Were the Kids Alright?

This “week” we read Forest Born by Shannon Hale, the final Book of Bayern! We talk about a lot in this one, including how Jacqueline read this book first and the question of is it cool or annoying that Rin is the main character. We’ll be back in 2021 with a consistent upload schedule (every other week) and lots more fun books!

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

This “week” we read River Secrets by Shannon Hale, the third Book of Bayern. We talked about postwar healing, Enna’s PTSD and her romantic gesture fantasy, as well as Razo’s refreshing confidence arc where he realizes that he’s a super good slinger. Oh yeah, and Dasha the water speaker is also a thing...but not a very well developed one...so we had a lot of fanfiction takes.

Content Warnings: Discussions of war, mass murder, burning, politics, and trauma.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

This “week” we read Enna Burning by Shannon Hale, the second Book of Bayern. This is the darkest book we’ve read to date for this podcast and we covered a lot of hot takes. Should Enna have committed mass murder? Did Shannon Hale think through the repercussion of her world, like, at all? Listen to find out.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

This week we read The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. We talked about magical linguistics, the ridiculous homogeneity of hair color, and how good it is to read a book with character depth. There was also a case made for the villain, a television adaptation, and an alternate direction for the series.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

TikTok: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

In this bonus episode of Were the Kids Alright, Sophie analyzes a story she wrote about a girl who gets kidnapped and discovers she is an alien.

Content Warnings: kidnapping, colonialism, mass murder, mention of morticians, really bad middle school writing.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

This week we read A Royal Match by Tynne O’Connell. We continued our discussion of mean girls, class privilege, and how pretty much every character ever in this book needs therapy. We also talked about how Sophie didn’t expect much from this book when she first read it and was surprised...because...FRIENDSHIP!

Content Warnings: Bullying, pet death, underage substance use, disordered eating, emotional manipulation, homophobia, use of homophobic slurs, uncomfortable romantic age gaps.

Note: In this episode there is some audio inconsistency due to the filming location as well as the placement of the microphone.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

This week we read The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch. And we had a special guest! We discussed how much this book impacted our guest, some very evil antagonists, and how an author’s personal life can unexpectantly show up in their writing.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

TikTok: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

In this special quarantine episode, Sophie reviews and discusses the fantasy/mystery Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

This week we read How to Be Popular by Meg Cabot. We discussed what it means to be popular, why Steph is a bit of a creep, and some of our own high school experiences.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB

This week we examined The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau. This is the fourth book in the Ember series. We discussed some thin world-building, the random diamond technology, and a fairly satisfying ending to an iconic series.

Our Links

Website: https://werethekidsalright.wixsite.com/podcast

Twitter: @wtka_podcast

Instagram: wtka_podcast

Music

Intro: I Wear Headphones by Silent Partner

Outro: Good Vibes by MBB