Episode #3: "It's Kind of Exciting & A Little Bit Terrifying"
On this episode, we're excited to bring you Ellen Hopkins and Ann Brashares
Ellen Hopkins was adopted by Albert and Valeria Wagner when they were 72 and 42 respectively. Her first poem was published in the Palm Springs Desert Sun when she was nine.
Hopkins dropped out of university before graduation to start a family and business. She had two children, Jason and Cristal. When her marriage failed, she sold her business and began freelance work. Following her divorce, she had a daughter, Kelly, with a man she considered to be a 'rebound'. He was abusive and kidnapped Kelly, keeping her in secrecy for three years. Kelly was later found by her paternal great-grandmother. Around 1991, she married John Hopkins, her current husband. They also adopted their daughter Cristal's son, Orion.
While living in Nevada, she decided to write for a living. She started out freelancing newspaper and magazine articles, then moved from there into children's nonfiction. Hopkins believes most of her writing talent originates from her own talent and also from her adoptive mother. She also considers her fifth-grade teacher the first person to encourage her to become a professional writer. Later in life, Hopkins found her biological mother, Toni Chandler, who was also a writer and poet.
Ellen's books include the Crank trilogy, and the Tricks, Impulse and Burned series' is comprised of 20 nonfiction books for kids 15 young adult novels, 4 adult novels and is working on a new book now. Her latest release, a YA novel Sync, was released in 2024.
Ann Brashares is a NYT Bestselling writer living in New York City, and a mother of four. She is married to artist Jacob Collins and grew up in and around Washington, DC. Before becoming a writer, she was a student of philosophy, a receptionist, an editor, a ghostwriter, and briefly, the co-president of a small media company.
She loves babies and children, teaching, gardening, and the effort, more generally, of growing and taking care of living things, in some cases fictional. She loves walking, running, and biking around my her city and others, especially old cities. She loves reading fiction, poetry, and history; and loves talking about ideas and also arguing about them in a civilized way. I prize curiosity above intellect. I cherish my friendships.
Her books include The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, My Name is a Memory, The Summer Bed, The Last Summer (of You & Me), The Here and Now, Three Willows, and the Westfallen series.
Read Along!
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From #1 NYT bestselling author Ellen Hopkins comes a new heartbreaking young adult novel in verse about twins separated in the foster care system and the different paths their lives take. Now in paperback.
Seventeen-year-old twins Storm and Lake have always been in perfect sync. They faced the worst a parent could do and survived it together. In the wake of their mother’s rejection, they’ve spent the last five years moving from foster home to foster home—sometimes placed together, sometimes apart.
After being separated from his sister once again, Storm is devastated. He’s the older brother and promised to always take care of Lake. But after a stint in juvie, his newest placement has him feeling almost hopeful. His foster dad is kind, and his girlfriend, Jaidyn, is the first person other than Lake he feels he can trust. But when Jaidyn is sexually assaulted by a violent ex, it pushes Storm over the edge. He retaliates and lands back in lockup—and he fears this time it will be for good. He wishes he could talk to Lake, but he doesn’t know where she is, and he' s now feeling more alone and out of sync than ever before.
Lake, like Storm, has found her own happiness in a relationship with someone new—her fellow foster, Parker. Life with Parker is never boring, but Parker has her own scars. She can be withdrawn and unpredictable, and that can be dangerous, especially after Parker convinces Lake to run away from their Bible-thumping fosters after they are caught in a compromising position. With no money, shelter, or ID, they’re living on the streets. Lake thinks of Storm and his promise to take care of her, and wonders where he could be now.
Told in dual perspectives through unsent letters, at turns heartbreaking and always honest, this latest novel in verse from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins is a searing and unforgettable account of two teens caught in the teeth of the foster care system, fighting their way out and back to each other.
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From #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares comes the “resonant and powerful” (School Library Journal, starred review) second book in the action-packed middle grade alternate history thriller trilogy that asks what present-day America would be like if Germany had won World War II.
Former best friends Henry, Frances, and Lukas thought they’d managed to restore history to its original path after their antics with a time-bending radio went awry. But they’re still trapped in Westfallen, the version of present-day America where the Axis won WWII, living an alternate—and much darker—version of their lives.
Henry has to work at the Home for Incurables, Lukas is on hard labor all day, and only Frances, whose parents are members of the Nazi elite, gets to go to school and move freely. And since they and their friends in 1944 destroyed the radio, they have to find cruder and ever-more-desperate ways to communicate across time. Frances uses her privilege in Westfallen to gather as much information as she can, while Henry tries to turn Lukas into a local baseball hero to save him from being sent away to a work camp.
But the deeper the three friends and their 1944 counterparts dig into how Westfallen came to be, the more they begin to attract unwanted attention from people with a vested interest in making sure this version of history becomes permanent…at any cost.
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