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 Cake Mix: Learning to Love All Your Ingredients. Check out her blog MixedKids&Co and follow...

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 Wellington is the author of Their Vicious Games. Follow her on Instagram (@jowellington) and Twitter...

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 service to found family and political organizing. Bridget Morrissey is the author of That Summer...

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 books like this for kids, the formula Lurlene McDaniel devised, tropes about grief and dying,...

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 gaps, the adult drama they wanted more of, queer coding, hazing, hilarious titles, and what they...

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 herself. The book opens up conversations about everything from family dysfunction and dream...

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 favorite characters from the book, the standards its set for mysteries, and why we should give teens more...

Let’s talk about the eerie world of Ally Condie’s Matched! In it, main character Cassia Reyes anticipates her Match Banquet, during which Officials from the Society in which she lives will dictate her future husband. The Officials are responsible for just about everything in Cassia and her community’s lives… but the events of the Match Banquet kick off a series of events that leave her wondering if they really have her best interests at heart and if she has more choices than she realizes. On...

At long last, the podcast turns its attention back to Mia Thermopolis with a conversation about the second book in Meg Cabot’s beloved Princess Diaries series, Princess in the Spotlight. Alli and her guest cover core reading memories, toxic best friends, secret admirers, the world of AIM, sick days, sex talks, public platforms, and fancy weddings. India Hill Brown is the author of The Forgotten Girl, The Girl in the Lake, and the soon-to-be-published Rhythm & Muse. Follow her on Instagram...

Prepare to swoon, listeners, because Episode 243 is all about sweet summer romance! Alli and her guest gush about Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, which they both read for the first time for the show. They reflect about the significance of summers in their own lives and cover everything from the male gaze and tankinis to love interests and fraught mother/daughter relationships. Grace Chlosta is the bookstagrammer behind @gracesreadingnook and the host of the One Woman Book Club podcast.

Episode 242 is all about L.M. Montgomery’s Emily of New Moon. With the help of her guests, Alli digs into orphan tropes, universalism, atheism, cats as reading buddies, grief, and more. She also auditions to be their friend! Sadie Carpenter and Gavri’el HaCohen are the hosts of the Leaving Eden Podcast. Follow the show on Instagram (@leavingedenpodcast) and Twitter (@LeavingEdenPod).

Is your child talking back? Refusing to bathe? Staying up past their bedtime? Call Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, the star of Betty MacDonald’s 1947 novel Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle and a series of other books that followed. Alli’s guest on Episode 241 was a major fan of these books when they were growing up, and they’re here to jump into MacDonald’s wacky world all over again. Tune in for discussions about conformity, radishes, fatphobia, negligent dads, childless millennials, and so much more. Meryl Wilsner...

Whether you’re looking for lessons in beating your competition in business, being an advocate for your own health, designing a Kid Kit, or simply being the best babysitter (AKA person) in the game, you can find your answers in The Truth About Stacy. The book covers Stacy McGill’s journey to find her voice as her parents seek more support for her diabetes and the BSC’s war against the competing Baby-Sitters Agency (how DARE they?). Alli and her guest share all of their thoughts and feelings!...

Episode 239 takes a close look at the polarizing 1979 novel by V.C. Andrews, Flowers in the Attic. Alli and her guest work through the complicated nature of the discourse around the book and talk about its triggering content, as well as the author’s quirky behavior and incredible talent. TW: attempted murder, child abuse, child death, incest, poisoning, rape, religion, starvation Carley Fortune is the New York Times-bestselling author of Every Summer After and the forthcoming Meet Me at the...

There’s never a dull moment in Sweet Valley, California… and there’s never a dull moment on SSR when Alli and her guests dive into the Sweet Valley High series! On Episode 238, book podcasts collide as hosts of Double Love Anna and Karyn join the pod to discuss Dear Sister, the seventh book in Francine Pascal’s series. Tune in to hear conversations about self-awareness (or lack thereof), weird relationships between teens and adults, motorbike accidents, bad parenting, and lots of unhinged...

Baby-Sitters Club Super Specials take the standard BSC format and make them even more, well, super… by alternating POVs so readers get takes from all of the club members and taking the gals on bigger and better adventures so they have great stories to tell. Baby-Sitters On Board! was the first installment in this series extension — and it does not disappoint! In it, the Club sets sail on a cruise and then ventures to Disney World, basically living the dream of every kid ever. There are...

Published in 2013, Catching Fire was the follow-up to Suzanne Collins’s wildly popular The Hunger Games… and on Episode 236, we’re back in the proverbial arena to discuss it! Tune in to hear conversations about love triangles, celebrity culture, trauma bonding, PTSD, movement-building, and more. Alli’s guest is an expert in public policy and economic disparity with a unique take on the world and culture of Panem. Heather McGhee designs and promotes solutions to inequality in America. Her...

Ann M. Martin has written more than just the 100+ titles in the beloved Baby-Sitters Club series. She’s also authored a range of other books, including 1987’s Just a Summer Romance, a book that inspires lots of juicy conversation on Episode 235 . On this episode, Alli and her guest cover all kinds of ground, including the maturity of teen characters, meet cutes, dating red flags, celebrity love stories, diet culture, and pre-social media nostalgia. Falon Ballard is the author of Lease on Love...

In one word, Episode 234 is ICONIC. It brings together YA superstar Meg Cabot with a book written by our queen Judy Blume, Blubber. Meg shares her love for and personal connection with this complicated book, which offers a unique, real take on bullying. She and Alli talk about queen bees, banned books, fatphobia, diet culture, and more. TW: fatphobia, racism, bullying, abuse Meg Cabot is the author of beloved, award-winning books, including the Princess Diaries series, the Mediator series,...

On this episode, author Carlyn Greenwald joins Alli to discuss one of the weirdest books they’ve ever read: Libba Bray’s Going Bovine. They talk about the novel as a 2009 time capsule and consider why bizarre stories like this one are so captivating for readers. Other discussion topics include road trip narratives, existentialism, OCD representation, unlikable characters, drug use, and toxic positivity. Carlyn Greenwald is the author of two forthcoming novels: Sizzle Reel and Time Out, which...

On Episode 232, Alli and her guest attempt to analyze her bizarrely vivid memory of Jan Slepian’s The Broccoli Tapes. They discuss loneliness, death, different kinds of grief, the main character’s sexual awakening, and the book’s bizarre racial undertones. They compare and contrast the multiple covers of The Broccoli Tapes and consider the deeper questions Slepian explores about love and loss. TW: death, abuse Nikki Payne is the author of Jane Austen remixes, including Pride and Protest....

If you thought we’d made it through all of Judy Blume’s iconic kid lit, you thought wrong! As you’ll discover in Episode 231, Alli and her guests still have plenty of gems to enjoy, including Here’s to You, Rachel Robinson, the 1993 follow-up to Just As Long As We’re Together. Like all of Judy’s work for tweens, the novel takes seriously the seemingly silly concerns of tweens and teens: acne, frustration with siblings, being called “too sensitive,” and the pressures of perfectionism. Listen...

Join Alli and her guest Jo Piazza for a journey back to the Little House in the Big Woods and for a conversation about all things Laura Ingalls! Their discussion centers around the first book in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved series, in which very little happens… but that might just be the point. They consider that possibility, along with the depiction of parenting, corporal punishment, prayer, and special occasions in the book. There’s also a conversation about the larger significance of the...

It’s been nearly four years since our episode about The Face on the Milk Carton… but we’re finally ready to jump into the next chapter of Janie Johnson’s story! Episode 229 focuses on the second book in Caroline B. Cooney’s beloved series, Whatever Happened to Janie? Conversation topics range from sibling rivalry and victim blaming to the evolution of our collective language around trauma and depictions of sex work. Caitlin Barasch is the author of A Novel Obsession. Follow her on Instagram...

On Episode 228, join us for another journey to the Land of Oz! This time, our focus is on the seventh book in L. Frank Baum’s series, The Emerald City of Oz. Alli’s guest is a self-professed Oz superfan, so they discuss her special connection to this fictional universe, as well as the unique publishing history associated with this particular book. They swap notes on their favorite scenes, talk about the challenges of reading material meant for kids as an adult, and consider the ways in which...