Our Best Books coverage concludes with a special YA episode featuring Brandy Colbert.

Our this week’s Fully Booked podcast, Brandy Colbert joins us to discuss The Blackwoods (Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins, Oct. 3), an enthralling YA novel centering on three unforgettable members of a Black Hollywood dynasty—and one of our Best Young Adult Books of the Year. As Kirkus writes in a starred review, “Colbert’s sprawling novel is a deeply felt love letter to Black Hollywood’s groundbreaking forebears and a tribute to the transformative power of maternal love.”

Colbert is the award-winning author of books for young readers of all ages, including Black Birds in the Sky: The Story and Legacy of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre,The Voting Booth,The Only Black Girls in Town, and Little & Lion. She teaches in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program at Hamline University. Here’s a bit more from our starred review of The Blackwoods:

“Through decades of commitment to her craft and resilience in the face of discrimination, Blossom ‘Bebe’ Blackwood cemented her legacy as an award-winning Black actor and trailblazer. When Blossom passes away at the age of 96, her family celebrates their beloved matriarch and feels adrift without her guidance. This is especially true for 17-year-old cousins Ardith and Hollis Blackwood, who sometimes struggle with the challenges of being born into a highly visible family. Bebe was best friend to Ardith, a devout churchgoer and rising actor. For Hollis, a grounded high schooler content to remain on the outskirts of the Hollywood elite, Bebe represented the beauty of triumph over adversity. As the teens adjust to their new normal, a long-buried secret comes to light, forever changing their perceptions of the great-grandmother they all thought they knew.…”

First, Colbert shares a bit about how she celebrated the Oct. 3 publication of The Blackwoods. We then explore the life of protagonist Blossom Blackwood, who provides one of three perspectives from which the story is told; and introduce her granddaughters, Ardith and Hollis, who provide contemporary perspectives on celebrity, family, tradition, and scandal. Colbert talks about how she built confidence in writing the historical portions of the novel, and the tools she used to bring Blossom’s scenes to life. We discuss how our society processes scandals—and what constitutes a scandal—and how they’ve changed from the ’40s to today; how each one of us now walks around with a camera in our hand, able to capture any transgression at a moment’s notice; our shared admiration for the work of film historian and author Donald Bogle; the importance of community and belonging; and much more.

Then young readers’ editor Laura Simeon highlights a few titles from our Best Books list.

LAURA’S PICKS:

The Dos and Donuts of Love by Abida Jaigirdar (Feiwel & Friends)

Plan A by Deb Caletti (Labyrinth Road)

My Flawless Life by Yvonne Woon (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins)

Wings in the Wild by Margarita Engle (Atheneum)

All the Fighting Parts by Hannah V. Sawyerr (Amulet/Abrams)

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS:

Death Is Potential: A Kate Swift Mystery by Bob Burnett

Legacy of Honor: The Air Warrior by Larry A. Freeland

Bungalow Terrace by Robert Monroe

A King of Cartoons by Simon Paul Woodward

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.