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June 11, 2013 On June 11, 1963, Gov. George Wallace stood at the University of Alabama to block two black students attempting to cross the color line and register for classes. The event forever associated him with segregation. His daughter, Peggy Wallace Kennedy, 63, is trying to shake that link.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

May 23, 2013 Elysha O'Brien calls herself a "Mexican white girl." Not just because of her ethnically ambiguous appearance, she says, but also because she can't speak Spanish. Fearing their children would experience discrimination if they spoke Spanish, her parents chose not to teach them their native tongue.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

May 1, 2013 Dr. Gregory McGriff, a black doctor in a largely white community, says gaining his patients' trust requires him to spend more time and "communicate a little bit more" than his white colleagues. He says that disparity, while seeming unfair, has helped to make him a better doctor.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

March 13, 2013 Back behind the mic in her new role as NPR Host & Special Correspondent, Michele Norris has set her heart (and ear) on the powerful collection of six-word essays submitted by NPR listeners for The Race Card Project. Read on for more about the project and other insights from the familiar NPR voice.

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February 28, 2013 Long before James Prosek became a world-famous artist and naturalist, he was a kid who used art as a way to work through the ups and downs of childhood. "When I went into the woods, it was the first time that I felt like something was mine," he says.

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February 1, 2013 NPR's Backseat Book Club takes the yellow brick road back to its origins with L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900.

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December 10, 2012 NPR's Backseat Book Club polled children's booksellers and librarians to find 2012's best books for middle-graders. The winners are a heartwarming city kid's tale, a Chinese folklore-inspired adventure, and an encounter with a 10-year-old you'll never forget.

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November 2, 2012 In 1877, Anna Sewell wrote a novel about human kindness and cruelty — all from the point of view of a horse. In the decades since, Black Beauty has been embraced by generations of children, and has helped change the way we treat and think about horses.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

November 1, 2012 Former schoolteacher Rick Riordan delivers a lesson in ancient Egyptian history cleverly disguised as a hair-raising kids adventure. Carter and Sadie Kane have no idea they are descended from age-old sorcerers until their archaeologist father accidentally unleashes ancient gods into modern society.

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May 31, 2012 Back in 2009, our interview with author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney sparked the idea for a special NPR book club for kids. So it's only fitting that NPR's Backseat Book Club will read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Kinney's beloved cartoon staring Greg Heffley, a beleaguered middle-schooler.

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April 24, 2012 Margi Preus' Heart of a Samurai tells the story of Manjiro, a fisherman's son who dreams of becoming a samurai. When his boat is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan, he embarks on a series of adventures that turn his dreams into reality.

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March 26, 2012 Seedfolks follows the interconnected stories of 13 people whose lives are changed when they begin to care for a neglected community garden. Author Paul Fleischman said he found inspiration for Seedfolks close to home; at his childhood home in Los Angeles, his parents were dedicated urban farmers.

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February 29, 2012 In March, we turn to swashbuckling adventure and head-scratching conundrums in The Mysterious Benedict Society. Trenton Lee Stewart tells the story of four genius kids on a secret mission to save the world. Don't be surprised when young readers grab pen and paper to work out the puzzles and riddles by hand.

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January 26, 2012 This month, NPR's Backseat Book Club will read two books that explore what it's like to try to create a new home while still missing the one you've left behind. Join us as we read Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai and The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes.

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December 20, 2011 Christopher Paul Curtis tells the story of a Michigan family traveling south to Alabama during the height of the civil rights movement. Curtis composed the novel in his head while working on automobile assembly lines in Flint, Mich.

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