Books

'Door To Door' Reveals The Magnificent — And Maddening — Story of Traffic

2:25pm April 13, 2016

Edward Humes describes his new book as a "transportation detective story" that chronicles the hidden characters, locations and machinery driving our same-day-delivery, traffic-packed world.

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'A Fierce And Subtle Poison' Ventures Into A Strange And Troubled Garden

1:37pm April 13, 2016

by Caitlyn Paxson

Samantha Mabry's novel riffs on authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Isabel Allende to create a story that's both an atmospheric glimpse at a Caribbean island and a self-aware critique of colonialism.

Robert McCloskey was still a young artist when he brought a crate of ducks back to his studio apartment to do some sketches. Since then, the plucky Mallard family (Jack, Lack, Mack, et al.) has charmed its way into our hearts.

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Make Way For Celebration: These Ducklings Are Turning 75

4:00pm April 12, 2016

by Lynn Neary

Robert McCloskey was a young artist when he brought a crate of ducks back to his studio apartment. Since then, the plucky Mallard family (Jack, Lack, Mack, et al.) has charmed its way into our hearts.

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#NationalPoetryMonth: Verses That Celebrate Life On The Farm

3:02pm April 12, 2016

by Maria Godoy

Poet Tess Taylor's new book, Work & Days, is a lyrical meditation on food and farming and our "fragile and ultimately, necessary relationship we have with the earth." Download her illustrated poems.

Edna O'Brien's first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1961.

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Arts

A Clash Of Manners And Monsters In Edna O'Brien's 'Little Red Chairs'

2:25pm April 12, 2016

by Maureen Corrigan

A charismatic stranger in a remote Irish village turns out to be a war criminal in O'Brien's new novel. Critic Maureen Corrigan calls the book "one of [O'Brien's] best and most ambitious novels yet."

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The 'Regional Office' Doesn't Quite Deliver

1:26pm April 12, 2016

by Jason Heller

Manuel Gonzales' ambitious debut novel has a great hook — a top secret organization battling aliens, zombies and evil masterminds — but dry humor and spirited dialogue get lost in a convoluted plot.

'The Envoy': Zalmay Khalilzad's Journey From Afghanistan To The White House

7:06am April 12, 2016

As U.S. ambassador in Iraq and Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad was unique — "a son of the soil" — as he puts it in his new memoir. He talks to Renee Montagne about his book, The Envoy.

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Beverly Cleary, shown during a story hour in the park, was a children's librarian before she became an author. "Boys particularly asked: Where were the books about kids like us? And there weren't any at that time," she recalls.

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Beverly Cleary Is Turning 100, But She Has Always Thought Like A Kid

6:36pm April 11, 2016

by Melissa Jaeger-Miller

Before she became an author, Beverly Cleary was a children's librarian. She says young readers often asked for books "about kids like us." There weren't any, so she decided to write them herself.

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Block associations on the South Side have long pushed to make their neighborhoods cleaner and safer, but investment from developers and retailers has been slow to follow.

Talking Housing Segregation And Chicago With WBEZ's Natalie Y. Moore

4:45pm April 11, 2016

by Gene Demby

A longtime Chicago reporter, a native of the black South Side, digs into the ways segregation continues to shape the politics of her hometown, as well as her own life.

Many books are challenged because of "sexually explicit" content or content "unsuited for age group."

'The Holy Bible' Makes Library Association's List Of Most 'Challenged' Books

4:30pm April 11, 2016

by Laura Wagner

The challenges show religion is "on the minds of many people," says Deborah Caldwell Stone of the American Library Association. Another reason people objected to books was explicit sexual content.