SSR Podcast

Hosted ByAlli Hoff Kosik

Each week, freelance writer and lifelong bookworm Alli Hoff Kosik will challenge a guest to reread a literary throwback or to experience for the first time ever a book they may have missed as a kid. After that, they'll be asked to spill all the feels and all the opinions about that book on the air for your podcast-listening pleasure. Every Tuesday, you can find us breaking down an old school read from our tween and teen days on a new episode of the show. We'll cover everything from The Baby-Sitters Club to Holes, Nancy Drew to Harry Potter. This time around, we're a little wiser (yay!), a lot older (ugh.), and of legal age to drink wine... so we'll have a lot to say. Happy Reading!

Episode 116: The View from Saturday

Every once in a while, Alli stumbles her way back to a book that tells her more than she ever could have expected about the kind of reader and writer she’s grown up to be… and The View from Saturday is one of them! On Episode 116, she and her guest take a close look at this 1996 middle grade novel by E.L. Konigsburg, which won the Newbery Medal in 1997.

Alli and Kate discuss the book’s multiple perspectives and framing device, share which of the four core characters they most relate to, talk about the magic of a story that’s about kindness and being seen, and chat about whether or not The View from Saturday should be adapted for the screen. They also talk about elements of the book that most certainly did not hold up very well — most glaringly, its tendency to other characters of color and the use of a noose as a recurring image in the story.

Kate Stayman-London is a novelist, screenwriter, and political strategist. One to Watch is her first book. Follow her on Instagram (@_ksl) and Twitter (@_ksl).

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