Was This Good or Were We 13?

Jerry Spinelli was truly a man of many stories. In what is probably just the beginning of reading his backlog, Joanna and Kevin explore Wringer (1997). A boy’s coming-of-age story that involves a surprising amount of pigeons, this is surely a blast from the past. 

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.

A true oldie is being read in this episode! Join Joanna and Kevin in reading The Boxcar Children (1942) by Gertrude Chandler Warner, and learn about some good-old New Englander self-reliance and just how much Kevin likes descriptions of food. 

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.

Join Joanna and Kevin to finish up Along for the Ride (2009) by Sarah Dessen. Hear about just how many morals you can fit into one story and what Kevin has learned about the female experience.

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.

Potentially the most millennial girl author that ever millennialed, Joanna introduces Kevin to a favorite author from her teen years with Along for the Ride (2009) by Sarah Dessen. Hear about just how not-subtle themes can be and how Kevin pictured the male lead as Jojo from Horton Hears a Who for the entire novel. 

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.

A favorite of classrooms and book-banners alike, today Joanna and Kevin revisit Lois Lowry’s The Giver (1993). Join as we read what Joanna has coined “baby’s first dystopia” and how this affected children’s and YA literature for ever more. 

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. 

“Corpus Bones! I utterly loathe my life.” Joanna and Kevin are time-traveling back to 13th-century England to read Catherine, Called Birdy (1994) by Karen Cushman. Join us as we learn about girlhood in the Medieval Period, the weird and wacky lives of the saints, and just how much of a history nerd Joanna 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. 

Ever noticed a psychedelic pug on a book cover and wondered what that was about? Well we're here to tell you with our first episode, where Joanna and Kevin talk about the 2002 British children's novel Molly Moon's Incredible Book of Hypnotism by Georgia Byng! Get ready for Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket levels of child cruelty, as well as side quests involving everything from Broadway shows to jewel heists.

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.

Meet hosts Joanna and Kevin to learn about what inspired them to make this podcast.

Joanna and Kevin are two friends with a mission: to reread the books of their youth to see if they actually hold up.