NPR's Book of the Day

Willie Mae Brown was a little girl in Selma, Alabama in the 1960s. In her new YA book, My Selma, she recalls growing up during the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. As she tells Here & Now's Robin Young, those core childhood memories include going to church to see Martin Luther King, Jr. speak – which moved Brown's mother to tears as she held the author – and her siblings getting arrested for trying to accompany teachers who were planning to register to vote. But, she says, there was also a lot of joy and community as a child on the frontlines of justice.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Early on in The Darker the Night, the debut thriller from NPR producer Martin Patience, an investigative reporter links a murder in Glasgow to a significant political figure: the first minister of the Scottish government. As Patience tells NPR's Scott Simon, the story that ensues draws larger questions about journalists and their sources – particularly within governments and police departments – and how the erosion of local media outlets has impacted the way they're trusted by the communities they serve.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Jean D'Amérique says he grew up in a neighborhood where "it was easier to find a gun than a book." But as he tells NPR's Ari Shapiro, falling in love with reading and writing changed the course of his life. His new novel, A Sun to Be Sewn, follows a young protagonist growing up in rough circumstances in Port au Prince: her father's a gang leader, her mother's a sex worker. But she's finding her way through poetry – and as the author explains, the medium can carry a lot of political power for people on the margins.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Bozoma Saint John says that the loss of her first daughter, who was born prematurely because of preeclampsia, left deep scars in her relationship with her husband. It contributed to their separation later on – but it also led to a lot of reflection after Saint John's husband's cancer diagnosis brought them back together before he died. These are some of the challenges the former Netflix and Pepsi executive explores in her new memoir, The Urgent Life. As Saint John tells NPR's Asma Khalid, there's a lot more shame associated with marriage and motherhood – especially for Black women – than is often talked about. But there's also a lot of resilience in finding a path forward.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Today's episode features two children's books that touch on the topic of home in one way or another. First, musician Rhiannon Giddens speaks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about turning the song she wrote during the 2020 racial protests, "Build A House," into a children's book that dives into the complexities of slavery and civil rights in the U.S. Monica Mikai illustrated the book. Then, NPR's Ayesha Rascoe asks Grace Lin and Kate Messner about Once Upon a Book, which follows a little girl's journey as she loses herself in literature.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Margot Kahn and Kelly McMasters know that wanting is a very particular feeling. What women desire is constantly changing, of course: time, money, sex, new shoes. But as the editors of a new collection of essays, aptly titled Wanting, tell NPR's Ailsa Chang, they were more interested in exploring the process of yearning for something – and the rules we construct around that longing – than the objects that we ultimately do or do not get.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Up With The Sun is the newest historical novel from acclaimed author Thomas Mallon – with a real-life actor at its center. Dick Kallman's career rose and then fizzled out throughout the 1950s and '60s. By the time he and his life partner were murdered in 1980, he was no longer performing. But as the author tells NPR's Scott Simon, Up With The Sun – and Kallman's life, which intersected with stars like Lucille Ball and Dyan Cannon – serves as a window into the world of Broadway, primetime TV, and gay romance across decades.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Gothataone Moeng says she knows the characters in her collection of short stories, Call and Response. They bear similarities to her sisters, cousins, and aunties – but they're their own reflections of life, love, shame, expectations and joy in Gaborone and Serowe, Botswana. In today's episode, Moeng talks to NPR's Scott Simon about some of the different lessons her protagonists are learning, and how spending time back home in her village after a long time away reopened doors to a rhythm of life she'd almost forgotten about.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Greta Thunberg has become a household name – but she doesn't want the attention on her to become a distraction from the severity of the climate crisis. In today's episode, Thunberg speaks with NPR's Ailsa Chang about how she hopes a new collection of essays written by her and more than 100 scientists and journalists – The Climate Book, can become a jumping off point to better understand environmental challenges. She explains why it's crucial for countries like the U.S. to step up and take accountability for their reliance on the fossil fuel industry, and why politicians have a responsibility to underline the relationship between climate and social justice.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The deep sea – and the creatures that occupy it – can often feel like a scary and intimidating unknown. But in Sabrina Imbler's new book, How Far The Light Reaches, the author finds a lot of common ground with marine life ranging from the common goldfish to the Bobbitt worm. In today's episode, Imbler speaks with Greta Johnsen, host of WBEZ's Nerdette podcast, about writing a memoir that weaves biology and personal anecdotes into a greater understanding of gender, family and coming of age.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy