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Nic Stone has written a sequel to her bestselling book, Dear Martin, titled Dear Justyce. In Dear Justyce, Quan is a young man in juvenile detention who writes letters to his friend Justyce, who is in college at Yale University. Stone’s books cast light on social justice efforts and issues in the criminal justice system. Listen to hear the author explain why she wrote a sequel to Dear Martin, and learn what she did in order to write authentically about the book’s difficult subject matter.
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J.D. Salinger’s 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye has long been a staple of high school reading lists, though it has also frequently been banned from them. The story is told by Holden Caulfield, a rebellious 17-year old who has just been expelled from prep school. The novel is considered a classic of American literature, and Holden is thought to be a character every teenager can relate to—but is this still true today? Listen to hear about how this novel earned its status as a classic and the arguments in the debate about whether it should still be required reading for high school students.
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Margot had planned to vacation with her rich prep school friends, but instead, she’s spending the summer working at her parents’ supermarket in the Bronx. This is where Lilliam Rivera’s novel, The Education of Margot Sanchez, begins. It’s a tale of a teen who’s caught between two different worlds, trying to decide who she really is. Listen to hear the author of the book describe what she loves about writing “unlikable” characters like Margot and how her own experiences shaped the story.
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Who is innocent and who is guilty? While this appears to be a simple question, the history of racism in America makes the answer complex. Author Kim Johnson discusses why she chose to write a novel about race that is focused on America’s flawed criminal justice system. Listen to learn how the author’s own experiences informed the novel and how she hopes her book will inspire readers to work towards a more equitable future.
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Frank Li, the protagonist of David Yoon’s novel Frankly in Love, lives a double life: one as his first generation immigrant parents’ perfect son who only dates Korean girls, and another where his girlfriend is white. Listen to hear author David Yoon talk about his own experiences growing up as a Korean-American and how his personal life inspired this coming of age story.
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