Accessibility links
The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books This week: Meg Wolitzer's latest, Charles Frazier returns to the Civil War, the pressures of being the only black person in the room, a new Macbeth, and marriage-saving tips from a divorce lawyer.
books

The Week's Best Stories From NPR Books

This week: Meg Wolitzer, Charles Frazier, Jo Nesbo, Nafissa Thompson-Spires and James Sexton.
As Demographics Shift, Kids' Books Stay Stubbornly White

At a San Jose, Calif. library, a young reader browses a shelf of books featuring a variety of main characters: ducks, hens, white kids, black kids. Libraries help drive demand for children's books with nonwhite characters, but book publishers say there aren't enough libraries to make those books best-sellers. San Jose Library/Flickr hide caption

toggle caption
San Jose Library/Flickr

Code Switch

As Demographics Shift, Kids' Books Stay Stubbornly White

Nearly a quarter of all public school kids are Latino, but only 3 percent of kids' books are by or about Latinos. There's a similar dearth of Native American, black and Asian characters. Why? One editor says librarians, with their high demand for multicultural books, don't drive best-seller lists.

As Demographics Shift, Kids' Books Stay Stubbornly White

Listen · 4:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/193174358/195426309" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Ever-Changing L.A. Links Walter Mosley To His Mid-Century P.I.

Little Green opens in 1967 and follows Easy Rawlins' search for a young man who disappeared after visiting the Sunset Strip, seen here in 1966. HF/AP hide caption

toggle caption
HF/AP

Opinion

Code Switch

Ever-Changing L.A. Links Walter Mosley To His Mid-Century P.I.

Six years ago, the mystery writer sent Easy Rawlins off a cliff, seemingly killing him. Now, Easy's back on the streets his creator once called home. Mosley says other than Los Angeles, he and his detective hero don't have much in common, but NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates begs to differ.

Ever-Changing L.A. Links Walter Mosley To His Mid-Century P.I.

Listen · 7:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/193173793/195116414" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Nancy Pearl Scours The Shelves For Books You Might Have Missed
Andrew Bannecker

Review

Critics' Lists: Summer 2013

Nancy Pearl Scours The Shelves For Books You Might Have Missed

NPR's go-to librarian recommends five "under the radar" books she thinks you should read this summer. They range from a Jane Austenesque love story to a real life, intellectual detective tale.

Nancy Pearl Scours The Shelves For Books You Might Have Missed

Listen · 7:18
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/193871091/194132290" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
In Neville's Thrillers, Belfast's Violent Past Still Burns

Bonfires light up the Belfast skyline on July 12, 1997, as Protestant loyalists commemorate the 17th century victory of a Protestant king over his deposed Catholic predecessor. Known as the Battle of the Boyne, the confrontation is part of a long history of tensions in the region. Paul McErlane/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Paul McErlane/AP

Crime In The City

In Neville's Thrillers, Belfast's Violent Past Still Burns

The capital of Northern Ireland is no longer the city of snipers that it was before the Good Friday Agreement, but novelist Stuart Neville still draws inspiration from the decades of violence. In The Ghosts of Belfast, he examines the shattered life of an IRA killer in the aftermath of The Troubles.

In Neville's Thrillers, Belfast's Violent Past Still Burns

Listen · 7:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/191318613/192596365" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
This Blumesday Celebrates Judy, Not Joyce

Judy Blume is the author of many books for kids and teens, including Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Blubber. Her fans have riffed on Bloomsday (a celebration of James Joyce's Ulysses) and created Blumesday in her honor. Suzanne Plunkett/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Suzanne Plunkett/AP

Book News & Features

This Blumesday Celebrates Judy, Not Joyce

Loyal fans of young adult novelist Judy Blume have riffed on Bloomsday — a celebration of James Joyce's Ulysses — and created Blumesday to honor the author of Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Blubber.

This Blumesday Celebrates Judy, Not Joyce

Listen · 3:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/191651560/192596367" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What Kids Are Reading, In School And Out
iStockphoto.com

Media For Kids And Teens

What Kids Are Reading, In School And Out

Some experts are concerned that both in-school assignments and the books kids read for pleasure may not be challenging them enough.

What Kids Are Reading, In School And Out

Listen · 7:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/190669029/190756365" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Badger, Bunny And Black-Cat Blues: 3 Tales Of Animal Noir

Cat detective John Blacksad investigates the disappearance of a famous pianist in Blacksad: A Silent Hell. Dark Horse hide caption

toggle caption
Dark Horse

Three Books...

Badger, Bunny And Black-Cat Blues: 3 Tales Of Animal Noir

Writer Jody Arlington picks three hot summer graphic-novel reads. The twist? They all star anthropomorphic animals: Doughty badger detective LeBrock, hard-boiled cat detective John Blacksad and resistance rabbit Hardin dodge assassins, steal secrets and track down the missing just like their human counterparts.