“I believe that in order to heal, we must remember. Once we remember, we acknowledge. Once we acknowledge, we can take more significant action.”   Watch Dolen Perkins-Valdez discuss her inspiration for writing Take My Hand:   Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African

By David Laskin   After a long career successful in narrative nonfiction (The Children’s Blizzard, The Long Way Home, The Family), I decided a few years ago to jump the fence to fiction. My first novel, What Sammy Knew, is the story of a high school senior named Sammy Stein who, in the first months

By: Michele Borba, Ed.D.   “Why do some kids thrive while others strive?” My quest to find that answer began as a college student when I first learned of my own father’s childhood struggles. His parents were illiterate and destitute. His father died when he was two, and Dad was placed in an orphanage. Yet,

  Former First Lady Michelle Obama has a special and inspiring message for librarians and educators everywhere, thanking them for the invaluable work they do in guiding our nation’s young people to become critical thinkers, engaged citizens, and empathetic leaders. Mrs. Obama’s memoir, Becoming, is now available as a young readers’ edition and in paperback.

Neil Shubin, author of Your Inner Fish, Some Assembly Required, and The Universe Within will be digitally visiting instructors who are using any of his books this spring semester. If you would like to arrange for him to visit your class, please Direct Message him on Twitter: @NeilShubin.   Some Assembly Required: Decoding Four Billion