The SSR Podcast

It has been a wild, amazing ride and I couldn't be more grateful for all of your support over the years. Please enjoy this reflective last episode, which includes some of my thoughts on podcasting more broadly, a bit of housekeeping, and a whole lot of Q&A. Thank you for every little thing. Love, Alli KEEP IN TOUCH! Follow me on Instagram @allihoffkosik . Check out (and subscribe to!) my Subst...

For the last- ever guest episode of SSR, Alli is thrilled to revisit a book by one of her personal favorites, Sharon Creech. The book is Absolutely Normal Chaos , a diary-style read from the '90s that serves as a fascinating entry point to grief and loss for young readers. Tune in for a discussion about the emotional roller coaster of the book, but also for some comparing and contrasting with Cree...

Add this to the list of Alli's favorite SSR reads of all-time—and just in time for the show to say goodbye in a couple of weeks! Nearly 20 years after it was published and won a Newbery Honor, Shannon Hale's Princess Academy was a delight to read and discuss. The book inspires conversations on Episode 316 about everything from hometown pride and tropes about female bodies to the value of education...

On this last installment of our monthly SSR: WTF (WriTing Friends) series, Alli and Abby look to the future! In anticipation of the 2026 publication of Alli's debut novel, they discuss all things book promotion: book events, PR boxes, social media icks, supporting authors online and IRL, newsletters, pre-orders, and more. They also chat more about the decision to end SSR and give you a preview of...

Bad news: this is the last Baby-Sitters Club-centric episode of SSR. Good news: this is an amazing Baby-Sitters Club-centric episode of SSR! This week, former BSC superfan Saumya Dave joins Alli for one final trip to Stoneybrook to hang with everyone's favorite young entrepreneurs. They discuss the sixty-fifth book in the series, Stacey's Big Crush , along with hot teachers, women in STEM, all-con...

Beyond the ivy-covered walls of the Constance Billard School and the moneyed Upper East Side is upstate New York and the equally moneyed Waverly Academy—and Jenny Humphrey is bound for them as we meet her at the start of Gossip Girl spin-off, The It Girl ! Episode 313 is a juicy deep dive into all things Boarding School Jenny: rich kids, nuanced mean girls, problematic love affairs, hedonism, and...

This week, Alli and her guest revisit some required reading from their school days in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Picking up this 1966 novel was just as emotional and thought-provoking as picking up the 1959 short story was years ago, and this time around, they unpack the experience together on the podcast. Tune in for conversations about their fuzzy memories of reading Flowers for Alger...

Grab your denim bucket hats, butterfly hair clips, and overalls, listeners, because we're going to the land of the Olsen twins! Episode 311 unpacks all things Mary-Kate and Ashley, with a special emphasis on their multiple book series and one of their mystery novels, The Case of the 202 Clues . After reading this book, Alli and her guest have lots of thoughts about basset hounds, kid-friendly stak...

It's the first SSR: WTF (WriTing Friends) episode of 2025, and it's only fitting that Alli and Abby kick off the new year with a discussion about routines, processes, practices, and how they're rethinking all of those things at the moment. They discuss their creative mindsets in the new year and compare notes about specific elements of their creative lives: planned breaks, problematic mindsets, ti...

At last, the Hardy Boys get an episode all their own! Episode 309 takes a deep dive into the first book in the series— The Tower Treasure — as well as the bestselling franchise as a whole... and the conversation is juicy! Launched in the 1920s, the Hardy Boys prompts discussion about gendered book marketing, racism, white saviorism, letting boys be boys, virtuous poverty, Nancy Drew, the interchan...

Many requests later, SSR has finally answered the call to cover The Hundred Dresses . Written by Eleanor Estes, published in 1944, and granted a Newbery Honor in 1945, this beautiful little book tackles the well-trod bullying narrative with a uniquely soft and empathetic hand. It creates space for conversations about what it means to play the bystander to bad behavior, rising above one's bullies,...

Happy New Year! We're kicking off 2025 with a conversation with a friend from across the pond, highlighting a series and book that's been a particular favorite for young readers in the U.K. Jacqueline Wilson's Girls in Love takes center stage! Tune into Episode 307 for discussions about fake boyfriends, shifting friendships, diet culture, self-image, and more. TW: attempted assault, body image, di...

The Magic Tree House has been making readers, history buffs, and science geeks of kids for more than thirty years—and at long last, SSR dives in! Episode 306 covers all things Magic Tree House with a special focus on the first installment, Dinosaurs Before Dark . Alli and her guest chat about everything from the origin of Magic Tree House and unpopular opinions about the books to the allure of tre...

Alli and Abby are BACK for the fifth installment of SSR: WriTing Friends, this time for a conversation with memoirist Molly Roden Winter about the personal, vulnerable, intimate experience of putting one's own story on paper for public consumption. They put their heads together to consider the similarities and differences between writing fiction and writing memoir and tackle some specific aspects...

On Episode 304, Alli and her guest right the wrong (???) of somehow missing The Catcher in the Rye in their reading lives. In this juicy, thoughtful episode, they consider the book's place in the American canon and on school reading lists everywhere. They chat about sad boy fiction, Holden Caulfield's complicated character and legacy, love bombing, New York City as a character, teen angst, slut sh...

It's our first-ever holiday episode! No matter what you celebrate at this time of year, Episode 303 will get your wheels turning as we unpack The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. Alli and her guest chat about the surprisingly religious bent of the book, among other things: the unruly children trope, nativity plays, the book's new adaptation, fatphobia, and disappearing narrators. S...

We’ve covered our fair share of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield’s high school hi-jinx on the podcast, but at long last, Alli and her guest turn their attention to a kinder, softer version of the twins: the middle school sub-series, Sweet Valley Twins. Episode 302 is all about The Curse of the Ruby Necklace, which chronicles the ~super chilling~ journey the twins take when they find their way to a...

This week, join Alli and her guest for an exciting voyage to Antarctica… and also for a conversation about Troubling a Star by Madeleine L’Engle. The fifth installment in L’Engle’s beloved Austin Family Chronicles series, the book was published in 1994 and explores subjects of espionage, nuclear waste dumping, drug trafficking, and more. Join the fun as we try to unpack all of it—and don’t be turn...

Join Alli as she marks the big 3-0-0 with a rare (and unscripted!) solo show. She reflects on why she struggled to plan this special episode, what she’s been thinking about as this milestone approaches, the journey she’s taken with SSR since 2018, and the behind-the-scenes struggles she rarely shares. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! Cheers to 300 episodes! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

As you wish(ed), listeners, it’s time to unpack The Princess Bride . Alli and her guest focus on the 1973 novel by William Goldman but bring in lots of context from the cult classic movie, as well. Adventures, unreasonable beauty standards, metanarratives, beloved characters, and iconic lines abound! Georgia Clark  is an award-winning, six-times published novelist and performer. She’s the aut...

Almost seven years into SSR, we’ve covered almost all of Judy Blume’s kid lit masterpieces. On Episode 298, Alli and her guest dive into a Blume novel that feels like something of an outlier: Tiger Eyes , which was published in 1981. In it, Judy takes a darker tone, exploring matters of violence, loss, hypocrisy, and mental health. Tune in to learn more about how Tiger Eyes stands apart from the r...

At long last, it's John Green time! Episode 297 unpacks Looking for Alaska , the YA superstar's award-winning debut novel. Conversations range from manic pixie dream girls and the male gaze to addiction and the problematic language that made Alli and her guest cringe in 2024. TW: suicide, addiction, parental loss Alissa DeRogatis is the author of Call It What You Want . Subscribe to her Substack n...

You already know that Ramona Quimby is curious, precocious, hilarious, and bold... but now she gets to be brave , too. On Episode 296, Alli and her guest take a close look at the third book in Beverly Cleary's beloved Ramona series, Ramona the Brave . There's classroom enemies, feminism, craft projects, scary new bedrooms, and big moments of self-esteem. What more could you want? Jessie Rosen is a...

Abby and Alli welcome their first-ever guest to the WriTing Friends series for a conversation about the publishing process, astrology, and everything in between. Carinn Jade is the co-host of Pop Fiction Women and the author of The Astrology House . Follow her on Instagram @carinnjade . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Longtime listeners know that Sarah Dessen books always, always bring the spice and juicy discussion to the podcast. This episode is no exception as Alli and her guest dish about 1998's Someone Like You . The book tackles a lot of issues—and we try to do the same on today's show. Topics include bad boyfriends, intense friendships, losing your virginity, teen pregnancy, and tension between kids and...