The SSR Podcast

SSR gallops into the world of horse books for Episode 90! Alli and her guest Hannah Williams are chatting about the first book in Lauren Brooke’s Heartland series, Coming Home. Tune in to hear them swap notes about their own horse girl pasts, reminisce about the many horse books they loved as kids, and consider why kids are so drawn to horses and stories about them. They also take a deep dive into the ways in which Coming Home depicts trauma, grief, and family dynamics.

Hannah is a full-time wife, mom, and behavioral therapist for children diagnosed with Autism. When she isn’t reading a book, she’s probably listening to one. Follow Hannah on Instagram (@booknerdnative).

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It’s rare that Alli’s met a reader who has been as deeply affected by a book as the guest on Episode 89 has been affected by Lurlene McDaniel’s Don’t Die, My Love. You don’t want to miss this story!

On this episode, Alli and her guest Hitha Palepu also talk about the power of books like McDaniel’s tragic teen romances to help kids better understand and cope with crisis situations. They discuss the extent to which they emphasize with the parents in Don’t Die, My Love and the many (real) things they learned about cancer from reading the novel… even as adults!

Hitha is an investor, the author of How to Pack: Travel Smart for Any Trip, and the host of the 1 Smart Thing podcast. Follow her on Instagram (@hithapalepu) for reading recommendations, book reviews, and honest answers to your questions.

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On Episode 88, Alli and her guest Uli Beutter Cohen discuss their first experience reading Louise Erdrich’s The Birchbark House, which was a National Book Award finalist for young people’s fiction in 1999. In their conversation, they get real about the gaps in American education regarding the true history of indigenous people, talk about the importance of own voices stories, and share their love for the ways in which Erdrich’s work connects both readers and characters to the natural world.

Uli Beutter Cohen is the creator and editor of the Subway Book Review. Her work has been featured in New York Magazine, Esquire, Vogue, Glamour, Forbes, and The Guardian, among others. Follow the Subway Book Review on Instagram (@subwaybookreview).

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For Episode 87, Alli comes to Katherine Paterson’s Newbery-winning Jacob Have I Loved for the first time — and what a ride it was! This middle grade book is a story of sibling rivalry, resentment, privilege, and family responsibility. It’s also a story about learning to take responsibility for your own path… although Alli has some seriously mixed feelings about how that last part is handled. Tune in to hear her and guest Sara Hildreth take a close look at family dynamics, stumble their way through an Enneagram digression, consider Jacob Have I Loved through a feminist lens, and so much more.

Sara is a reader, English teacher, and the blogger behind Fiction Matters. Follow her on Instagram (@fictionmatters) and check out her new book podcast — co-hosted by @chelseyreads from Episode 34 of SSR — Novel Pairings (@novelpairingspod).

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XOXO, it’s (finally!) time for the SSR Gossip Girl episode!

On Episode 86, Alli and guest Alexandra Monir discuss the elements of the Gossip Girl universe that don't hold up so well in 2020, both in terms of technology and teen behavior. They consider parental objections to the book’s racy content and look at multiple sides of the argument for “light reading” versus no reading at all. They also talk about the depictions of friendship in Gossip Girl and answer the age-old question: Team Blair or Team Serena?

Alexandra is the author of The Final Six, The Life Below, Timeless, and three other YA novels. Follow her on Instagram (@alexandramonir) and Twitter (@TimelessAlex).

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As we all know, Alli loved A LOT of books when she was a kid, but for some inexplicable reason, Elizabeth Winthrop’s The Castle in the Attic seems to have buried itself in her subconscious more than most. On Episode 85, she and her guest Amanda Lovelace try to figure out why it’s been so memorable to her for so many years!

Tune in to this episode to hear Alli and Amanda discuss The Castle in the Attic’s affirmative messages about celebrating your personal strengths and abilities, as well as its positive take on masculinity. They also uncover some not-so-great language around taking a woman’s power away by forcing her to take up less physical space. Yikes.

Amanda Lovelace is the author of the celebrated Women Are Some Kind of Magic series. She is also the two-time winner of the Goodreads Choice Award for best poetry, as well as a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller. Follow her on Instagram (@ladybookmad) and Twitter (@ladybookmad).

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On Episode 84, SSR finally enters the American Girl universe, this time with a conversation about Meet Felicity! Alli and her guest Rachel King discuss the gender politics of Felicity’s world, the frankness with which the author approaches issues like alcohol and animal abuse, and the book’s apparent whitewashing of race relations. They also consider Felicity Merriman from a feminist perspective!

And no American Girl conversation would be complete without a chat about the brand as a whole, as well as Alli and Rachel’s personal memories of the books, dolls, catalogs, magazine, and more!

Rachel is an editor at Fortune Magazine. She also runs a personal blog about wine, books, and related events in New York called Champagne and Fries. Follow her on Instagram (@rachelking25) and Twitter (@rachelking).

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On Episode 83 of SSR, Atlas Obscura newsletter editor Ashley Wolfgang joins Alli to discuss all things Meg Cabot’s All-American Girl. Is this the patriotic book that we need in these trying political times? Tune in and find out!

Alli and Ashley chat about the fine line between being angsty and being annoying, recall their days of listening to CDs at FYE, and wonder why *both* of the love interests in All-American Girl are so irritating to them as adults. They consider the political aspects of the story and wonder how they might be different (or the same!) if the book was written in 2020. They also talk about sibling relationships, privilege, and Gwen Stefani.

Follow Ashley on Twitter (@sweetsoleil). She’s (legitimately) one of Alli’s favorite people to follow and retweet. Check out the All-American Girl-inspired Spotify playlist the Ashley created here!

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Manuary is over and the ladies are back! On Episode 82, Alli welcomes Christie and Izzy from the From Where She Sits podcast for a conversation about Erich Kästner’s The Parent Trap, the little-known German children’s book that inspired the blockbuster 1998 movie. The book is nothing like the sparkly summer camp movie you might remember, though!

Tune in to hear Alli, Christie, and Izzy chat about the darker elements of this book — neglectful parents, infidelity, and an unreasonable expectation that children should be responsible for adults’ relationship issues. They also chat about the story’s sexist presentation of parenting and working moms.

Check out Christie and Izzy’s podcast From Where She Sits! Follow on Instagram at: @fwsspodcast | @fromwherechristiesits | @fromwhereizzysits

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Episode 81 of SSR is an extra special one, not only because it’s the final installment of Manuary 2020, but because it features Alli’s husband Matt as the guest! She can’t wait for the pod community to get to know him a little better.

Matt decided to take things in the required reading direction for his episode, and Episode 81 is all about Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Ever since its publication in 1885, Huck Finn has been at the center of literary controversy, largely because of its language and depiction of race relations in the deep south of the nineteenth century. On this episode, Alli and Matt explore various takes on this controversy. They also discuss Twain’s use of regional dialect, their respective reading styles and preferences, and Alli’s first time listening to a book for the podcast instead of reading it on paper!

Also, have you ever heard Huckleberry Finn compared to Ferris Bueller? No? Well, that’s about to change.

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