Books in Motion Close-Up series

Read Kerry Madden's posts on the Penguin Blog.Nelle Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and became an instant bestseller. Two years later it was an Academy Award– winning film. Today, it remains standard—and beloved—reading in English classes. But Lee never wanted “the book” to define who she was, which explains her aversion to any kind of publicity. Kerry Madden conducted extensive research for this Up Close biography, which reveals Lee to be a down-to-earth Southern woman who prefers to live simply, like her neighbors do, despite the fact that she is a treasured literary legend. Madden’s in-depth biography is now more relevant than ever: 2015’s historic release of Go Set a Watchman—written by Lee before To Kill a Mockingbird and lost for decades—has thrust Lee and her work back into the spotlight.A Booklist Top Ten Biography of 2009 A Kirkus Best Book of 2009

Discover your amazing world through curious and fascinating up-close photography!Transform the ordinary into something extraordinary with exciting micro and macro photography! Fur & Feathers explores the fascinating textures of birds and animals, pairing extreme, hyper-detailed images of unique and colorful feathers and patterned fur coats with fun facts, activities, and brainteasers. So let's turn up the ZOOM and discover a whole new way of seeing the world.

Thurgood Marshall changed American history by challenging it. In the first half of the twentieth century, African Americans were often treated as second-class citizens and subject to Jim Crow laws, which promoted both racism and segregation. This is the world that Marshall grew up in, and he became a lawyer to change it. As the head counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he helped take the famous Brown v. Board of Education all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. And in an outcome surprising even to him, the court unanimously ruled to end segregation in schools. Thurgood Marshall had become a hero.