A 2021 Alex Award Winner! “A sparkling tale about fame and family… Fans of Elizabeth Berg and J. Ryan Stradal will relish the novel’s humor, spark, and verve.” –Booklist “Smart yet surprisingly sweet, this meditation on family and media is as captivating as a favorite podcast.” –Shelf Awareness “Moving, humorous, and briskly-paced.” –J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling … –J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest and The Lager Queen of Minnesota
A whip-smart, entertaining novel about twin siblings who become a national phenomenon after launching a podcast to find the biological father they never knew.
The death of Thomas and Savannah McClair’s mother turns their world upside down. Raised to be fiercely curious by their grandmother Maggie, the twins become determined to learn the identity of their biological father. And when their mission goes viral, an eccentric producer offers them a dream platform: a fully sponsored podcast called The Kids Are Gonna Ask. To discover the truth, Thomas and Savannah begin interviewing people from their mother’s past and are shocked when the podcast ignites in popularity. As the attention mounts, they get caught in a national debate they never asked for–but nothing compares to the mayhem that ensues when they find him.
Cleverly constructed, emotionally perceptive and sharply funny, The Kids Are Gonna Ask is a rollicking coming-of-age story and a moving exploration of all the ways we can go from lost to found.
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Favorite Quotes:
Chef Bart served a buffet of appetizers and created a new cocktail called the “Truth Hurts”—one-part whiskey, three parts Fireball, and served in a glass rimmed with habanero pepper oil… He handed Maggie the inaugural glass. “You’re either swallowing fire or breathing it.”
George used to accuse her of being part earthworm— always making her way into the sun but forgetting how easily she wilted. “What am I going to do the day I come home to find you all shriveled up on the sidewalk?” he’d say.
For example, she found a white paper online about a woman named Sarah Adelbaum in Poplar Springs, Idaho, who had EKGs documenting her ability to match her heartbeat almost identically to Battle Hymn of the Republic and Yankee Doodle. Ms. Adelbaum’s quality of life was virtually unaffected and, even more, the only complaint she listed was that her heart didn’t have a wider catalog of music.
One woman, Alexis DuVrey posted a bedtime blessing for Thomas and Savannah every night at the same time. He only knew this, of course, because Sam Tamblin thought it was hysterical. “May the energy of the universe overwhelm those spirts that would do you hard,” she wrote one night. It was obviously an innocent and unfortunate series of typos, but ever since, Sam couldn’t resist calling on the “the spirts” to do him “hard.”
I may be dumb, but I’m not stupid.
My Review:
I am decidedly enamored with this author; I enjoyed her bitingly clever Evergreen Tidings from the Baumgartners and hoped I was in for a similar treat in picking her second offering. Ms. Anthony excels at unique and oddly enticing characters who are more than a tad off-center. And while the peculiar characters in this tale were not always admirable or likable, they were achingly realistic and gaining hard-won insights while learning painful life lessons in an extremely public manner. My favorite characters of The Kids Are Gonna Ask were the grandmother/guardian Maggie and the secondary cast members of Nadine and Chef Bart. Chef Bart, and in particular Nadine – while only a teen, were the type of human beings we all wished we were and or were even capable of being.
The writing was humorously and keenly perceptive, unfailingly engaging, and laced with cunning and witty scenarios and amusing brain-tickling twists such as the simple weekly Podcast that thrusts the teenage twins from obscurity into instant fame after their small independent production went viral when featuring an unusually odd dinner guest of their grandmother who imparted a rather bizarre in-utero twin-eating anecdote which was soon dubbed as “Zombie Baby.” The twins decided to parlay their sudden success into delving into their origin story to track down their biological father, who was completely unknown to them and had rarely been discussed by their deceased mother. Tested loyalties, anxieties, betrayals, revelations, humiliations, tears, devastations, and epiphanies occurred along their journey and the superbly evocative and emotive writing kept me right there with them every step of the way.
I am more than eager to see who and what the profoundly perceptive Ms. Anthony hones in on next.
***I received an ebook copy from the publisher at no cost***
There were a few things that drew me to this novel: 1. It’s set in Minnesota and I’m MN born and raised. 2. I love podcasts and haven’t read one in a book before. 3. The plot intrigued me. I’m happy to say I wasn’t disappointed.
Savannah, or Van as those close to her call her, and Thomas are twins who lost their mother and never knew their father. They live in an upscale neighborhood in Minneapolis with their grandma, Maggie, who is a nice combination of eccentric and classy. Maggie is known for having interesting people over for dinner, some who are well-known and some who are complete strangers. Thomas and Van have a podcast, where they interview the different people who come for dinner. During one of these dinners, Thomas mentions that he wants to find his biological dad (or biodad, as they call him), and this is the spark that sets off a wild and emotional chain of events for the twins and Maggie.
I’ll go light on the details with this, so as not to spoil it for those who haven’t had a chance to read yet. I liked the way this story played out. It was a bit slow to start off but when things picked up, they really picked up. The family’s journey with the podcast felt realistic. They went from having their self-produced podcast, that wasn’t unpopular but wasn’t well-known either, to having this professionally produced and publicized show that ended up attracting attention around the country. The family struggled with a bunch of different emotions throughout this, as a collective and individually. Maggie was constantly questioning whether she did the right thing by letting the kids direct the course of their search and the podcast. It was clear through her development that the kids were extremely important to her, not only because of the grandmother-grandkid bond, but with their mother having died, they were sort of a last living connection to her. Van had this internal struggle going on when it came to what she wanted to do (interviews, publicity) and how to present herself. She developed her own voice over the course of the story and that was fun to see and read about. Thomas was the one character I didn’t really care for and had a hard time connecting with. He acted like an entitled jerk a lot of the time, and then he had this giant secret he kept from Van and Maggie, which really irked me too. I had a little more respect for him by the end of the book but he definitely didn’t make it onto a favorite list for me.
I liked how the story was authentic to Minneapolis. Mentions of places like Sebastian Joe’s made me smile. The author did a great job representing the area and for me, that made the book all the easier to get into. Being from here, I was able to visualize things in my mind the way they really are in the city.
Another thing I really enjoyed in this story was the way Chef Bart was more than just the family chef—he was part of the family. I liked how that relationship was portrayed and the connection he had with Maggie.
This story has a unique plot and some pretty awesome characters. The author did a great job of balancing the present with pieces of the past woven in where needed. The characters are well-written and developed, with flaws that felt real, and most of them were relatable. The writing is solid and this was an easy-to-read story.
If you’re looking for a good read with some mystery elements and family themes, this is a good story for you.
Four stars to this novel!
This book delivers on the promise of a fun read, but there is so much more to it than that! Teenage twins step into a landmine of emotions when they begin a public quest for their biological father via a highly publicized podcast. For both of them, as well as their grandmother, digging into the past for clues to the identity of their father also opens unhealed wounds around their mother’s death. As media attention grows and they attract increasing attention from haters and trolls, the relationships between the three of them are threatened. While remaining engaging and easy to read, The Kids Are Gonna Ask also confronts deep questions around family, privacy, and the far reaching effects of grief and loss on a family. Love this book! Just a note: while it is YA accessible, it is definitely a book for adults.
Going viral takes on a whole new meaning in this wry and humane look at the unintended consequences of inviting the world into your private life. The Kids Are Gonna Ask is a touching, wonderful novel about the discoveries we make when the simplest questions spark the most complicated answers.