The SSR Podcast

For Week 4 of New Reads November, Alli and her guest talk about Alli’s first-ever graphic novel: Anne of West Philly . Written by Ivy Noelle Weir and illustrated by Myisha Haynes, Anne of West Philly is a fresh retelling of the classic Anne of Green Gables that casts Anne Shirley as a spunky foster kid who develops a passion for coding while living with the Cuthberts in Philadelphia. Tune in to he...

Tune in for Week 3 of SSR’s New Reads November 2022, on which Raquel Marie’s Ophelia After All takes center stage! This one is the story of a high school senior who is excited for the prom but decidedly not excited about the prospect of the big changes that are coming her way. When the way she starts to see herself begins to change, too, you know it’s about to get tricky. On this episode, Alli and...

Week 2 of New Reads November 2022 is all about R. Eric Thomas’s Kings of B’More , a YA novel that celebrates platonic love and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off . Episode 218 journeys into all kinds of conversational territory, including the importance of books as “empathy engines,” some great fictional parenting moments, our collective understanding of queer love stories, popularity, the outsized nature o...

Happy New Reads November 2022! This year, we kick off our annual exploration of recently-published YA and middle grade with a conversation about Malinda Lo’s Last Night at the Telegraph Club , which has earned about a million awards and deserves every one. Alli and her guest do their fair share of fangirling about the novel and also discuss intersectionality, safe spaces, xenophobia, banned books,...

Episode 216 takes us back to another time and place — more specifically, to Los Angeles circa 2009. Alli and her guest chat about L.A. Candy , Lauren Conrad’s Y.A. debut and a very obvious attempt to spill *just a little* tea about her time on reality television. They discuss their personal memories of the L.C. era and the changing nature of fame and reality TV. They also speculate about what’s “r...

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys come together for the crossover Super Mysteries series… and on Episode 215, Alli and her guest come together to discuss its first installment, Double Crossing . They chat about the impossible-to-ignore chemistry between Nancy and Frank Hardy, the murky details of technology and national security as presented in the book, and some of the most harrowing situations we ob...

On Episode 214, Alli and her guest go back to Sweet Valley… but they find it grittier and sassier than you’ve seen it before. In the first book of the SVH Senior Year series Can’t Stay Away , the Wakefields and their classmates adapt to a new normal after their lives are shaken up by a major earthquake. But what happens when Sweet Valley is forced to merge with the student body from El Carro High?...

On Episode 213, Alli and her guest explore a newer and also lesser-known throwback, E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks . This 2009 Printz Honor recipient might just be Alli’s new SSR favorite, so tune in even if you’re not familiar with it! The discussion about Frankie focuses primarily on matters of feminism, power dynamics, and questioning the status quo. S.K. Ali is...

You are cordially invited to one of the most terrifying slumber parties in history: more specifically, Christopher Pike’s Slumber Party , which was published in 1985. In addition to being terrifying, this gathering is also extremely problematic… and you *know* that Alli and her guest are going to discuss every last detail. They chat about the book’s bizarre depiction of teen girls, spontaneous com...

Jerry Spinelli’s Maniac Magee was published in 1990 and won the Newbery Medal in 1991. On Episode 211, Alli and her guest discuss the book itself, but also the larger messages it sends about race and racism and how those messages read differently in 2022. They also talk about their favorite snack cakes, the meaning of home, stereotypes, and the differences between equality and equity. TW: racism,...

On Episode 210, Alli and her guest travel back to the ‘90s and share their first experience with the Animorphs—more specifically, the first book in the series, The Invasion . They explore the blurry lines between YA and middle grade, classic kid lit tropes, mall hangs, the Scholastic industrial complex, the Animorphs as a metaphor for puberty, horse girls, cult behavior, the mechanics of teens mor...

Pippi Longstocking has been beloved by readers of all ages for decades thanks to her strength, generosity, silliness, bravery, and kindness. On Episode 209, Alli and her guest chat about all the warm fuzzinnes of her story, which was written by Astrid Lindgren and published in 1945. Tune in for conversations about Pippi’s timelessness, self-compassion, self-awareness, kid lit post-WWII, the import...

Prepare for a trip down the rabbit hole! On Episode 208, Alli and her guest chat all things Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland : its social commentary, aesthetic, adaptations, absurdity, and everything in between. They also dig into world building and the Alice origin story. Roselle Lim is the author of Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck & Fortune , Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop , and Sophie Go’s...

Episode 207 brings us back to Louis Sachar’s Wayside School — more specifically, to his 1989 novel Wayside School Is Falling Down . Will this installment get a warmer reception from Alli than the first book in the series? Listen and find out! The conversation touches on representation, identity development, bathroom humor, Book Tok, existential dread, darkness in kid lit, the importance of names,...

On Episode 206, Alli and her guest get ahead of spooky season with a discussion about Roald Dahl’s The Witches . They talk about the controversy surrounding both the book and the author, consider how dark is too dark for young readers, debate the merits of happy endings versus messy endings, and chat about the negative reception that the 2020 adaptation of The Witches received. Amanda Aksel is the...

Judy Blume and the Hatcher family are BACK! On Episode 205, Alli and her guest revisit the rowdy world of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing with a chat about fatherhood in the ‘70s, group projects, fatphobia, and why anyone would choose to eat a turtle. They also dig deep into sibling dynamics and seek justice for big brother Peter! Carola Lovering is the author of Tell Me Lies , Too Good to Be True...

On Episode 204, Alli and her guest dig into all things Addy Walker. They discuss the larger origin story that brought American Girl’s first non-white doll to market, as well as the specifics of Meet Addy . They talk about the importance of different kinds of representation for BIPOC folks, the complicated nature of Addy’s slave narrative, what the basic structure of the Addy series tells us about...

We’re overdue for a Q&A episode, so let’s make up for lost time! On Episode 203, Alli answers listener questions about… * How to start a podcast * The SSR reads that have most surprised her * Her vision for SSR * Dream podcast guests * How her friends and family feel about the show * Her MFA program and novel-writing process * All things IRV … and so much more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

Anything can happen when the Wakefield twins are around… including the arrival of a brooding, mysterious vampire who becomes the most popular guy at Sweet Valley High. On Episode 202, Alli and her guest dive into the 126th book in the SVH series, Tall, Dark, and Deadly . It’s the first installment in the famed “vampire trio” and it’s quite a ride. This episode covers everything from vampire canon...

SSR is back for year FIVE… and there’s no better way to return from summer break than with a conversation about Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters . On Episode 201, Alli and her guest discuss why this book written for adults appeals so much to teen readers, the novel’s multiple POVs, the empathy they have for the parent characters, toxic friendships, bad hygiene, Gilmore Girls, Blume’s handling of sexual...

Cue the confetti and the champagne, because it’s SSR’s TWO-HUNDREDTH episode! To celebrate, Alli and her guest have a fun, thoughtful conversation about Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen . Tune in to hear them talk about appearances vs. reality, main character Annabel’s experiences in the modeling industry, the misplaced expectations readers can place on books, delicate treatment of heavy subjects, anger...

On Episode 199, a subject matter expert in Jewish identity and culture walks Alli through Jane Yolen’s award-winning Holocaust novel The Devil’s Arithmetic . This is a heavy conversation, but it’s also a must-listen! You’ll walk away with a new appreciation for Jewish representation and Holocaust narratives, not to mention a better understanding of why memory is so important in Jewish culture. Sam...

Episode 198 is more than a decade in the making! Alli and guest Colleen McKeegan went to high school (and were cheerleaders!) together and have been planning for Colleen’s appearance on the pod since the day they started talking about becoming novelists at happy hour in midtown Manhattan. In this conversation about P.S. Longer Letter Later , it finally happens! This epistolary novel was published...

Julie Andrews is Mary Poppins, Maria von Trapp, Queen Clarisse, Lady Whistledown… and a beloved author. On Episode 197, Alli and her guest discuss her first published work: Mandy . They speak in-depth about a story they describe as a “warm cup of tea” and cover a wide range of subjects: their favorite Julie Andrews moments, the appeal of orphan stories for kid readers, Mandy ’s emotional complexit...

Episode 196 will make you feel almost as many feels as the blockbuster film Titanic did… and not only because it’s about a book that covers the same historical territory. In it, Alli and her guest discuss one of the most popular installments in the Dear America series: Ellen Emerson White’s Voyage on the Great Titanic . In spite of the heavy subject matter, the conversation is still a fun one that...