KL Walther's Ferris Bueller-inspired novel, While We're Young
About Author
Find out how the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off helped inspire KL Walther's YA novel, While We're Young, about a group of teenagers who take a day off school.
KL Walther was born and raised in the rolling hills of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, surrounded by family, dogs, and books. Her childhood was spent traveling the northeastern seaboard to play ice hockey. She attended a boarding school in New Jersey and studied English at the University of Virginia.
She is happiest on the beach with a book, cheering for the New York Rangers, or enjoying a rom-com while digging into a big bowl of popcorn and M&Ms.
Interview
KL Walther introduces her Ferris Bueller-inspired novel, While We're Young (Farshore)
March 2025
In While We're Young, a group of four teenagers skip school for a day to revisit some favourite haunts from their childhoods. In doing so, they rekindle old friendships - and reveal hidden secrets that could tear them apart once more. . .
We spoke with author KL Walther to find out how the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off helped inspire her own version in While We're Young, this time with a young woman taking the lead.
Q&A with KL Walther, introducing While We're Young and the inspiration behind the novel
"I really enjoyed spending time with these characters and making this iconic story my own. Writing it felt familiar,
but there was always a surprise around the corner."
1. Thank you for joining us on ReadingZone! Can you tell us a little about your life in Pennsylvania, where are your happy places, and where do you tend to do your writing? What brought you into writing for YA readers?
I really had a wonderful childhood. I grew up with my younger brother and sister (we are very close in age) and our parents in a historic farmhouse on four acres, so we had a lot of room to run around with our dogs and have campfires with friends. All my grandparents lived close by as well as a handful of cousins. My siblings and I played ice hockey so our family spent a lot of time together traveling to games and tournaments. My happy place at home was always our front porch (I would spend hours writing out there in the spring), and my happy place in the summer is on Martha's Vineyard.
I like to mix up where I write, because I find a change of scenery works wonders for my level of production. Depending on the day, I'm either at my desk, my parents' dining room table (if I'm home), and family friends' houses. When I was a sophomore at the University of Virginia, I took a fiction writing class on a whim and started writing a young adult manuscript. I was only 20 at the time, so I related much more to YA experiences and situations rather than adult. Older adolescence is also a truly transformative time, where life is really starting to open up for you and more decisions are under your control.
2. What do you find are the highs and lows of being an author? What have been your favourite career moments to date?
I will never forget my literary agent offering me representation. It really made me believe that being a published author was possible, because someone other than my wonderful (but biased!) family and friends believed in my work. Months later, my heart leapt into my throat when my agent told me we had an offer on my debut novel, and I remember sobbing in my car when my editor called to tell me The Summer of Broken Rules had hit the New York Times bestseller list. "I'm a major weeper", to quote Jude Law in The Holiday.
Beyond bouts of writer's block and occasional loneliness (writing is a solitary sport), rejection is the lowest low. I wrote the first draft of While We're Young in 2020, and it was rejected many times before my agent sold it in 2023. But I like to believe that each book has its "time", and 2025 was meant for Grace, James, Isa and Everett. The Philadelphia Eagles just won the Super Bowl, after all. *wink*
3. Why were you so inspired by Ferris Bueller's Day Off that you wanted to write your own version, While We're Young, with a young woman taking the lead?
I can't remember how old I was when I first saw Ferris Bueller's Day Off, but the movie has always stuck with me. It is just so funny and smart and absurd, and I certainly wasn't the type of high schooler who pulled a prank, let alone skip school. I loved living vicariously through Ferris, Cameron, and Sloane. (Although one of my siblings occasionally calls me Jeanie).
The idea for the gender swap came to me in a dream. It was November 2020, and I had spent a lot of time over the last several months rewatching my favorite movies. Ferris Bueller must have been one of them, since I dreamt one night that I wrote a "gender-swapped, contemporary retelling" of it. That was it, that was the dream. I texted my agent when I woke up the next morning, and then immediately started developing the concept. I finished my first draft in a little over a month.
4. What are the parallels in your book to the film, and what are your favourite twists on the film version? Do you reference other films through the book?
One parallel I really liked exploring was the idea of working parents who love their children, but are somewhat (or not so somewhat) clueless about what said children are up to. In past books, my parents have been very involved in - or at least keyed into - my main characters' lives. This dynamic was a departure for me. I also kept the key plot point of having a "mastermind" character who ropes their friends into their scheme, as well as the idea of being a tourist in your own city. I loved seeing the movie shine a light on Chicago, and I wanted to do the same with Philadelphia.
Twists…in no particular order, I loved Ferris appearing on the parade float, Mr. Bueller and his colleagues outside Chez Quis, and Jeanie saving her brother's butt at the very end (after you think she's dead-set on exposing him). I loved reinventing these in While We're Young.
Pop culture was big in my house growing up, so I know I'm always writing in references. National Treasure is a notable one, and I know I drop some of my favorite TV shows too, like Project Runway and Peaky Blinders.
5. Why did you decide to take your group to Philadelphia? Do you have fond memories of it, like your characters? What are your own favourite places in the city?
I grew up about 30 miles north of Philadelphia, along the Delaware River, and I immediately pictured these characters in my hometown so it was a natural to plan a skip day in Philadelphia - a city that is not often written about in young adult literature (or as far as I've observed).
I enjoyed my elementary class trips and family trips to Old City, frequent drives into the city for concerts, and eating at fun restaurants with my cousin who lives there. Three of my favorite spots are Reading Terminal Market, Elfreth's Alley, Rittenhouse Square, and some of my favorite bands have performed at the Fillmore Theater.
6. What drives a film is very different from keeping readers engaged. What lies at the heart of While We're Young, and how do the relationships between Grace, Isa, James and Everett help drive the story?
I love this question. You have a circle of friends who have been close since they were children and despite their closeness, they all harbor secrets from each other that are tearing them up inside. They all worry about bringing them out in the open and ruining their friendship but they also know they can't keep pretending - it's just not sustainable. They also all know that within a few months, they will all be living in separate cities and being separated for the first time. That's a tough truth to face.
Put simply: the skip day is the vehicle Grace devised to get her, Isa, and Everett to spend some significant, uninterrupted alone time together to mend fences. Unbeknownst to her, leaving James out was the channel that brings him back into the tight fold, and with him, his needs and wants. As the skip day itinerary continues to unfold, each character's inner turmoil rises to the surface and must finally be confronted.
7. Why do you give each character their own voice? Did that make it easier or harder to write? Did you write the book chronologically?
While We're Young's original draft was entirely told from Grace's and James's perspectives, somewhat like the film flashing between Ferris in Chicago and Jeanie in school. However, the further I got into the manuscript, the more I realized that Isa and Everett had plenty to say, too. The most substantial change I made during revisions was adding them into the lineup.
Having four first-person perspectives was challenging - you want each voice to be distinct - but doing so really allowed me to inhabit and live vicariously through my characters. I would constantly switch from one to the other, since I do write chronologically. I started with Grace bright and early in the morning, and wrote every perspective to take us through the entire day, until we hit Grace again at dinnertime.
8. What was the writing process like for you - was this a book you enjoyed writing?
I loved writing this book. It was the first concept that stemmed from a dream of mine, and I really enjoyed spending time with these characters and making this iconic story my own. Writing it felt familiar, but there was always a surprise around the corner.
9. What are your top writing tips for anyone else who wants to write their own story based on a favourite film?
Be inspired, but also let your characters dictate their own story! Grace, Isa, Everett, and James aren't carbon copies of Ferris, Cameron, Sloane, and Jeanie (and I never intended them to be). I wanted to include my favorite winks and nods to the movie, but the more my characters took on lives of their own, the more they indicated which Ferris Bueller beats fit and which didn't. And I never tried to fight that. Nearly running into Mr. Bueller was hilarious in the movie, but knowing Isa's hangups and hardships, I knew reinvention of the scene wouldn't work as anything less than heart wrenching.
10. Do you watch a lot of classic films in your spare time - any other recommendations for our YA readers?
Both my immediate and extended family members are movie buffs, so we're always talking about our new favorites. The way John Hughes captures adolescence is uncanny, and of course I love 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless, and all the romantic comedies from the early aughts.
While We're Young
