Great Perhaps: Recent Episodes
Kyle Jones
McKay Nelson, a middle school teacher and middle child, discusses what she's reading and what she's watching. Kyle Jones, her partner, a high school teacher, seeks to understand the significance of what she is reading and what she is watching. While all things worth reading and worth watching are unpacked, all things Young Adult emerge as a prominent theme.
While struggling with coming back to teaching and microphone adjustments, Kyle and McKay run through a few favorite things they've read, watched, and listened to this week. Featured in this new Party Pack structure -
For Every One, Jason Reynolds
Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, Peter Brown
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, Mariko Tamaki & Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
The Anthropocene Reviewed, John Green
Thanks always to Stephen Sansom for our music!
Kyle, McKay, and their creaky chairs discuss The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérezand Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu. Channeling their inner angry girls, they discuss why adults think kids have it so easy, the role of punk culture in literature, and how zines are just the coolest. "Moxie girls fight back!"
After really, really enjoying reading New Kid by Jerry Craft, the first Graphic Novel to win the Newbery Medal, McKay and Kyle talk about how wonderful the book was and how awards function for teachers and students.
Email us at greatperhapspodcast@gmail.com :)
NCTE = National Council of Teachers of English - duh, McKay :)
McKay and Kyle discuss Eric Bell's Alan Cole Is Not a Coward and the beauty of Middle Grade books. They explore the distinctions between Middle Grade and YA, how Harry Potter charts the progression from Middle Grade to YA, and why adults should read Middle Grade books.
Kyle and McKay explore the feelings and thoughts that drive YA and their mutual admiration for the intentions of story. Of course John Green and Jason Reynolds feature prominently.
What is the responsibility of the YA author? McKay and Kyle discuss Looking for Alaska--the TV show and the book--while trying to unpack the responsibilities of authors and teachers. Along the way we get into the hit HBO show, Euphoria; 13 Reasons Why; The O.C.; nostalgia in television; Jason Reynolds; teaching difficult knowledge; and how hard it is to know what to do with hidden curriculum.
Kyle and McKay explore the responsibility of the YA writer, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope, and our mutual love of John Green.
McKay compares and contrasts Riverdale and Glee. Kyle, on three occasions, mistakes Riverdale as a Neltflix production. It is a CW production.