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A new picture book seeks to answer the question 'what is school for?' Apr 04, 2022

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Writer John Schu and illustrator Veronica Miller Jamison are out with a new picture book that asks the question what exactly is school...for? Test prep? Socialization? This Is A School makes the case that it's a place for community and trying new things. Schu and Miller Jamison told NPR's Ailsa Chang that their own elementary school experiences were not like the ones in their book, but they hope kids today get to have diverse experiences.
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Authors Peng Shepherd and Anne Tyler show that family is...complicated Apr 01, 2022

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Today's first interview is with author Peng Shepherd on her new mystery. A father and daughter, both cartographers, haven't spoken in seven years. But when the father is found dead his daughter must use their shared skill to solve the mystery of his death. Shepherd told NPR's Elissa Nadworny that obsession can be a stand-in for the person lost. Next, Anne Tyler on her new book which follows a family in Baltimore across several generations. Tyler told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly that she likes to write about families because they sort of have to love each other even when they annoy each other.
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'The Last Suspicious Holdout' looks at how humans keep on believing Mar 31, 2022

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Author Ladee Hubbard's new collection of short stories, The Last Suspicious Holdout, all take place in a nameless, majority Black suburb in the 90s and early 2000s. The stories all connect and intertwine with each other over time; telling the story of this community. Hubbard told NPR's Juana Summers that she was "interested in people that keep going, that survive hardships and find a way to keep believing and working towards things getting better" and those transformations were emblematic of the community as a whole.
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'The Beauty of Dusk' and life's calamitous challenges Mar 30, 2022

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Journalist Frank Bruni had lots of professional success: he was a White House correspondent, food critic, and opinion columnist. But then in 2017 he suffered a rare type of stroke that left him unable to see correctly. His new memoir, The Beauty of Dusk: On Vision Lost and Found, focuses on many people who, like Bruni, have had challenges or setbacks in their lives that they have had to adjust to. Bruni told NPR's Ari Shapiro that asking people about their pain "ends up being rewarding and enriching for everybody involved."
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Solving systemic racism and buying sensible cardigans with comic Phoebe Robinson Mar 29, 2022

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Comic Phoebe Robinson told NPR's Rachel Martin that she doesn't wake up every day thinking "time to dismantle systemic racism!" But since she has a platform, she might as well use it to bring about some positive change. She also told Martin that her dream life involves buying sensible cardigans, getting day drunk with Kathy Lee and Hoda, and a loving marriage with Robert DeNiro. Robinson's book You Can't Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain goes into the racism she experiences and why she would like to date either Michael Fassbender or Michael B. Jordan (sorry Mr. DeNiro).
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We look at Hollywood legend Rita Moreno's career after the Oscars Mar 28, 2022

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The 94th Academy Awards were last night. To celebrate we're taking a trip down memory lane with one of Hollywood's greatest icons, Rita Moreno. Back in 2013 she sat down with NPR's Rachel Martin to discuss her life and career, including her win for best supporting actress in 1962. She told Martin that her acceptance speech was so short because she wanted to get off stage so she could cry.
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Karen Dawisha and Marie Yovanovitch provide a deeper look at Russia's war in Ukraine Mar 25, 2022

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It's been nearly a month since Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine, so we are taking another look at how we got here. First, an interview from 2014 with the late political scientist Karen Dawisha on how Putin and his cronies became so fabulously wealthy. She told NPR's Arun Rath that leveling economic sanctions would have been effective because Putin expected military action instead. Second, we have a new memoir from Marie Yovanovitch who was ousted as ambassador to Ukraine by President Trump and played a key role in his impeachment. She told NPR's Mary Louise Kelly it was a painful experience.
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A meet-cute followed by real life: 'Party of Two' is about love in the real world Mar 24, 2022

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Romance writer Jasmine Guillory writes beautiful love stories – but that doesn't mean they aren't based in reality. Her novel Party of Two from the summer of 2020 is about a Black woman and a white man who have a meet-cute and start a casual long distance relationship. But race does have an impact on their connection because of the different ways the world has impacted them. Guillory told former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro that real life couples have these conversations so her characters should too.
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'Checkout 19' explores the magic of escaping with a good book Mar 23, 2022

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The nameless narrator in author Claire-Louise Bennett's new novel, Checkout 19, absolutely loves books. Their mere presence puts her at ease. But her lifelong love of reading is, in part, because she feels let down by the people around her. Bennett told NPR's Scott Simon that loving to read is amazing, but there's a danger in always living other's experiences before having some of your own.
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'Peach Blossom Spring' interrogates the meaning of home Mar 22, 2022

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Can you belong to more than one home? Author Melissa Fu sets out to answer that question in her debut novel Peach Blossom Spring. The story of the Peach Blossom Spring was first told by a poet over one thousand years ago: A fisherman stumbles upon a paradise of peach trees and has to decide whether to abandon his old life and stay in this beautiful place or go back home. That is the same predicament that Fu's main character Renshu faces. Fu told NPR's Ailsa Chang that it's hard to live in two cultures but she wouldn't have it any other way.
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