Best New Things out this Spring

Written by Jade Hauber, 04/14/2025

Yeah, I couldn’t really think of a great title for this one. At least it rhymes, right? Anyway, aside from an unreasonable number of summatives, spring is kinda… bleh. I feel like I spend most of April and May studying or watching TV/reading. And when I’m studying, I’m usually doing one of those two or listening to music at the same time. So I figured I’d make a list (if anyone’s read any of my other articles, you’ll know I love lists) of my favourite new book, movie and show to keep you entertained. You know it’s legit, too, because it’s coming from the biggest procrastinator alive (the Stand heads can probably confirm this considering last week’s article was supposed to be last last week’s article… sorry guys).

Best Book: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

I’m pretty much the biggest Hunger Games fan of all time, so when a book came out centered around one of my favourite characters’s backstory, I was the absolute first to read it. Seriously, I read it in the twenty-five hours since its release. It was absolutely heart wrenching, to say the least. The book is about Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta’s mentor if any of you have read or watched the original series, who must enter a battle to the death against forty-seven other adolescents. Despite that bloody description, the book is filled with beautiful characters and relationships and intense political subtext. Above all, it is a call to action. For what? I’ll let you decide.

Best Show: Severance

Okay, being fair, I am only on the first few episodes of season one, but season two did just come out. Warning: This show is probably PG-13 or higher, but I’m too lazy to check. You have to know this is quality TV if the Duolingo Youtube channel itself is parodying it; I mean, they have the best advertising campaigns in the world (and the scariest green owl). What was I talking about again? Right. The show. So, Severance is about a company called Lumon that makes some of their employees go through a procedure, the Severance Procedure, if you will, which essentially splits their consciousness and memory into what they do at work and in their personal lives. That sounds fine from the outside - can you imagine such a great work/life balance? - but it’s actually really creepy. The “Innies” aren’t allowed any communication with their respective “Outies” at all. I’ll stop there to avoid spoilers, but if you like sci-fi or dystopian dramas like J.J. Abrams’ Lost, I highly recommend this show.

Best Movie: The Unbreakable Boy

This was a really hard choice, I’ve been to a lot of good movies recently, but for anyone who grew up with Wonder, this is similar but, in my opinion, way better. Based on a true story, The Unbreakable Boy is about a family struggling to fight their way through health issues, school bullies and addictions. But ultimately their relationships, specifically the one between the main character, Austin, and his father, bring them together and help them persevere in the end. It has its sad moments, but I came out of the theatre feeling like I’d just watched the best Indie feel-good of my life, refreshing after an afternoon of Severance and The Hunger Games. So check it out.

And with that the Jade Hauber award show comes to a close. Thanks for tuning in, and good luck in the last few weeks of school!