out of touch Roger Ebert review, the trio make the startling discovery that the two texts not actually YA at all, but rather they are autobiographical works about their old white heterosexual male creators! 

In Homework: Brenna touches on a recent news story involving censorship and author Jo Knowles,  CC praises Brian K Vaughan's Paper Girls, and Joe addresses another book from the recent YA Forecast Part 2: The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren.

Want to connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:

• Brenna: @brennacgray
• Joe: @bstolemyremote
• CC:  @callsinthenight / Something Red Podcast

If you have something longer, send us an email at [email protected]. See you on the page and on the screen!

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