Episode 18: Back to School
Summary: If you’re anything like Devin and Holly, one of your favorite smells is new notebooks, binders, pens - essentially what hits you when you walk into a Staples. Today, we’re headed back to school! Holly and Devin deep dive into how school settings shape their excitement for fall, for learning, for romance, and for things that go bump in the night (for Holly, usually a body hitting the ground). As will be no surprise, they both love autumn and the way it symbolizes a return to education; these books about school only amplify those feelings as the leaves start to turn this September.
Topics Discussed:
The Heart (2:57): Devin discussed What You Wish For by Katherine Center, a book that revolves around an elementary school in Galveston, TX and the librarian, Samantha Casey. Told from her perspective, the book starts as the principal, Max, passes away and is replaced by Sam’s old love interest, Duncan Carpenter. Her key takeaways were:
As with many of Center’s books, trauma and fear play a major role in what drives the protagonists and shapes how they evolve as they either succumb to the fear or overcome it.
Duncan used to be a goofy life of the party with bright colored shirts and costumes every day, but when Sam reconnects with him at the new school, he wears grays and is as serious as a banker in a financial crisis. It’s basically a reverse bad-boy trope - how can Sam get Duncan back to who he used to be?
The school setting allows for fantastic side characters like Chuck Norris, a security labradoodle who cannot seem to do his job well, Babette, the wife of the deceased principal and mother figure to Sam, and Alice, Sam’s math wiz best friend - all of whom add to a vivid sense of community in the novel.
The Dagger (17:09): Holly discussed Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, a novel that explores what happens to children after they’ve fallen down the rabbit hole or walked through the wardrobe to Narnia; what happens when they’ve found their way back to the normal world and are expected to get on with their lives? Enter Miss Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children. Her key takeaways were:
The novel follows Nancy Whitman, who ended up as a servant for the Lord and Lady of the Dead after she went through a magical door in her basement that landed her in the Halls of the Dead. Sent back to the real world by the Lord of the Dead so she can make a choice on where she wants to spend the rest of her life.
Eleanor’s school is a haven for children like Nancy; she caters to students who have experienced “high nonsense” worlds, who were kidnapped by fairies, who apprenticed for vampires or were made princesses in a world of genteel spiders; McGuire explores representation and embracing individuality in all its forms through these students.
This novel aligns with the tradition of old British children’s literature boarding school books, such as Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children or even X-Men; be warned, however, that there is more gore and murder in this one than many of the others in the canon.
Hot On the Shelf (35:35):
What’s Making Our Hearts Race (38:04):
Devin: Paddle Boarding
Holly: The Sandman on Netflix
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