Blogs & Podcasts

Find early literacy tips and children's books on the Children's Blog. Discover your next great read on the Books Movies Music Blog. Dig into Nashville history with the Community History Blog. Listen to stories, history, and culture on NPL Podcasts. Please see this Note for Readers.

October is pumpkin time!  This ancient food source of indigenous peoples all across the Americas continues to be an important part of our lives and is celebrated both nutritionally and aesthetically.

View of Archives front doors

October is not only the month of pumpkin spice, ghosts, and candy corn...it's also Archives' Month! That means it's the month that we honor the work of all archivists, and work to raise awareness of the importance of historical documents and records. So, in celebration of this fun-filled month, here's a little behind-the-scenes peak at Metro Archives and their staff. 

Explore other fun bedtime stories inspired by Margaret Wise Brown's classic Goodnight, Moon! Goodnight, Ganesha by Nadia Saloman and Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann mirror the soothingly sweet tone and format of Goodnight, Moon, offering new and playful perspectives to the theme of nighttime rituals and unwinding before bed. 

Podcast
Just Listen Podcast Logo

"Up the Slide"

With a youth full high jinks followed by travels through the Yukon and South Pacific, Jack London became during his lifetime one of the highest paid American writers. His stories are still loved all over the world.

Podcast
Family Folktales logo

The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Part 1

Welcome to The Arabian Nights Entertainments! This is the first of 16 parts that make up Andrew Lang’s The Arabian Nights Entertainments. In this series, you’ll hear some familiar stories, some new stories, and even stories within stories. Our stories today are The Arabian Nights, The Story of the Merchant and the Genie, The Story of the First Old Man and the Hind, and The Story of the Second Old Man, and of the Two Dogs. Here we begin with Scheherazade and stories within a story. You’ll soon discover that genies are not always kind and helpful!

Cover of Bright Star by Yuyi Morales. Pink background with a fawn and cactus.

The publication of a new book by Yuyi Morales is always a cause for celebration—and for immediately placing a hold on one's library account. Published in September of this year, Bright Star is an incandescently beautiful picture book about love, courage, and caring for one another

Popcorn

Popcorn has been celebrated as both a food and a decoration for at least 9,000 years.  Any time is the right time for popcorn but fall and winter are made extra special when served up with the treat. 

Quiver book cover

It's Banned Books Week! Tennessee Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Committee shares a few of its favorite challenged or controversial books.