Michele Norris
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Long before James Prosek became a world-famous artist and naturalist, he was a kid who used art as a way to work through the ups and downs of childhood. "When I went into the woods, it was the first time that I felt like something was mine," he says.
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NPR's Backseat Book Club takes the yellow brick road back to its origins with L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900.
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NPR's Backseat Book Club polled children's booksellers and librarians to find 2012's best books for middle-graders. The winners are a heartwarming city kid's tale, a Chinese folklore-inspired adventure, and an encounter with a 10-year-old you'll never forget.
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In 1877, Anna Sewell wrote a novel about human kindness and cruelty — all from the point of view of a horse. In the decades since, Black Beauty has been embraced by generations of children, and has helped change the way we treat and think about horses.
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Former schoolteacher Rick Riordan delivers a lesson in ancient Egyptian history cleverly disguised as a hair-raising kids adventure. Carter and Sadie Kane have no idea they are descended from age-old sorcerers until their archaeologist father accidentally unleashes ancient gods into modern society.
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Back in 2009, our interview with author and cartoonist Jeff Kinney sparked the idea for a special NPR book club for kids. So it's only fitting that NPR's Backseat Book Club will read Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Kinney's beloved cartoon staring Greg Heffley, a beleaguered middle-schooler.
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Margi Preus' Heart of a Samurai tells the story of Manjiro, a fisherman's son who dreams of becoming a samurai. When his boat is shipwrecked off the coast of Japan, he embarks on a series of adventures that turn his dreams into reality.
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In March, we turn to swashbuckling adventure and head-scratching conundrums in The Mysterious Benedict Society. Trenton Lee Stewart tells the story of four genius kids on a secret mission to save the world. Don't be surprised when young readers grab pen and paper to work out the puzzles and riddles by hand.
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This month, NPR's Backseat Book Club will read two books that explore what it's like to try to create a new home while still missing the one you've left behind. Join us as we read Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai and The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes.
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Christopher Paul Curtis tells the story of a Michigan family traveling south to Alabama during the height of the civil rights movement. Curtis composed the novel in his head while working on automobile assembly lines in Flint, Mich.