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!
In case it’s not clear from the title of Paula Danziger’s 1994 novel, Amber Brown is not a crayon. Nope — she’s a third-grader who’s dealing with the news that her best friend Justin will be moving away with his family. In Amber Brown Is Not a Crayon, readers ride the ups and downs of…
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It’s always a treat for Alli when a podcast guest introduces her to a book from their teen or tween years that’s brand new to her… so imagine what a treat it is when a guest shares an entire SERIES with her! On Episode 155, Alli has her first experience with Katherine Applegate’s Making Out…
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Published in 1945, Stuart Little was E.B. White’s first book for children and has been beloved among young readers for the better part of a decade… but revisiting it with adult eyes in 2021 is a pretty bizarre experience! On Episode 154, Alli and her guest break that experience down, discussing all of the lovely…
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It’s always a good day when a Judy Blume book takes center stage on the pod… and it’s one of those good days! On Episode 153, Alli and her guest have a conversation about Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great, an installment in the beloved Fudge series that was published in 1972. They talk about…
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The tenth installment in Ann M. Martin’s iconic Baby-Sitters Club series is a big one for the baby-sitters! In Logan Likes Mary Anne!, we are introduced to new boy Logan Bruno — and his budding relationship with Mary Anne sends some major waves through the BSC. On Episode 152, Alli chats with a pair of…
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We’ve all been known to be a little dramatic… but none of us have anything on Lola Cep, the star of Dyan Sheldon’s 1999 YA novel Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen. That’s right — it was a book before it was a Lindsay Lohan movie! On Episode 151, Alli and her guest take a…
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As has become an unofficial summertime tradition, SSR returns to Sweet Valley to kick off a new year of the podcast! On Episode 150, Alli and her guest discuss the second book in Francine Pascal’s iconic series, Secrets. They chat about their own high school memories, the social hierarchy of Sweet Valley, jealous boyfriends, the…
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Grab your sleuthing supplies, listeners, because it’s time to go on another mission in the world of Nancy Drew! On Episode 149, YA superstar Maureen Johnson joins Alli to chat about the second book in the series, The Hidden Staircase. They discuss Nancy’s historical significance, the story’s crazy twists and turns, and The Hidden Staircase’s…
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Pack your bags and jump in the car, listeners, because you’re about to join Alli and her guests for a little cruise down Route 66… in 1946! Tune in to Episode 148 for a discussion about the first installment in American Girl’s scrapbook series, Molly’s Route 66 Adventure. The conversation starts with an extensive chat…
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Patricia MacLachlan’s Sarah, Plain and Tall was published in 1985 and went on to win the Newbery Medal, the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and the Golden Kite Award in 1986. And while it’s the shortest book that Alli has ever covered on SSR, it inspires no shortage of thoughtful conversation! Tune in to…
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