Love, lies, and revolution! All of that and more in this week’s featured title, We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia, with guest Erin Callahan. (Transcript) In today’s episode… We Set the Dark on Fire provides a dark vision of the island world of Medio where a wall separates the prosperous inner region from the salted, barren earth of the outer island. Every young man of wealth and means negotiates for two wives – a Primera, who is to be his ambitious, intellectual equal, and a Segunda, who will be the lovely and beautiful opposite of everything he is. Daniela has trained as a Primera in Medio, and is set to marry an influential politician’s son. When a rebel organization discovers her biggest secret, she must agree to be a spy in […]

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Can Bri be true to herself and still make her voice heard? On the Come Up by Angie Thomas is a love song to rap and radical, brave young women. (Transcript)   In today’s episode…   In Angie Thomas’ new book, On the Come Up, Bri Jackson isn’t interested in the prescribed future of college and career her mother has in mind for her. All she wants to do is follow her passion and talent and become a hip hop artist, like her late father. After a triumphant debut at The Ring, a local venue for rap battles, Bri is ready to rise to the top. Unfortunately, the world has its own ideas about how a teenage Black girl is expected to act. She faces relentless racism and oppression just for being a normal high […]

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Teens, drag queens, heists, and hijinks? All of this and more in this week’s title, Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig. (Transcript) In today’s episode… Our book this week is Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig. By day Margo Manning appears to be your average vapid socialite heiress, but by night she is the leader of a highly skilled group of drag wearing thieves, pulling off notorious heists and making hundreds of thousands of dollars. It’s a perfect balance for Margo until a series of disasters causes her two lives to twine together in increasingly dangerous ways. Can Margo keep herself and her friends safe from the threats that her high crime lifestyle has brought into their world? We’ll see!     These Show Notes use Amazon Affiliate Links for your convenience. If you decide […]

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This week it’s a #throwbackthursday as we chat about a book that came out in 2016. The Stonewall Book Award winning, If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo. (Transcript) In today’s episode… Today we’re discussing If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo. Amanda is a normal high school girl and for the first time she’s given the chance to live like one. She’s a transgender teen who moves back in with her estranged father after the bullying and attacks at her old school become too much. At her new school no one knows she used to look like a boy, she’s just the pretty new girl. And it isn’t long before she has a group of good friends, a boyfriend on the football team and something that looks like the life she’s always wanted. […]

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This week we are joined by our teacher friend Carissa Peck as we chat about The Field Guide to the North American Teenager by Ben Philippe. (Transcript) In today’s episode… When Norris’ mother gets a job as a professor in Austin and his father “can’t quite fit a teenager” in the same house as his new wife and baby, Norris knows he’s in for a culture shock. After all, he’s seen tons of TV shows and movies showing what it’s like in American high school, and he knows that a black French Canadian is bound to have a hard time fitting in. He chronicles his anthropological observations of his new classmates in a journal, and is determined to keep his mouth shut. Maaaybe. Will Norris ever make friends in this cultural wilderness? Will he ever […]

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New year, new books! This week we devoured the novella In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire, and had a lovely time chatting with YA author Betsy Cornwell. (Transcript) In today’s episode… Today we chat about In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire. Katherine Lundy is quiet, serious, and studious. She’d rather be reading a book than playing with her friends, and expects that a wholly ordinary life awaits her in a distant Adulthood. But all that changes when a door appears before her and invites her in to the Goblin Market, where Fairness is the driving force and rules are never made to be broken. It’s the perfect world for Lundy to thrive, but Lundy has to choose between growing old and ordinary with her family, or staying in the Goblin Market forever.   […]

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This is part 2 of our 2018 round-up with recommendations from 15 guests. Today we hear from Lamar Giles, Amanda K. Morgan, Hannah Moskowitz, and more! (Transcript) In today’s episode… Today’s episode will be a little different, this is part 2 of a two-part year in review. We’ve called up some of our writer, reader, and teacher friends to make some recommendations of books we didn’t cover this year on the podcast. If you missed part 1 last week, be sure to check it out!   Our friend and recurring podcast guest, Anna (@hayinas7) is kicking off this episode by sharing her love of The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. She also strongly recommends listen to the audio-book which is read by Elizabeth herself! (Psst! YA Cafe listeners can get a free audio-book from Audible by […]

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We have something very special for y’all to finish off 2018! In a two-part episode our guests bring 15 recommendations of books that you don’t want to miss. (Transcript)   In today’s episode… Today’s episode will be a little different, this is part 1 of a two-part year in review. We’ve called up some of our writer, reader, and teacher friends to make some recommendations of books we didn’t cover this year on the podcast. These Show Notes use Amazon Affiliate Links for your convenience. If you decide to purchase this book, please consider doing so through our affiliate links. Your support makes this podcast possible. Our first recommendation comes from H.D. Hunter, author of Torment: A Novella. He shares a little bit about his writing life, and recommends the HMH anthology Meet Cute.     […]

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In The Disasters by MK England we follow four teens on the run. Can they evade the government long enough to stop the terrorists from striking again? (Transcript) In today’s episode… Today we’re discussing The Disasters by MK England. After washing out of flight school in less than a day, wanna-be pilot Nax Hall is dreading his return to Earth. But when the Academy Space Station is attacked by terrorists, Nax and three other failures escape in a stolen ship to the far-off colonies. Framed for the academy attack, the four of them must scramble to figure out where to hide and how to prevent the powerful terrorist organization from striking again.   These Show Notes use Amazon Affiliate Links for your convenience. If you decide to purchase this book, please consider doing so through […]

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Today’s episode is perfect for cyberpunk and Sci-Fi fans – join us as we discuss Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton. (Transcript) In today’s episode… Arwen Elys Dayton’s new book Stronger, Faster and More Beautiful is a collection of six stories spanning a couple hundred years of human experimentation with genetic modification. Six teens provide different perspectives on the social, emotional, and political implications of this brave new world.   These Show Notes use Amazon Affiliate Links for your convenience. If you decide to purchase this book, please consider doing so through our affiliate links. Your support makes this podcast possible.   Episode highlights…   Spoiler-Free *1:20 We loved the premise and the narrative voices in this book *3:33 We nerd out about anagrams *5:45 We have a lengthy discussion regarding the […]

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