The SSR Podcast

Week 2 of New Reads November 2023 is all about Joelle Wellington’s Their Vicious Games . The book feels like a real return to the heyday of YA, with the addition of organic, fresh threads about class, race, and privilege. On Episode 269, Alli and her guest do plenty of fangirling over the book and discuss concepts like performative allyship, white saviorism, satire, and more. Erin La Rosa is the a...

New Reads November is BACK for a SIXTH year! This time around, we get things rolling with a conversation about Camryn Garrett’s Friday I’m in Love , which was published in January 2023. The book inspires conversations about “coming out narratives,” casual racism, self-aware narrators, the subversion of tropes about sweet sixteens, and the pressures that many teens experience. Alli’s guest also tak...

On this special bonus episode, Alli is joined by Sara Hildreth of Fiction Matters and the Novel Pairings podcast ! As she prepares to take a brief podcast maternity leave in early 2024, Alli looks to Sara for advice on how to manage a pause in sharing content with her community. They take you behind-the-scenes of the business of podcasting, Patreon, Substack, and more! Follow Sara on Instagram ( @...

Listener favorites Allison and Mary from Dolls of Our Lives are BACK for Episode 267! This time around, they join Alli to discuss Danger at the Zoo: A Kit Mystery , a 2005 installment in the American Girl Mysteries series that was written by Kathleen Ernst. They talk broadly about Kit’s storyline and the AG mysteries as an offshoot of the rest of the American Girl series. In the context of Danger...

On this special episode, Alli answers listener questions about… * How she handles tricky situations with podcast guests * Whether she would rather deal with a boring book or a boring guest * The books she’s most excited to share with Baby K * The best marriage advice she’s ever received * The books that are still on her podcast wish list * Her current thoughts on Bethenny Frankel * How to get star...

On Episode 265, Alli and her guest explore a new side of all-time kid lit rock star Beverly Cleary — a more ~mature~ side! This week, the focus is one of Cleary’s books for teen readers, Fifteen . The conversation covers everything from awkward first date moments and ‘50s crush etiquette to class undercurrents and the importance of confidence. Alli and her guest also unpack a hard-to-read scene se...

Let’s get back to the Upper East Side, listeners! Episode 264 explores the fourth book in the bestselling Gossip Girl series, Because I’m Worth It . Alli and her guest consider the specific place that Gossip Girl occupies in their shared millennial pop culture history and talk through some especially disturbing parts of the book. Jamie Lilac is the author of Bellegarde . Follow her on Instagram (...

On Episode 263, Alli’s guest walks her through the first installment of one of her all-time favorite series: Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small. They discuss the ins and outs of First Test , as well as why the book has meant so much to the guest over the years. They also talk about toxic masculinity, the importance of quiet good deeds, protagonists who can work through their fears, and the sig...

Five years after our first foray into the world of Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, SSR finally returns to the Twilight universe. At long last, Alli and her guest take a look at 2006’s New Moon , the book that gave Team Jacob Twihards their moment in the spotlight. Tune in for conversations about mental health, toxic relationships, and more, along with a moment for the Team Edward vs. Team Jacob deba...

At long last, Episode 261 dives into the oft-requested All-of-a-Kind Family , the 1951 novel by Sydney Taylor that represented an important step for Jewish representation. Conversation topics range from model minorities and fatphobia to Jewish holidays and shocking romantic twists. Taleen Voskuni is the author of Sorry, Bro . Follow her on Instagram ( @taleenauthor ) and Twitter ( @taleenvoskuni )...

Let’s have a Judy Blume moment, shall we? Episode 260 takes a close look at the iconic author’s 1972 “divorce book,” It’s Not the End of the World . Alli and her guest discuss the ways in which our conversations with kids about divorce have changed… but also the ways they’ve stayed the same! They also talk about the emotional immaturity of the adults in the book, kid psychology, imperfect parents,...

Episode 259 centers around The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett! Originally published in 1911, this is one of the oldest books covered on the podcast yet, making it a unique case for discussion. Alli and her guest talk about the notion of “classics” as a whole, as well as colonialism, disability, manifestation, the supernatural, unlikable kid protagonists, and mind-over-matter approaches t...

For the first time in YEARS, SSR once again takes on Gertrude Chandler Warner’s beloved Boxcar Children series. Episode 258 is all about the second installment, Surprise Island … and the biggest surprise of all might just be that it’s a pretty quiet story! All aboard for the discussion about the general appeal of the Boxcar Children, gender roles, what makes a mystery, domestic fantasy, wish fulfi...

Tune in for a special announcement in the episode intro! Get ready to investigate, listeners, because we’re revisiting the Baby-Sitters Club Mystery spin-off series. Episode 257 is all about Jessi and the Jewel Thieves , in which BSC junior officer Jessi Ramsey takes a trip to the Big Apple, plans to break-up with her long-distance BF, and somehow manages to get involved in what she *thinks* is a...

On Episode 256, Alli and her guest cover not just one throwback read, but a whole series of them! Adventurers and decisive bookworms, this one’s for you, because it’s time to take a walk down memory lane to chat about the Choose Your Own Adventure series. This episode offers lots of insight into the history of these books, along with why so many kids love them and what they teach us about making c...

On Episode 255, Alli and her guest consider Frank B. Gilbreth and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey’s Cheaper By the Dozen … and it’s absolutely nothing like the romp of a Steve Martin movie you remember from your childhood. Instead, the book that inspired the movie(s) opens up conversations about the problematic nature of efficiency experts, narcissism, the Duggars, corporal punishment, and extremely toxi...

Buckle up for some real darkness this week, listeners, because we’re heading back to the world of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events! Episode 254 is all about the fifth installment in the series, The Austere Academy , in which the Baudelaire orphans are dropped off at an absurdly horrendous boarding school. Join Alli and her guest as they unpack the appeal of Snicket’s work and chat a...

Join us on Episode 253 for a nostalgic journey back to Beverly Cleary’s Klickitat Street, more specifically, a discussion about the 1968 classic Ramona the Pest . Alli and her guest discuss their favorite Ramona-isms, fangirl over this self-aware young heroine, and chat about the many things that Cleary gets so incredibly right about childhood. Kara Alloway ’s debut novel Most Hated is now availab...

Grab your favorite pens, markers, and stickers and prepare to jump back into the pages of Amelia’s Notebook ! Listen to Episode 252 for a cozy, nostalgic visit back to the days of handwritten documentation and old school creativity. It’s a super fun ride that features discussions about likability, sass, jelly roll noses, and more. Mikki Hernandez is an actress, voiceover artist, and the author of...

SSR is BACK from summer break and jumping right into a conversation about 2009’s Beautiful Creatures , a southern gothic novel that explores witchcraft, first love, and teen angst. Tune in to hear Alli and her guest discuss everything from revisionist history and slut shaming to the “not like other girls” trope and iPods. They also discuss one major question: is this book *too* long? Joelle Wellin...

Five years of the podcast and 250 episodes… it’s a big week! And what better way to celebrate than by revisiting one of Alli’s deep cut childhood favorites, Joan Bauer’s Hope Was Here ? Join the party as Alli and her guest take a sweet walk down memory lane with the help of this Newbery Honor book, covering topics ranging from Gilmore Girls parallels and the glamorization of working in food servic...

The subject matter of Episode 249 is HEAVY because it mirrors the equally heavy subject matter of Lurlene McDaniel’s long career in YA “sick lit.” More specifically, Alli and her guest chat about Six Months to Live , the 1985 novel that began the Dawn Rochelle series. In it, seventh grader Dawn is diagnosed with cancer and forced to completely reorder her life accordingly. They discuss the draw of...

The SSR Podcast has spent no shortage of time on Ann M. Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club and their idyllic life in Stonybrook, Connecticut… but what happens when we take one member of the BSC to the west coast? Well, you get the California Diaries series. On Episode 248, Alli and her guest discuss the first installment of that series, Dawn . Their conversation touches on shifting friendships, maturity g...

On Episode 247, Alli finally gets the chance to revisit a book that’s been at the top of her personal SSR wish list for years: Bloomability by Sharon Creech. With the help of her guest, Alli follows main character Dinnie on a journey from her nomadic life in the U.S. to a Swiss boarding school, where she makes new friends, is forced to see her family back home in a new way, and learns more about h...

Episode 246 takes a sweeping look at the mystery genre and Agatha Christie, paying special attention to a book that has made many a teenager a mystery fan over the last decades: And Then There Were None . Alli and her guests — whose recent work was inspired by Agatha Christie — talk about reading and writing mysteries. They also discuss the racist legacy of And Then There Were None , their favorit...