Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

Welcome to full-on vitriol. Brenna wants to barf and Joe wants to burn this book. In this take no prisoners dressing down of Beth Reekles’ massive Wattpad success The Kissing Booth , Brenna and Joe don’t expect to make any tween fans from Los Angeles happy (or is it South Wales? Or is it South Africa?). Adult listeners wishing to destroy their livers are welcome to play the “Edit!” drinking game a...

Brenna and Joe tackle our second namesake in as many weeks with a deep dive into John Green's 2012 realist YA The Fault In Our Stars and Josh Boone's 2014 film adaptation. The discussion skews a little more towards the book, including Green's extensive fan community, issues of representing "cancer kids" authentically and Joe's issues with the character of Gus. Plus: our news is dedicated...

Fasten your SJW seatbelts because Brenna and Joe are tackling racism, privilege and duality in our most vital (and emotional) Chapter yet as we cover Angie Thomas' amazing The Hate U Give and George Tillman Jr.'s 2018 film adaptation. The discussion about the book and recent racist events in the media brings one host to tears, prompts a rage-fuelled clap back against #AllLivesMatter, but we're mos...

Brenna and Joe dive deep into Deborah Harkness’ 600 page tome A Discovery of Witches and discover…that they don’t care for supernatural romances. They debate the attraction to mates that can kill you, question the editorial decisions of the book and praise Teresa Palmer’s performance in the TV adaptation (available now on Sundance Now and Shudder). Plus: Brenna gets excited for the June release of...

Brenna and Joe dive headfirst into the graphic novel universe of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim , its toxic masculinity and its Maple-soaked Canadian identity. A text to film comparison with Edgar Wright's adaptation reveals that some problems persist in both mediums, but - mores than any other text thus far - this is the one that reveals how far YALit has changed in just a short span of 8-9 y...

In a special appendix edition of the show, Brenna and Joe check out the first episode of the new Netflix series, Sex Education . The discussion ranges from Joe's love of Gillian Anderson, the balance between raunch and heart, and speculation about what role nostalgia, timelessness and class will play in the subsequent seven episodes of the first season. If you want to connect with the show, use #H...

Brenna and Joe are back with our first full Chapter of 2019 and it's a doozy: Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 puritanical novel The Scarlet Letter and Will Gluck's delightful 2010 "loose" adaptation, Easy A . Come for the lively discussion about how to pronounce Hester Prynne's last name, why Salem sucked for women (shocking!) and how much we love Emma Stone. Plus: 2 new YA Bingo terms. In th...

Part of HKHSPod's mandate is to highlight the work of Canadian YA Lit writers. In this exclusive interview, Joe is joined by Carrianne Leung, two time Toronto Book Awards nominee and author of The Wondrous Woo and That Time I Loved You . Here Carrianne discusses her work, why Canadian literature is having a moment and why Michelle Yeoh should get the animated treatment in a movie adaptation of Woo...

Happy New Year (or whatever it is that you celebrate)! Brenna and Joe have gathered to survey the young adult literature and adaptation landscape for the first quarter of 2019 to select a few picks to add to your Library holds list. If you have a selection that didn't make our cut, please reach out to us at #HKHSPod on Twitter: Brenna: @brennacgray Joe: @bstolemyremote Or send us an email at hkhsp...

Happy holidays from the HKHS crew. Brenna and Joe are here with a list of seasonally appropriate - and entirely non-denominational - YA picks to check out over the holidays, including a few book and TV "special" suggestions. Connect with us on Twitter using #HKHSPod: Brenna: @brennacgray Joe: @bstolemyremote Or shoot us an email at hkhspod@gmail.com. See you on the page and on the screen...

The time has come to enter the Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant! That's right, Brenna and Joe are talkin' Julie Murphy's 2015 fat-positive YA hit Dumplin' and Anne Fletcher's 2018 Netflix adaptation. Listen as Joe tries a Southern accent, we discuss Manic Pixie Drag Queens and Brenna offers a few other texts to check out in the same vein (including Jes Baker's Landwhale: On Turning Insults Into Nickna...

This week's "Chapter" is a doozy! Brenna and Joe struggle through Lauren Oliver's breakout 2010 novel Before I Fall and the 2017 film adaptation of the same name by Ry Russo-Young. Tackling questions about character likability, white privilege, redemption arcs, the financial viability of killing your protagonist and a quick discussion of Vancouver housing prices, this may just be the wee...

Part of HKHSPod's mandate is to highlight the work of Canadian YA Lit writers. In this exclusive interview, Joe is joined by Kevin T. Johns, writing coach and author of The Page Turners series and M School , to discuss his work, his influences and why Drew Goddard should option his book for a movie. Find out more about Kevin's work on his website: http://www.kevintjohns.com/ or on Twitter at @Kevi...

After abuse and zombies, Brenna and Joe are psyched to dive into the adorably sweet love life of Lara Jean Song, the heroine of Jenny Han’s 2014 book To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and the 2018 film adaptation by Susan Johnson. Come along for the frank discussion of POC representation, how the two texts balance the family vs romance storylines and heartthrob ‎Noah Centineo (of course!) Also: A...

It’s time for a Zombie Rom Com! Brenna and Joe tackle Isaac Marion’s 2010 book Warm Bodies and Jonathan Levine’s 2013 film adaptation of the same name to discover which one has an obsession with penises and which one can’t help but conform to typical action finale shoot-outs. Also: We add 2 new squares to our YA BINGO cards. And in our news update, Brenna is excited for Netflix's adaptation of Ann...

Welcome to the inaugural outing of Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr! Brenna and Joe tackle Stephen Chobsky’s 1999 coming of age novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and his 2012 film of the same name. Marvel at the heaps of misery loaded onto these young teens, lament the excised abortion plot in the film and join us in our first ever round of YA BINGO! Also: in our news updates, Bre...

Join Brenna and Joe as they embark on a wild podcast odyssey into the world of YA literature, their filmic adaptations and everything in between. In this bonus episode, we introduce ourselves, explain our history together and elaborate on all of the tawdry details about why YA texts mean so much to us (all while trying to limit the number of times we say “um” and “like”). It’s going to be a wild r...