The SSR Podcast

The SSR Podcast

Each week, freelance writer and lifelong bookworm Alli Hoff Kosik will challenge a guest to reread a literary throwback or to experience for the first time ever a book they may have missed as a kid. After that, they'll be asked to spill all the feels and all the opinions about that book on the air for your podcast-listening pleasure. Every Tuesday, you can find us breaking down an old school read from our tween and teen days on a new episode of the show. We'll cover everything from The Baby-Sitters Club to Holes, Nancy Drew to Harry Potter. This time around, we're a little wiser (yay!), a lot older (ugh.), and of legal age to drink wine... so we'll have a lot to say. Happy Reading! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes

April 1, 2025 49 mins

It has been a wild, amazing ride and I couldn't be more grateful for all of your support over the years. Please enjoy this reflective last episode, which includes some of my thoughts on podcasting more broadly, a bit of housekeeping, and a whole lot of Q&A.


Thank you for every little thing.

Love,

Alli


KEEP IN TOUCH!

Follow me on Instagram @allihoffkosik.

Check out (and subscribe to!) my Substack: Getting It Alli Toge...

Mark as Played

For the last-ever guest episode of SSR, Alli is thrilled to revisit a book by one of her personal favorites, Sharon Creech. The book is Absolutely Normal Chaos, a diary-style read from the '90s that serves as a fascinating entry point to grief and loss for young readers. Tune in for a discussion about the emotional roller coaster of the book, but also for some comparing and contrasting with Creech's other work, reflections on frien...

Mark as Played

Add this to the list of Alli's favorite SSR reads of all-time—and just in time for the show to say goodbye in a couple of weeks! Nearly 20 years after it was published and won a Newbery Honor, Shannon Hale's Princess Academy was a delight to read and discuss. The book inspires conversations on Episode 316 about everything from hometown pride and tropes about female bodies to the value of education and lame princes. Alli's guest als...

Mark as Played

On this last installment of our monthly SSR: WTF (WriTing Friends) series, Alli and Abby look to the future!


In anticipation of the 2026 publication of Alli's debut novel, they discuss all things book promotion: book events, PR boxes, social media icks, supporting authors online and IRL, newsletters, pre-orders, and more. They also chat more about the decision to end SSR and give you a preview of their future (potential) collabo...

Mark as Played

Bad news: this is the last Baby-Sitters Club-centric episode of SSR.

Good news: this is an amazing Baby-Sitters Club-centric episode of SSR!


This week, former BSC superfan Saumya Dave joins Alli for one final trip to Stoneybrook to hang with everyone's favorite young entrepreneurs. They discuss the sixty-fifth book in the series, Stacey's Big Crush, along with hot teachers, women in STEM, all-consuming crushes, long school days, ...

Mark as Played
February 25, 2025 48 mins

Beyond the ivy-covered walls of the Constance Billard School and the moneyed Upper East Side is upstate New York and the equally moneyed Waverly Academy—and Jenny Humphrey is bound for them as we meet her at the start of Gossip Girl spin-off, The It Girl! Episode 313 is a juicy deep dive into all things Boarding School Jenny: rich kids, nuanced mean girls, problematic love affairs, hedonism, and the deliciously nostalgic aesthetic ...

Mark as Played

This week, Alli and her guest revisit some required reading from their school days in Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Picking up this 1966 novel was just as emotional and thought-provoking as picking up the 1959 short story was years ago, and this time around, they unpack the experience together on the podcast. Tune in for conversations about their fuzzy memories of reading Flowers for Algernon as kids, the book's classificat...

Mark as Played

Grab your denim bucket hats, butterfly hair clips, and overalls, listeners, because we're going to the land of the Olsen twins! Episode 311 unpacks all things Mary-Kate and Ashley, with a special emphasis on their multiple book series and one of their mystery novels, The Case of the 202 Clues. After reading this book, Alli and her guest have lots of thoughts about basset hounds, kid-friendly stakes, and what makes the perfect entry...

Mark as Played

It's the first SSR: WTF (WriTing Friends) episode of 2025, and it's only fitting that Alli and Abby kick off the new year with a discussion about routines, processes, practices, and how they're rethinking all of those things at the moment. They discuss their creative mindsets in the new year and compare notes about specific elements of their creative lives: planned breaks, problematic mindsets, time management, organizational tools...

Mark as Played

At last, the Hardy Boys get an episode all their own! Episode 309 takes a deep dive into the first book in the series—The Tower Treasureas well as the bestselling franchise as a whole... and the conversation is juicy! Launched in the 1920s, the Hardy Boys prompts discussion about gendered book marketing, racism, white saviorism, letting boys be boys, virtuous poverty, Nancy Drew, the interchangeability of the Hardy brothers, nepot...

Mark as Played

Many requests later, SSR has finally answered the call to cover The Hundred Dresses. Written by Eleanor Estes, published in 1944, and granted a Newbery Honor in 1945, this beautiful little book tackles the well-trod bullying narrative with a uniquely soft and empathetic hand. It creates space for conversations about what it means to play the bystander to bad behavior, rising above one's bullies, what justice looks like, and everyth...

Mark as Played

Happy New Year! We're kicking off 2025 with a conversation with a friend from across the pond, highlighting a series and book that's been a particular favorite for young readers in the U.K. Jacqueline Wilson's Girls in Love takes center stage! Tune into Episode 307 for discussions about fake boyfriends, shifting friendships, diet culture, self-image, and more.


TW: attempted assault, body image, diet culture


Lucy Jane Wood is ...

Mark as Played

The Magic Tree House has been making readers, history buffs, and science geeks of kids for more than thirty years—and at long last, SSR dives in! Episode 306 covers all things Magic Tree House with a special focus on the first installment, Dinosaurs Before Dark. Alli and her guest chat about everything from the origin of Magic Tree House and unpopular opinions about the books to the allure of treehouses and time travel. Also... din...

Mark as Played

Alli and Abby are BACK for the fifth installment of SSR: WriTing Friends, this time for a conversation with memoirist Molly Roden Winter about the personal, vulnerable, intimate experience of putting one's own story on paper for public consumption. They put their heads together to consider the similarities and differences between writing fiction and writing memoir and tackle some specific aspects of the former: the nature of memory...

Mark as Played

On Episode 304, Alli and her guest right the wrong (???) of somehow missing The Catcher in the Rye in their reading lives. In this juicy, thoughtful episode, they consider the book's place in the American canon and on school reading lists everywhere. They chat about sad boy fiction, Holden Caulfield's complicated character and legacy, love bombing, New York City as a character, teen angst, slut shaming, and more.


TW: death by su...

Mark as Played

It's our first-ever holiday episode! No matter what you celebrate at this time of year, Episode 303 will get your wheels turning as we unpack The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. Alli and her guest chat about the surprisingly religious bent of the book, among other things: the unruly children trope, nativity plays, the book's new adaptation, fatphobia, and disappearing narrators.


Sarai Johnson is the author of Gr...

Mark as Played

We’ve covered our fair share of Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield’s high school hi-jinx on the podcast, but at long last, Alli and her guest turn their attention to a kinder, softer version of the twins: the middle school sub-series, Sweet Valley Twins. Episode 302 is all about The Curse of the Ruby Necklace, which chronicles the ~super chilling~ journey the twins take when they find their way to a local Hollywood film set and a deca...

Mark as Played

This week, join Alli and her guest for an exciting voyage to Antarctica… and also for a conversation about Troubling a Star by Madeleine L’Engle. The fifth installment in L’Engle’s beloved Austin Family Chronicles series, the book was published in 1994 and explores subjects of espionage, nuclear waste dumping, drug trafficking, and more. Join the fun as we try to unpack all of it—and don’t be turned off if you’re not familiar with ...

Mark as Played
Join Alli as she marks the big 3-0-0 with a rare (and unscripted!) solo show. She reflects on why she struggled to plan this special episode, what she’s been thinking about as this milestone approaches, the journey she’s taken with SSR since 2018, and the behind-the-scenes struggles she rarely shares. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING! Cheers to 300 episodes!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy...

Mark as Played

As you wish(ed), listeners, it’s time to unpack The Princess Bride. Alli and her guest focus on the 1973 novel by William Goldman but bring in lots of context from the cult classic movie, as well. Adventures, unreasonable beauty standards, metanarratives, beloved characters, and iconic lines abound!


Georgia Clark is an award-winning, six-times published novelist and performer. She’s the author of Island Time, It Had to Be Y...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

    24/7 News: The Latest

    The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.