Hazel & Katniss & Harry & Starr is a weekly Canadian podcast about young adult literature, their film and television adaptations, and everything in between. Now in its sixth season, the podcast—hosted by film critic Joe Lipsett and English professor Brenna Clarke-Gray—aims to highlight the cultural worth of young adult and middle-grade texts, with a focus on Canadian, Indigenous and minority creatives and stories.
Join us weekly for deep dives, as well as a round of YA BINGO.
Book 6, Chapter 40: The 5th Wave
Brenna and Joe dip back into dystopian territory with The 5th Wave, Rick Yancey’s 2013 novel and J Blakeson’s 2016 film adaptation.
This one is unique because it’s aliens, though we are still dealing with a Chosen One narrative and a potential love quad.
Plus: changing (sometimes inefficiently) perspectives, a film that moves too fast but is too long, putting film critics on blast, and whether we’ll check out entries 2-3 in Yancey’s trilogy.
Read on for more about this week’s episode from co-host Joe Lipsett:
One of the most amusing parts of hosting a YA adaptation podcast is seeing, for lack of a better term, repeat performers. While some actors are one and done, some folks turn up a ton (everyone remember Noah Centineo?).
One of our favourite recurring actors is Chloë Grace Moretz. At this point we have covered 4 of her projects, including:
- Nimona (2023)
- If I Stay
- Let Me In (during our discussion on Let The Right One In)
And there’s still more we could cover if we dip into the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies, her revamped take on Carrie, and even Martin Scorcese’s adaptation of Hugo. It’s fun to see how frequently Grace Moretz ventures into YA adaptation waters.
And here’s the thing: she’s always consistently good (even when the material isn’t).
All this to say, Grace Moretz is something of a YA adaptation queen -JL
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