My friend Ben's copy of Invisible Cities at a book club.
Credit: Chloee Weiner |
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| My favorite line: “Calvino is a master, but no wrestling is contained herein. Alas." Can anyone top that? I bet you can – let us know at bookoftheday@npr.org. |
If you’re looking for books to add to your list this summer, we have some! Our book critics told us what they are MOST looking forward to reading this summer (some even read early copies!). You can find all of their picks here.
In other news, Yáng Shuāng-zǐ's Taiwan Travelogue won the 2026 International Booker Prize, awarded each year to the best work of fiction translated into English. I was surprised to learn it's the first work translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the prize.
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A number of you felt Mac Barnett was onto something, with his criticism of the state of children’s books that we discussed in last week’s newsletter. Here are a few of your responses:
Mary R. wrote: “I feel as if a lot of picture books for children today are written to illustrate a point, usually having to do with self-care and affirmation. Yes, we need them. But they seem to be in the majority, pushing out cleverness and imagination and just plain fun that free children to think creatively, learn, and laugh, all at the same time. Jon Klassen's "Hat" series comes to mind immediately; they can be read aloud with a wry, knowing smile, leaving the listener to think over the endings and all of a sudden, getting the end. That look on their faces is priceless and doesn't occur with much of the current crop of books. I also miss picture books that are just. plain. stories … I see few of these books anymore and I wonder why.”
Claire O. wrote: “I’m a children’s bookseller and aspiring children’s book author based in Minnesota, and the “94.7%” firestorm has become a conversational plague at our bookstore. Many of my coworkers and I passed around an advanced copy of Make Believe before its release and found joy and vindication in its pages, so the sheer scale of the outrage targeted at Mac was jarring. While reading the book, I didn’t even pause over the quote in question because I read it as part of his argument that adults have a tendency to underestimate both children and the artistry of children’s books.
Annie M. wrote: “I review children's books … and I have to agree that many of the books I review are not good. Today I read one that was a complete allegory that no young child would understand, yet the target audience is young children. I can't believe that many of the books I have reviewed got published in the first place. I have read some very good picture books over the last 4 years that I have been a reviewer, but more often than not when it comes to a picture or board book, I am wondering who greenlighted this particular book. The content simply does not match the audience, or the book is completely non-engaging.”
That’s all for now. See you next week!
P.S., if a friend sent you this newsletter and you want to sign up, the place to do it is npr.org/newsletter/books.
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