This week we’re talking about climate change in YA, otherwise known as climate fiction—Cli-Fi, if you will. It’s a cool fun topic! Get excited. But seriously, we actually really enjoy the thoughtful ways these books deal with a reality that’s pretty hard to not think about it.

Shelf-Involved Podcast

Climate Fiction

This week, it’s just Emily! We’re trying something new this week that we’re calling Close Reads. And Emily is talking about one of her favorite books, but not in an effort to get you to read it. We’re getting a bit more personal with this series, opening up about why our favorite books mean so much to us, how our conception of them has changed over the years, and of course, the vast power of stories.

Close Reads: Paper Towns

This week we’re talking about what ifs in YA — sliding doors, alternate timelines, the flip of a coin, we want it all. And the books we talk about do really interesting things with this beloved trope

What Ifs

Way back in season 3 we gave you a list of our favorite spooky YA books, and now we have a whole new set of recommendations to get you in the spirit of spooky season. We love these books and even if you're not a horror fan, there are a few lightly-spooky, not too intense options on the list. And one that we both absolutely had to stop reading late at night and made us never want to go camping again. 

Horror Pt. 2

This week we're talking about grudges and the way this is used as a satisfying (and redemptive) plot device in YA. 

Grudges

This week we’re talking about teens abroad! We’re looking at studying abroad and the interesting fish out of water trope combined with being a teen in decidedly adult situations. How thrilling! We also talk about the delightful ways in which this subgenre has developed and become more grounded in recent years.

Study Abroad Books

We’re back for season 5 (what? how?). And we’re here, of course, with a list of all the books we read over the break that we’ve been dying to talk to you all about.

We're Back!

It's our last episode of season 4! But before we go on break and read things other than YA (but let's be honest, still lots of YA), we're here to give you a whole list of books to keep you busy this summer. You know how much we love a seasonal read.  

Summer Reading

This week, we’re catching up again and reading Francesca Lia Block’s cult classic, Weetzie Bat. This book was a wild ride, and some things we loved and others we weren’t too thrilled about.

Catching Up: Weetzie Bat

This week we’re talking about purity culture in YA and barely concealing our rage about how this culture, specifically in the Christian church, harms young people, especially girls and queer kids. It’s bad! We have a lot of thoughts, and we get into a little bit why this is such a personal issue for us. As always, we have some great thought-provoking books to share with you.

Purity Culture

This week we're talking about our favorite Shakespeare retellings in YA. These are stories that have retold for hundreds of years, but our favorites are (unsurprisingly) the ones that put a spin on the narrative and place the marginalized or ignored characters center stage (get it, because Shakespeare was a playwright? I'm so sorry). We love the Bard, but also he wasn't great and it's good for us to admit that.

Shakespeare Adaptations

We’re back with our final book club discussion of season 4, and we’re so excited to talk about Nina LaCour’s latest novel, Watch Over Me.

Book Club: Watch Over Me

This week we're talking about some of our favorite books where the main character is an athlete. We think this is super interesting, and it inherently plays into all sorts of things like class, privilege, and more. And Kenzie gets in her feelings about the belonging that comes from being a part of a team.

Athletes

This week we’re talking about disability representation in YA. Most of these books are own voices stories about disabilities both visible and invisible, and we learned a lot about the harmful effects of casual (and overt) ableism and the importance of this kind of representation. As always, if we missed a big one, send us your recommendations!

Disability Representation

This week we're talking about comedy in YA, and not just hilarious books but books that deal significantly with comedy as an art form. We're talking teen stand-ups and improv summer camps, and Kenzie reveals her deep obsession with comedian memoirs. 

Comedy

A podcast about Young Adult fiction and coming-of-age stories.

hubhopper

Shelf-Involved Podcast

hubhopper