Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

Brenna and Joe join the uniformly black and white life of the 'Sameness' as they dig into Lois Lowry's 1993 Newberry medal winner dystopian text, The Giver . Unfortunately because this is still a YA adaptation podcast, they're also forced to check out Philip Noyce's 2014 film adaptation, which Joe politely describes as a "run of the mill dystopian garbage fest with hot people". In this e...

Brenna and Joe return from their long recording sabbatical with bright eyes and cat ears. For the start of Book 2 (aka our second season) we wanted something fun and frothy, so what better to kick things off with than the tale of friendship, success and capitalism that is Josie And The Pussycats ?! For the first time Joe & Brenna are covering two texts that don't speak to each other, as the 20...

Gentle listeners, some big news! HKHS won't return with new episodes until Tues, Aug 6, but if you need your fill of Joe and Brenna, check out Horror Queers on July 31 for a special crossover episode on ParaNorman, a delightful family horror film that even scaredy-cat Brenna can watch. Click here to check it out Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Book One comes to a close as Brenna and Joe delve into the dark and horrifying world of Scott Heim's 1995 novel Mysterious Skin and Gregg Araki's 2004 adaptation, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this week. Take the trigger warning to heart as both texts deal with very mature themes. Brenna and Joe, while appreciative of the craftmanship of both texts, frequently resort to the word "...

It's graduation night and Brenna and Joe should be enjoying a wild night of debauchery and wacky hijinks, but instead they're angry (like REAL ANGRY) about Larry Doyle's 2007 book, I Love You, Beth Cooper and Chris Columbus' 2009 adaptation. Listeners who enjoy the episodes where the pair get a little frustrated with one or both texts (think The Kissing Booth ) are sure to delight in just how much...

Brenna and Joe are under house arrest, so please be sure to decontaminate properly before you listen to this episode on Nicola Yoon's 2015 novel Everything, Everything and its accompanying 2017 film adaptation by Stella Meghie. In all seriousness though: MEGA SPOILER WARNING - If you have not read the book and plan to, DO NOT LISTEN!!! Brenna and Joe discuss why the format of both texts don't quit...

We've done our homework and we're ready to chat about books that we've both hyped up and ACTUALLY finished. It’s our much-in-demand homework report episode! We’re providing updates on texts that we briefly discussed at the top of the show over the last few months in order to let you know if they're worth your time. We also address managing expectations for an author’s new & different work when...

Welcome to the halfway point of the year! As promised, Brenna and Joe have selected some forthcoming new young adult literature and adaptation selections for summer/early fall 2019. Get the Library holds list prepped for an onslaught! Brenna: The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren (June) An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, adapted by Jean Men...

Greetings podcast listeners. J & B here with an exclusive scoop: we've read the first book in Cecily von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl series and watched the first two episodes of The CW's TV adaptation and one of these texts is very, very bad. Which one? We'll never tell (ok, that's a lie - we will, but you have to listen). You know you love us. XOXO -J & B In homework: Joe advocates for a timel...

Brenna and Joe head to the 70s suburbs for a deep dive into the problematic world of Jeffrey Eugenides' 1993 "not YA" novel The Virgin Suicides and a comparison of Sofia Coppola's film adaptation, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. After 25 episodes, Brenna FINALLY clarifies to Joe a foundational component of YA Literature. The pair also discuss Eugenides' lack of empathy for his...

If you're going to revisit a YA author, who better to sample a second time than prolific writer John Green? Brenna and Joe dive deep into manic pixie dream girl territory with Green's 2008 novel Paper Towns and its 2015 film adaptation by Jake Schreier. The pair continue the discussion about male protagonists in realist YA romance, question the blandness of white boy actors and debate the casting...

Brenna and Joe put on a puffy prom dress and rent a tux for their first dip into male protagonist realist YA romance. Unfortunately they selected Steve Bloom's 2016 novel The Stand-In and Chris Nelson's 2019 Netflix adaptation The Perfect Date which not even current It-Boy Noah Centineo can save. The pair marvel at how badly written and problematic the book is, while acknowledging that it is one o...

Brenna and Joe are joined by Paul Le as they venture into the world of South Korean manwha and webtoons. The trio checks out the first 25 episodes of Seok-woo's Orange Marmalade , a YA vampire romance that originally ran between 2011-2013, as well as its accompanying 2015 KBS2 TV series. The unique episodic format of the webtoon poses some narrative challenges, but its clever and unique use of spa...

Part of HKHSPod's mandate is to highlight the work of Canadian YA Lit writers. In this exclusive interview, Brenna and Joe are joined by Tanaz Bhathena to discuss her cross-cultural romance The Beauty of the Moment , the ironic story of her first YA book (deemed "too dark for adults") and why including diversity in her writing is natural and completely Canadian. Find out more about Tanaz...

Brenna and Joe travel to the other side of the world for an investigation into Margaret Mahy's 1984 Carnegie Medal winner, The Changeover and its 2017 film adaptation by Miranda Harcourt and Stuart McKenzie. Brenna appreciates the prickly, unconventional mother/daughter relationship, Joe unpacks how the film uses the 2011 earthquake to inform its narrative and, for the first time on the podcast, a...

Brenna and Joe venture to Canada's Northern Territories to spend time with Richard Van Camp's lyrical and melancholy 1996 novel The Lesser Blessed and Anita Dorin's 2012 film adaptation. This is an extremely heavy, but ultimately rewarding pair of texts that merit the extra-long run time (fun fact: when Brenna teaches the book, it takes her three weeks to unpack!) Brenna goes into much-needed teac...

Brenna and Joe stumble into a fairy tale world that compels them to do everything they're told...so long as it's compare Gale Carson Levine's 1997 Ella Enchanted and Tommy O'Haver's over-the-top wacky 2004 adaptation, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this week! The book proves to be a good example of how straightforward and non-subversive books for young adults were in the 90s, while the...

Brenna and Joe venture deep into the Greendale woods to perform a dark ceremony in advance of Brenna's birthday and they're joined by a very special guest: Emily von Seele! The three unpack the gorgeous art and risky narrative in Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's 60s-set dark reboot of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and contrast it with the more risk-adverse 2018 Netflix adaptation - just in time for its r...

Break out your black tights and your pink hair because Brenna and Joe are headed into the Dauntless Pit with Veronica Roth's 2011 bestseller Divergent and the Neil Burger-helmed 2014 adaptation. Both hosts have mixed feelings, contrasting their initial enjoyment of the texts back in the day with the more complicated, less fun reading of both in a post-Trump, anti-intellectual world. It's not all d...

After several weeks of...challenging texts, Brenna and Joe dive into the warm comfort of Becky Albertalli's 2015 Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and Greg Berlanti's 2018 adaptation Love, Simon . The pair break down the book's great writing, problematize the film's depiction of Leah and Ethan and praise what may be the best, most supportive parents in YA. It's a bit of a gush fest, honestly. Plus...

Hold onto your Old Tech because Brenna and Joe are on the run from London and the other Traction Cities as they tackle Phillip Reeves' 2001 novel Mortal Engines , as well as 2018's significantly less interesting film adaptation by Christian Rivers. The text has fascinating colonialist and caste implications that are mostly abandoned in the film, in favour of pretty CW-styled actors and a really ba...

After several weeks of dystopian and urban fantasy, Brenna and Joe travel back in time to the 1980s and the Iranian Revolution for a deep dive in Marjane Satrapi's award-winning comics & animated film, Persepolis . Brenna touches on a vital lesson in semantics re: the classification of the text as a comic vs graphic novel (and why the distinction is so important). We also address the cyclical...

Mundanes Brenna and Joe muddle their way through a three for one as they tackle Cassandra Clare’s 2007 urban fantasy novel The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones , the CGI atrocity that is the 2013 film adaptation and the 2016 Freeform TV adaptation, Shadowhunters (which they declare the best version of the story). Expect A LOT of sighs, guffaws and questions as the pair address the book's generic...

Part of HKHSPod's mandate is to highlight the work of Canadian YA Lit writers. In this exclusive interview, Brenna and Joe are joined by Steven Bereznai to discuss his bestselling books, why superhero narratives are so appealing to gay men, and which former Teen Wolf stars should begin preparing for a cinematic adaptation of 'I Want Superpowers.' Find out more about Steven's work on his website: h...

Strap on your space gear and take off your shoes because Joe and Brenna are tackling The Umbrella Academy , Netflix's latest TV adaptation, which is based on the first two volumes of the mega successful comics by Gerard Way (of the band My Chemical Romance ) and artist Gabriel Bá. Join the pair as they attempt to unpack the generic apocalyptic threat and similarly drawn characters, discuss why som...