Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr

Brenna and Joe are joined by Heather Cyr to discuss the first book in Philip Pullman's  His Dark Materials trilogy: Northern Lights or, to North American audiences, The Golden Compass (1995). We're also chatting the failed 2007 $180 bloated children's film adaptation, as well as 2019's HBO/BBC One co-production, His Dark Materials.Brenna and Joe have more interest in the complicated politics and religious tension than the text itself, so Heather steps in to round out our appreciation. Along the way we discuss CGI effects, Nicole Kidman vs Ruth Wilson and why the two minute fight scene between bears loses the film points.In homework: Heather introduces The Girl of Ink and Stars & The Deathless Girls by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Brenna reluctantly chats about the recent Sarah Desson / Just Mercy Twitter controversy and Joe  talks up the announcement that Tamora Pierce’s expansive Tortall Universe series will be adapted for TV (thanks to TeaBooksAndChocolate's tweet!)Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod

One year ago, Brenna and Joe embarked on a grand podcasting adventure. This episode marks our birthday/anniversary and we can't think of a better way to celebrate than read the book that we bonded over back in university: Watership Down, the horribly traumatic story of a group of intrepid bunnies who embark on their own adventure to find a new home. Yes, folks, the time has finally come to discuss Richard Adams' 1972 classic YA tome and Martin Rosen's 1978 animated adaptation (along with brief mentions of the 90s TV show and the 2018 Netflix remake). Up for discussion: the various political systems represented in the text, arguments for its longevity and whether it is particularly "British". Also: criticism of its treatment of violence (that dog!), gender (ugh, the does) and race (UGH, that bird).Plus: Brenna and Joe reminisce about the YA Lit course from nearly two decades ago that brought them together and Joe shares an unusual childhood connection to the text...or 42 of them.In homework: we discuss a big f

The time has come for Brenna and Joe to discuss Laurie Halse Anderson's revelatory 1999 YA bestseller, Speak, its 2004 made-for-television film adaptation starring Kristen Stewart and the recent comic with art from Emily Carroll. Joining us for some difficult conversation is Lucia Lorenzi, who helps to unpack why both book and film are so powerful and important.This episode is quite broad, and it addresses sensitive topics such as rape, suicide, depression and trauma. Many of these topics can be triggering, so we recommend listeners proceed with their own self-care in mind. Up for discussion: the humour that Anderson embeds in the text, the use of symbolism and allusions to classic lit such as The Scarlet Letter (see previous Book One episode) and why the film's ending does and doesn't work for us. Beyond the texts, we chat about the importance of institutional rules, training and creating a space for both teens and adults to  speak their own truth, as well as the issue of responsibility. It's heavy, but it's

Lock up your hat store and prepare to meet the wizard because Brenna and Joe are jumping aboard British author Diana Wynne Jones 1986 fantasy novel Howl's Moving Castle and Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's 2004 animated...interpretation.That's right, we're calling it: in a first for the podcast, we have two titles so radically different that the film is barely an adaptation of the source material. The novel is a female coming of age narrative that's a little draggy and a little too full of serialized adventures. The film eschews its female character to tell a war story, replete with stunning visuals but thin characterizations.Up for discussion: Jones' musical depiction of the Welsh language, the book's connection to Enchanted (see previous episode) and the challenges of examining older YA through a modern eyes. For the film, Brenna admits her struggle with subtitles, we discuss which character designs work for us and the grieving process inherent to analyses about adaptations.In homework: Brenna reads a lis

Is the third time the charm? After The Fault in our Stars and Paper Towns, Brenna and Joe are checking back into Manic Pixie Dream Girl territory with John Green's problematic first novel Looking for Alaska, which was just adapted by The O.C. and Gossip Girl scribes Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage into an eight episode Hulu series. Up for discussion: does the book contain enough sign posts that protagonist Miles' perspective should not be trusted? Does the book suffer without its titular object of affection? And how has the controversy around this novel driven Green's entire career? Meanwhile, in the film (as Brenna keeps referring to it), we discuss an odd case of streaming creep, the decision to re-structure the novel's "Before" and "After" section and Brenna dives into the adaptation's iffy track record on race and class. Plus: has Joe fallen for John Green's ploys by falling in love with Alaska?In Homework: Joe keeps the Green "love" alive by discussing the trailer for the author's anthology film Let I

Part of HKHSPod's mandate is to highlight the work of Canadian YA Lit writers. In this exclusive interview, Brenna and Joe are joined by writer, performer, cultural worker & speaker Kai Cheng Thom to discuss her YA novel, Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars: A Dangerous Trans Girl’s Confabulous Memoir, her refusal to write a conventional trans narrative for cis audiences, her political and historical issues with the concept of "Canada", and why Guillermo del Toro needs to contact her ASAP.Find out more about Kai's work on her website or on Twitter.Connect with the show on Twitter using #HKHSPod:Brenna: @brennacgrayJoe: @bstolemyremoteOr send us an email at hkhspod@gmail.com. See you on the page and on the screen! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With Halloween fast approaching, Joe forces Brenna to indulge in a creepy (not scary) pick for the pod: noted speculative science-fiction author Ray Bradbury's 1962 novel Something Wicked This Way Comes and Jack Clayton's 1983 Disney adaptation. How does Brenna fare with this tale of a dark carnival that arrives in the middle of the night to feed on the souls of small town Americans?Just fine, it turns out! The pair discuss Bradbury's lyrical prose, his disinterest in writing women and the text's fairly simplistic moral message. The film, alas, doesn't fare quite as well: the child actors and the penchant for FX sequences, as well as a safe ending, all get a dressing down, though Joe lauds Jonathan Pryce's villainous turn as Mr. Dark. The true mystery in both texts, however, is whether Charles Halloway is a janitor or a librarian?!In homework: Joe provides an update on The CW's modern take Nancy Drew, while Brenna champions There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon.Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKH

Riverdale is SO last week! This week, Brenna and Joe are solving mysteries - with convenient expertise - in River Heights, as we both tackle our first ever Nancy Drew mystery in advance of the new CW series. Just to make things extra complicated, we're discussing the first two books by Carolyn Keene (The Secret of the Old Clock & The Hidden Staircase) as well as two movies - Andrew Fleming's Nancy Drew (2007) and Katt Shea's Nancy Drew  and the Hidden Staircase (2019).Up for discussion: how post-war American history contributed to changes in Nancy's characterization in the 30s and the late-50s, speculation about why the character has endured and some of the many challenges in modern attempts to adapt the teen sleuth for film and TV. Plus: the wild swings in tone of the 2007 film and the more successful, grounded characters in the 2019 version.In Homework: Joe excitedly introduces the news that Julie Murphy is writing a Faith adaptation, as well as the title of the new Suzanne Collins Hunger Games prequel.

Building on the discussion that began in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and continued in Josie and the Pussycats, Brenna and Joe travel to a place outside of time and space to discuss the long history of Archie comics. Specifically we're tackling Mark Waid and Fiona Staples' revitalizing run on Archie, Vol 1 & 2 that began in 2015, as well as Roberto Aguirre-Saca's television series, Riverdale, which began in 2017.Up for grabs: the unconventional friendship between Jughead and Betty, the nebulous tonal balancing act that is undermined by Archie's pratfalls and Staples' iconic art. But the focus is really on Brenna's not-quite-guilty-pleasure TV show, its curious sprawl and sense of nowhere (and simultaneously everywhere). Plus: Archie's eyebrows and pecs, praise for Lili Reinhart and criticism over the show's treatment of Jughead.In Homework: Joe reads listener email, including curated picks from Max, a warning from Leo and some constructive criticism by Andrew, while Brenna discusses Check Please! by

For only the second time, Brenna and Joe venture far into the past for a classic lit / contemporary adaptation comparison. Thankfully we have Jane Austen superfan Brennan Klein around to lend a hand unpacking her 1815 text, Emma, as well as Amy Hecklering's "loose" adaptation Clueless (1995).On deck for discussion: how Austen uses her narrator to comment on her most "unlikable" heroine, Brennan's queer reading of Emma and how quietly groundbreaking a book that is seemingly just about marriage actually is.And for the film, we talk about Cher's progressive take on virginity, the litany of likeable actors, and why the term "cake boy" needs to be (re)appropriated.In Homework: Brennan discusses Darius The Great Is Not Ok by Adib Khorram, Joe encourages resistant viewers to take a chance on Taika Waititi's coming of age Nazi comedy film Jojo Rabbit and Brenna stans a possible Saved By The Bell revival.Want to connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:Brenna: @brennacgrayJoe: @bstolemyremoteBrennan: @itsraining

Brenna, Joe and special guest Alex Heeney are ready to volunteer as tribute as we dive into the 74th annual Hunger Games, courtesy of Suzanne Collins and filmmaker Gary Ross.The trio have plenty of thoughts on the value of Peeta to the text, how the film sets up future franchise instalments for failure, why Collins is such a skilled world-builder and the retroactive damage of Mockingjay on perspectives of the first book/film.In Homework:  Joe discusses YA Forecast pick Destroy All Monsters  by Jeff Jackson, Brenna dips her toe into Buffy water with  Kiersten White's Slayer and Alex pitches 1980's coming of age film, Gregory’s Girl.Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:Brenna: @brennacgrayJoe: @bstolemyremoteAlex: @bwestcineaste /  @seventhrowHave something longer to say? Send us an email at hkhspod@gmail.com. See you on the page and on the screen! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Prep your cynical disdain and your green tint (or is it blue?) because Brenna and Joe - plus special guest CC Stapleton - are headed back into comic territory with Daniel Clowes' 1997 comic and Terry Zwigoff's 2001 film adaptation, Ghost World. The discussion includes the depiction of teen ennui, the idea that certain texts are more meaningful if you read them at a particular stage of development, as well as the film's focus on new character Seymour (Steve Buscemi). Plus: thanks to a completely out of touch Roger Ebert review, the trio make the startling discovery that the two texts not actually YA at all, but rather they are autobiographical works about their old white heterosexual male creators! In Homework: Brenna touches on a recent news story involving censorship and author Jo Knowles,  CC praises Brian K Vaughan's Paper Girls, and Joe addresses another book from the recent YA Forecast Part 2: The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren.Want to connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:Brenna: @brennacgray

Brenna and Joe have patched up their differences and just in time, because they find themselves locked up with the Gladers, a bunch of annoying, mediocre (mostly) white boys from James Dashner's 2009 dystopian YA, The Maze Runner and Wes Ball's 2014 film adaptation, starring Teen Wolf break-out Dylan O'Brien.Brenna is firmly displaced with both texts unwillingness to explain the need for an all-male society and for their poorly reductive use of women. Joe is more willing to embrace the action sequences of the film, but finds the endless unanswered questions of the book and its abrupt cliffhanger a lazy attempt to goose sales.Plus: both are angered at the crappy allusions to both Lord of the Flies and, more significantly, Watership Down which is one of Brenna and Joe's favourite YA texts and not one to be messed around with.In Homework: Brenna eulogizes the end of The Amazing Squirrel-Girl comic, but offers hope for a new writer of Ms Marvel (prompting a general discussion of Disney & corporate conglomerac

Brenna and guest star Hannah McGregor arrive at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but Joe is nowhere to be found! The result is more drama than a Gryffindor v Slytherin Quidditch match as Brenna has to duck out early, meaning Hannah is less guest, and more like the glue holding this episode together.When Joe finally joins (presumably after his Remembrall turned red), the trio discuss the reasons why Harry Potter has become such a phenomenon, why the series has lent itself to so much fan fiction and the troubling class and race issues that Rowling historically reproduces. Plus: Brenna admits a startling preference for an unusual character, Joe reveals a feud with his husband with regard to House sorting and Hannah explains the rules for real life Quidditch (despite claiming to hate the sport!).If you want to find out which House you would be sorted into, complete the quiz Hannah mentions via Tumblr Sorting Hat Chats.In Homework: Joe is absent and Brenna is exhausted, so Hannah explains the queer attr

Part of HKHSPod's mandate is to highlight the work of Canadian YA Lit writers. In this exclusive interview, Brenna and Joe are joined by Governor General award-winning novelist Tim Wynne-Jones to discuss his new adventure novel, The Starlight Claim, his unusual connection to Rafi and JK Rowling, and why it is important that his characters are never black or white.Find out more about Tim's work on his website or on Facebook.Connect with the show on Twitter using #HKHSPod:Brenna: @brennacgrayJoe: @bstolemyremoteOr send us an email at hkhspod@gmail.com. See you on the page and on the screen! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Brenna and Joe head off to College for a sexy educa-Nope! Can't do it! There are no jokes to be had regarding the painfully unsexy and potentially damaging "erotic" coming of age book by Wattpad "author" Anna Todd.On the other side of the gulf is director Jenny Gage's bland-as-white-toast film adaptation starring human block of wood Josephine Langford and horribly miscast (and inconsistently British) Hero Fiennes Tiffin.Looking for better erotica? Check out Smart Bitches, Trashy Books instead!Topics for discussion include the sad reality of why this book didn't employ an editor, the preoccupation with "technical virginity" and why foreign movie audiences are to blame for a potential sequel. Also: Brenna makes a startling discovery at the 1 hour mark that will have a ripple effect on YA Bingo for the rest of Book Two and leaves Joe scrambling to explain himself!In Homework: For back to school, Brenna praises Spider-Man: Far From Home and recommends Debbie Reese's Twitter thread on

Brenna and Joe aren't feeling quite themselves - in fact they may be experiencing an out of body event as a result of reading David Levithan's 2012 book Every Day and screening Michael Sucsy's 2018 film adaptation.Or perhaps it is simply that they are struggling with pronouns and personhood as a result of A's constantly changing bodies.In addition to callbacks to the repetitive cycles of Before I Fall and Everything, Everything, Brenna and Joe discuss how the book, like Adam Silvera's writing, fails to understand its own appeal. Thankfully the film adaptation makes a strong narrative choice that helps to strengthen its storytelling ability.Also on the table: Brenna's disdain for the book's horrifically awful use of a fat body as a plot device, and the pair's mixed feelings about the film's diversity (yay) of almost uniformly rich, model beautiful characters (boo).In homework: Brenna catches up on Gossip Girl and Joe checks out Amy Rose Capetta's queer-and-body positive The Lost Coast.Wanna connect with the sh

Brenna and Joe join the uniformly black and white life of the 'Sameness' as they dig into Lois Lowry's 1993 Newberry medal winner dystopian text, The Giver. Unfortunately because this is still a YA adaptation podcast, they're also forced to check out Philip Noyce's 2014 film adaptation, which Joe politely describes as a "run of the mill dystopian garbage fest with hot people".In this episode Brenna provides an overview of Lowry's quartet of novels, the pair discuss why the book's focus on empathy, feelings and ambuigty is so powerful, and why The Giver may actually be inappropriate for middle school kids. Oh - and we bash the film A LOT.In Homework: Brenna petitions Joe to read Jeff Zentner's great Rain and Delilah’s Midnight Matinee while Joe reaches all the way back to the Jan 2019 Forecast for an update on Jennifer Dugan's summer love story Hot Dog Girl.Wanna connect with the show? Use #HKHSPod on Twitter:Brenna: @brennacgrayJoe: @bstolemyremoteOr send us an email at hkhspod@gmail.com. See you on

Brenna and Joe return from their long recording sabbatical with bright eyes and cat ears. For the start of Book 2 (aka our second season) we wanted something fun and frothy, so what better to kick things off with than the tale of friendship, success and capitalism that is Josie And The Pussycats?!For the first time Joe & Brenna are covering two texts that don't speak to each other, as the 2001 film by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan was produced well before the Marguerite Bennett and Cameron Deordio scripted / Audrey Mok inked comic revival in 2016.We discuss why the metatextual humour is more successful in the film, how Josie (and by extension the entire Archie universe) is being sold as a mix of nostalgia and contemporary sensibilities and how the film bombed because it was too smart for adults (who claimed it was too dumb for teens).Wanna connect with the show? Tweet us using #HKHSPod:Brenna: @brennacgrayJoe: @bstolemyremoteOr send us an email at hkhspod@gmail.com. See you on the page and on the screen

Gentle listeners, some big news! HKHS won't return with new episodes until Tues, Aug 6, but if you need your fill of Joe and Brenna, check out Horror Queers on July 31 for a special crossover episode on ParaNorman, a delightful family horror film that even scaredy-cat Brenna can watch.Click here to check it out See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.