Was This Good or Were We 13?

It isn’t spooky season without a good ghost story! Listen to Joanna and Kevin discuss the book that gave eight-year-old Joanna nightmares: Wait Till Helen Comes (1986) by Mary Downing Hahn. Experience a ghost story written specifically for kids and learn what Hahn has to say about guilt, grief, and death. 

To get in touch, you can follow us on Instagram @orwerewe13pod. You can also email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited by Kevin Park and produced by Martha Morton, and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb. 

Have you ever read The Cruel Prince by Holly Black and wondered where it all started? You’ve come to the right episode. Join Joanna and Kevin in reading The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black. Listen as we gush about the beautiful illustrations in these books, how this series is weirdly connected to tabletop RPG games, and why Joanna thinks faeries should be kind of creepy. 

To get in touch, you can follow us on Instagram @orwerewe13pod. You can also email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb.

The spooky season has started ya’ll! And Joanna and Kevin are celebrating in spooktacular fashion! This means double the number of episodes in October, all centered on books with  spooky vibes.! Starting on the tame side, we have one of Joanna’s favorite books from childhood: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare (1959). Learn about how this book ages well (and how it does NOT), the surprisingly cinematic nature of the book, and why the Puritans are the absolute worst. 

To get in touch, you can follow us on Instagram @orwerewe13pod. You can also email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb. 

Kevin gets to put on his (recovering) film bro hat for this episode! Today is a special compare and contrast session where Joanna and Kevin talk about the differences between the Howl’s Moving Castle book vs movie. Learn about Studio Ghibli’s backstory and the creation of “Howl’s Moving Castle”, how the story was adapted to have a strong anti-war message (or does it?), and just how hot Howl is when he’s voiced by Christian Bale.

To get in touch, you can follow us on Instagram at @orwerewe13pod. You can also email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb.

Did you know that Howl’s Moving Castle was a book? Because Kevin sure didn’t! Joanna and Kevin are starting season two with a bang with fantasy classic Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (1986). Learn about its use and subversion of fairytale tropes, and how it’s probably one of the funniest children’s books ever written. Also, if you think Howl in the movie was chaotic, you haven’t seen anything yet!

To get in touch, you can follow us on Instagram at @orwerewe13pod or email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb.

“Dig it up, oh, oh, dig it…” In our season finale Joanna and Kevin revisit a classic for the ages, Louis Sachar’s Holes (1998). Get ready for nostalgia, child cruelty, and Joanna complaining about how no one will do group Halloween costumes with her. 

To get in touch, email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb. 

And that is the end of season 1! We appreciate you for listening to us so far. First podcast project for us, learned a lot. Come back better for season 2

We have a whole slew of new books to cover when we return in the fall. Hope to see you then!

This week Joanna and Kevin are finishing up their discussion of Graceling by Kristin Cashore. Hear about how the second half of the book is wildly different from the first half, where the series is going next, and how Kevin really just wants more Po in his life.

To get in touch, email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb.

“Katsa: The Baddest Bitch That Ever Lived” is a better title for this book. Joanna and Kevin read Kristin Cashore’s Graceling (2008) and learn what is a Grace, why every high fantasy has seven kingdoms, and just how hot Prince Po is. 

To get in touch, email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb.

In a special minisode, Kevin tells Joanna the origin of how Eragon (2002) came to be. Learn all about Christopher Paolini, the wild ride of getting this book published, and Kevin’s personal history with Eragon (and its much maligned movie adaptation).

To get in touch, email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb.

Bad science has finally arrived! This week Joanna and Kevin read James Patterson’s Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment (2005) and discuss just what would 2% bird DNA do to a person, how many times can you have the same plot before it gets boring, and should James Patterson be allowed to write YA novels.  

To get in touch, email us at [email protected] with any comments or episode suggestions!

This podcast was edited and produced by Martha Morton and the music is composed by Sawyer Harrington-Verb.