Do you believe in aliens? I think of them as a big “maybe.” The universe is huge! They could totally exist, but I’m not gonna worry about it. March 15 is World Contact Day, an event that asks humans to do the opposite—telepathically project a peaceful message for extraterrestrials into space. Whether aliens exist in…
Meet Chicago Children’s Author Tom Watson
I love books that make kids think, “I can do that, too!” And no one works harder to turn their readers into writers than Chicago author Tom Watson. Watson tells stories about Stick Dog and Stick Cat, two clever animals who get in lots of trouble but always get themselves out. The drawings in the…
New Teen Novels Featuring Girls of Color
There are so many books out there, it can be hard to know what to read next. Why not start with these five fabulous new teen novels featuring girls of color? Randa Abdel-Fattah's The Lines We Cross follows Mina, a Muslim Afghan-Australian teen attending prep school on scholarship, and Michael, a white student from a very Islamophobic…
Indigenous Cuisine: Native Americans Go Back to Their Roots
When people think of Native American cooking, inevitably the first thing that comes to mind is fry bread. This dish was created in the 19th century out of desperation during the long walk, and for many Native Americans represents oppression and cultural devastation. In reality, indigenous cooking is very diverse and hard to define in…
Top Picks: Celebrating Kurt Vonnegut
The protagonist in Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions says, "As I approached my 50th birthday, I had become more and more enraged and mystified by the idiot decisions made by my countrymen." One can only imagine what type of novel Vonnegut would write about today's polarized United States. Celebrate the famed Midwesterner as we approach his 95th birth anniversary on November 11 with these top picks, including…
