As part of Morning Edition's Family Matters financial literacy series, Renee Montagne talks to Jane Gross, author of A Bittersweet Season, about caring for her aging mother, and what she wishes she had known before she started.

An inner-city Cleveland community is drawn closer together as it works to transform a dirty vacant lot into a lush communal garden in Seedfolks. Author Paul Fleischman says the title came from an old word meaning "ancestors."

The Civil War remains the bloodiest conflict in U.S. history, and the defining crisis of the nation. But it might easily have started twelve years earlier. Fergus Bordewich tells the story of the compromise that staved off civil war, and also made it inevitable, in his book, America's Great Debate.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning former New York Times columnist's new memoir explores her past, present and future — her relationships with her parents and children, her faith, her career and her feelings about herself over the past five decades.

Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov writes short, surrealistic stories full of dark comedic surprises. His latest is The Case of the General's Thumb, but critic John Powers suggests starting with his 1996 novel, Death and the Penguin. It's a fast-paced, witty read and what Powers calls "an almost perfect novel."

Life is an endless series of frustrations and disappointments for Pigeon, the star of a popular series of children's books by author Mo Willems. In the latest, Pigeon must contend with the delightfully sweet and polite Duckling, who gets a cookie just by asking.

Once upon a time, tacos were a Mexican snack. Now they're an all-American institution. Gustavo Arellano leads us across Southern California in search of the roots of the American taco.

In his new memoir, Rodney King explains why he gave his famous "Can we get along?" speech when riots erupted after police officers were acquitted in his beating. His lawyers had drafted a far angrier script for him. He also reflects on his life since the trial: "Things have changed for me," he says.