Reading, Writing, and Me

I Killed Zoe Spanos  by Kit Frick Overview: Zoe Spanos disappeared from her tiny Hampton's town over winter break. The town can't imagine what happened to her. Zoe was beloved, always a good kid, going to an Ivy League, from a perfect family, and was even in a long term, committed relationship. The police decide she must have just run away. When Anna comes to town, everyone looks at her a second too long because she looks just like Zoe. Over the course of the summer spent babysitting for one of the elite, Hampton's families, Anna gets increasingly involved in Zoe's cold case through a podcast produced by a local high schooler. The more she learns about Zoe and the longer she lives in town, the more strange memories come to the surface until she's left scared that she killed Zoe Spanos. The truth is so much more complex than anyone could have expected. Overall: 4 Characters: 4 Our main character in this twisty web of people is Anna. She's at the center of i

Bad With Money  by Gaby Dunn Overview: Gaby gained online popularity through YouTube and her time at Buzzfeed which later lead her to create the podcast, Bad With Money. After the success of her podcast, she decided to take what she's learned and turn it into a comprehensive, personal finance memoir that could simply lay out the basics in language that people as confused and scared about money, like herself, could easily understand. This book quickly takes you through all your major financial moments from high school till your death. Overall: 4 I think the value of the book to you is really dependent on if you've heard or plan to listen to the podcast, particularly season 3. I found the book through the show and then got it from my library to see what else she had to say. Unfortunately, the book doesn't go much beyond what happens on the podcast. Most of the experts referenced are the same people who are on those specific show episodes with the exact same quotes. In

I'm so excited to introduce my first repeat author for Into YA! Jennifer Dugan is back on the blog to chat about Verona Comics , one of my favorite books of the year (and probably all time). If you've followed my blog for any amount of time, you probably know about Verona Comics by now, but if you want a refresher or some context for our conversation, check out my review of it here . Also, if you're curious about my first interview with Jennifer about Hot Dog Girl, you can find it here .  And if you want to get a copy of Verona Comics  or learn more, here's a link to her author website with all the links. 1. I absolutely love that Verona Comics is such a clear nod to Romeo and Juliet. Did you set out to write a modern retelling? You explore and contextualize a lot of the more toxic elements of the original story. Were there any major changes that you had to make to Shakespeare’s outline to make it fit YA today?    I actually didn’t go into Verona Comic’s with th