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Books

Sunday

Saturday

To learn 'The Truth About Dragons,' go on a quest through this kids' book
Hanna Cha / Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

Picture This

To learn 'The Truth About Dragons,' go on a quest through this kids' book

A little boy must go on a hero's quest — through woods full of oak trees and a bamboo forest — to discover "The Truth About Dragons" in Julie Leung and Hanna Cha's Caldecott Honor children's book.

PICTURE THIS: THE TRUTH ABOUT DRAGONS

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Wednesday

Naval vessels participate in a Taiwanese military drill near the naval port in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan on Jan. 27, 2016.

Naval vessels participate in a Taiwanese military drill near the naval port in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan on Jan. 27, 2016. Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images

Review

Year of Global Elections

These dictators are different. 'Autocracy, Inc.' explains how

The dictators of today aren't united by ideology, writes Anne Applebaum: They operate like companies, focused on preserving their wealth, repressing their people and maintaining power at all costs.

Jon M. Chu directs Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande on the set of Wicked.

Jon M. Chu directs Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande on the set of Wicked. Universal
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Universal

Movie Interviews

'Wicked' director Jon M. Chu says creativity isn't magic — it's hard work

Chu takes his inspiration from his dad, a Chinese immigrant who worked both the front room and the kitchen of their family-run restaurant: "The guy that in the back of the kitchen, that was my hero."

'Wicked' director Jon M. Chu says creativity isn't magic — it's hard work

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Someone Like Us

Someone Like Us Penguin Random House hide caption

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Penguin Random House

Review

Book Reviews

'Someone Like Us' is a fresh, idiosyncratic novel about immigrating to the U.S.

Dinaw Mengestu's ingenuity and eloquence as a writer are on display in this novel about an Ethiopian American man who returns home only to learn that his father has just died.

'Someone Like Us' is a fresh, idiosyncratic novel about immigrating to the U.S.

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Dancing yeti crabs, morphing cuttlefish, other stories from the deep sea

A cuttlefish swims on seagrass. Cuttlefish can change the color and texture of their bodies. cinoby/Getty Images hide caption

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cinoby/Getty Images

Short Wave

Dancing yeti crabs, morphing cuttlefish, other stories from the deep sea

As a kid, Sabrina Imbler loved the ocean. They'd swim and snorkel, following around parrotfish in the water. Later, they tried to learn everything they could about the brightly-colored tropical fish – how some create a mucus cocoon at night to protect it from parasites, or how they help keep coral reefs healthy.

Dancing yeti crabs, morphing cuttlefish, other stories from the deep sea

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Tuesday

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a meeting in Beijing on Oct. 18, 2023.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a meeting in Beijing on Oct. 18, 2023. Sergei Guneyev/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Sergei Guneyev/AFP via Getty Images

World

Expert on dictators warns: Don't lose hope -- that's what they want

Autocracy, Inc. author Anne Applebaum says that today’s dictators — including Putin and Xi — are working together in a global fight to dismantle democracy, and Trump is borrowing from their playbook.

Autocracy, Inc

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Monday

Saturday

Chef Mustapha Kachetel serves a couscous royal in the restaurant Le Fémina, in Noailles.

Chef Mustapha Kachetel serves a couscous royal in the restaurant Le Fémina, in Noailles. Emilienne Malfatto for NPR hide caption

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Emilienne Malfatto for NPR

Review

Food

A new French cookbook explores Marseille as a cultural melting pot

A new cookbook celebrates Marseille, France's second-largest city.

A new French cookbook shows the diversity Marseille through its cuisine

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Friday

Thursday

LeVar Burton has portrayed the Black experience "from our enslavement to the stars"

LeVar Burton on Wild Card Etienne Laurent/Getty Images hide caption

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Etienne Laurent/Getty Images

Wild Card with Rachel Martin

LeVar Burton has portrayed the Black experience "from our enslavement to the stars"

LeVar Burton has three roles he'll forever be known for: Kunta Kinte on the TV series Roots, Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation and host of Reading Rainbow. Those roles have had profound impacts on people and he now understands, as he puts it, "my job is to be LeVar Burton." He talks to Rachel about the tension of that job, his changing definitions of success and learning to embrace the chaos.

LeVar Burton has portrayed the Black experience "from our enslavement to the stars"

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Scenes of destruction at the Factor Druk printing house, one of Ukraine's largest, can be seen days after it was hit in a Russian missile attack, on May 27.

Scenes of destruction at the Factor Druk printing house, one of Ukraine's largest, can be seen days after it was hit in a Russian missile attack on May 27. Laurel Chor for NPR hide caption

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Laurel Chor for NPR

Ukraine invasion — explained

Ukraine's bookstores are thriving, but a top printing plant took a deadly hit

Ukraine's bookstores have expanded despite the war, fueled by interest in works by Ukrainian writers, some who have been killed by Russian forces. But a Russian missile struck a top printing plant.

Bookstores have come under attack in Ukraine. But interest in reading is only growing

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Tuesday

The political evolution of J.D. Vance

Trump's pick for Vice President, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) arrives on the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images hide caption

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Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Consider This from NPR

The political evolution of J.D. Vance

When President Biden heard that Donald Trump had picked J.D. Vance to be his running mate, he called the Ohio senator "a clone" of Trump. But when Vance first gained national attention, he was one of Trump's loudest critics.

The political evolution of J.D. Vance

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This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'
Practice, by Rosalind Brown/Macmillan

Review

Book Reviews

This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'

Rosalind Brown's debut novel, Practice, centers on an undergraduate student trying to write an essay on Shakespeare. Along the way, we are treated to the fleeting insights of the the brain at work.

This absorbing debut novel about writing takes its cue from 'Mrs. Dalloway'

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