【推荐1】Books can help grow imaginations by bringing children to magical places. Great books for kids can be found at the library or in book stores—the usual places. But for the past three years, children are using their imaginations to find hidden books in many unusual places in Braidwood, a town in New South Wales, Australia.

The books are part of a literary treasure hunt that is sweeping the town, reported ABC News, and they are turning up everywhere. Some are hidden on the streets, in shop windows, or in local parks. The children find a book that has been placed in a plastic sleeve(套管)—take it home, read it, write their name in it, and then either keep it or re-hide it for someone else to find. The initiative(倡议) is a fun way of encouraging children to read.

Samantha Dixon, a mother of five, founded Hidden Books after reading about similar initiatives in the US, UK, and New Zealand on Facebook. She realized that she had a bookcase full of children’s books that were already read and decided that giving away books was much more useful than the recent trend of finding hidden rocks.

Hidden books spread to New Zealand in February, 2021, when the first group of books was spread around the Kapiti district. It was founded by Y’vonne Miller after she had a chance conversation with someone who was taking part in a similar project.

The project took off immediately and now more than 3,200 books have been hidden around the district. “We have 764 members on the Kapiti Hidden Books Facebook page, but we don’t know how many people have found them and read them, and how many have placed the book back out,” Miller told the NZ Herald.

【推荐2】The Best Books Chosen by Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon is a famous author. Below are four new books recommended by him.

French Braid by Anne Tyler

This has already been a good year for books,with new work from greats like Jennifer Egan, Jean Thompson, and Marlon James. But I was particularly excited to see a new book from Anne Tyler, whose work I’ve loved since I read Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant in college. Tyler now 80. puts together the lives of a Baltimore family over decades, and h insights are as sharp, funny, and moving as ever.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

I love the fearlessness and insistent humanity of Mandel’s work. Her new book — a kind of companion to her 2014 best-seller, Station Eleven — is an ambitious, time-travelling puzzle box about the ways in which we humans are always living at the end of the world.

Now Do You Know Where You Are by Dana Levin

Levin is one of my favourite modern poets, and her new book is one of her best-a complex description of what it’s like to live in modern America, which I feel I will be learning from for years to come.

Ghosts Caught on Film by Barrett Bowlin

This collection of stories, the author’s first book, blew me away with its strange vision of anxious and tormented (折磨的) characters caught up in surreal situations, tightrope-walking a perfect line between horror and heartbreak: not unlike 2022 itself.

【推荐3】My mother in-law(婆婆) seemed slightly uncomfortable when she told me what she’d bought for my two young daughters, her granddaughters.

“It’s Nancy Drerw,” she said, avoiding eye contact. “I hope that’s OK.” I tried to be comforting her. “Of course, it’s OK!” I said.“I loved Nancy Drew when I was a kid!”

But to be honest, I wasn’t sure what I thought. My girls loved reading. But their books tended to be about kindness, equality, being nice to people who are different and having self-confidence. They had read nothing to prepare themselves for gangsters (匪徒), car ruins, and grown-ups who lied.

I had tried to protect my girls from the dark corners of the world. I wanted only positive role models, and only sunshine. Through this standard, many of my old favorites didn’t make the cut. The Secret Garden? Within the first few pages, there is death, and an emotionally distant mother. Babar the Elephant? Almost immediately his mother is shot bya “bad” hunter and baby Babar is left crying. Nancy Drew? The old- school Nancy has some totally violent experiences.

And yet the books were attracting. So one afternoon we sat on the couch and read. Within pages, my kids were interested. So was L. Nancy was a superhero. She saved friends from drowning, faced down thieves, and drove in car chases, She comforted the sad people and wasn’t afraid to risk going into dark places. Yes, she was all girl power. And girl power, I saw, meant more to my daughters when it was faced with something real. It was fiercer when its opponents (对手) were fierce.

A week into Nancy Drew, I realized something. Nancy had solved a trouble mystery for me. She had helped me discover that my girls will go out into the world as the powerful. confident, and morally centered young women. And she had helped me uncover the world again, with strength, not fear.

【推荐3】Welcome to the Design Museum

Plan Your Visit

The Design Museum is located at224-238 Kensington High Street, London W8 6AG.

Only exhibition ticket holders will be allowed in the building. Online pre-booking is required for all visitors including museum members to access both free displays and paid exhibitions. If you have booked a ticket for the Electronic exhibition, please consider donating the price of your ticket to support the museum. You can also request an exchange or refund (退款).

The museum offers opportunities to explore the present and future of design through a programme of temporary exhibitions and displays.

Rémy Martin: The Centaur

5 March to 28 June 2021-Free Display

In support of Charlotte Perriand: The Modern Life, French brand Rémy Martin shows respect for French excellence with the Rémy Martin mobile sculpture, The Centaur.

Autonomous Morris 3 April to 4 July 2021-Free Display

Enjoy a temporary sculptural installation by artist Zak Ové as part of Kensington+Chelsea Art Week’s 2021 Public Art Fair.

Charlotte Perriand: The Modern Life

1 August to 30 September 2021

Meet one of the great furniture designers and architects of the twentieth century whose work was often overshadowed by some male artists, such as Le Corbusier and Jean Prouvé.

Sneakers Unboxed: Studio to Street

10 December to 15 December 2021

Step up and discover the footwear phenomenon that has challenged performance design, inspired subcultures and shaken the world of fashion.

【推荐1】Here are the bestsellers this month.

The Story of Buildings: From the Pyramids to the Sydney Opera House and Beyond

by Patrick Dillon, author; Stephen Biesty, illustrator(插画家)

Hardcover $26.99; Paperback $14.80

We spend most of our lives in buildings. We make our homes in them. We go to school in them. But why and how did people start making buildings? How did they learn to make them stronger, bigger, and more comfortable? Patrick Dillon's stories of amazing buildings and the amazing people who made them celebrate the human creation.

What Were the Twin Towers?

by Jim O'Connor, author; Ted Hammond, illustrator

Library Binding(装帧)$20.64; Paperback $7.91

When the Twin Towers were built in 1973, they were described as an architectural(建筑学的)wonder. Offices and companies moved into the Towers—also known as the World Trade Center—and the buildings were seen as the economic center of the world. Discover the whole story of the Twin Towers—from their construction to their sad end.

Where Is Machu Picchu?

by Megan Stine, author; Who HQ, author; John O'Brien, illustrator

Library Binding $21.02; Paperback $8.91

Built in the fifteenth century and set in the mountains of Peru, Machu Picchu was deserted after the Spaniards controlled the Incan empire in the sixteenth century. It remained hidden until 1911 when Hiram Bingham uncovered the amazing buildings and shared his discovery with the world. Today, hundreds of thousands of people visit the site to climb the 3,000 stone steps and explore the towering monuments.

Castle

by David Macaulay, author

Hardcover $11.98; Paperback $15.80

What could be more perfect for an author/illustrator who has continually shown the mystique(神秘性)of architectural structures that have long attracted modern man? With typical interest and a sense of humor decorating his drawings, David Macaulay finds the step-by-step planning and construction of both castle and town.

【推荐2】Who was it on the top floor?

The lamp lit up a man’s face. Pip didn’t recognize it, but the expression showed that its owner was pleased to see Pip.

Suddenly Pip knew who he was when he sat down in a chair near the fire! The convict in the churchyard years ago!

“You helped me, Pip,” said the man. “I have never forgotten it.”

Pip felt none for him, saying, “If you’ve come here to thank me, it isn’t necessary. You must understand... But you are tired. Would you like something to drink before you go?”

“Thank you. I know, you are no longer what you used to be. It doesn’t hurt to ask how you managed to live such a life as a gentleman.”

“I have a benefactor,” Pip replied, embarrassed.

“Could I guess your income?” said the convict, smiling. “Is the first figure five?”

Pip’s heart started to beat very fast.

“And do you have a guardian whose name begins with the letter J?”

Suddenly Pip understood why the man was there. He stood up and held the back of a chair. The man took Pip’s hands and kissed them. But Pip still remembered that this man was a criminal.

“You’re like a son of me, Pip. I was working for you in Australia,” the man went on. “I’m happy you are spending my money.”

Pip smiled and listened weakly.

“It wasn’t easy for me to see you and stay with you here. I was sent away for life. If they find me back in London, they’ll hang me.”

Feeling even worse and too confused, Pip just said, “You are tired. You need a good sleep. Good night.”

After an hour or two, something started to become clear to Pip. Miss Havisham had no interest in his future or plans for him and Estella. She was using them to take her revenge on men!

【推荐3】A few years ago, we celebrated Frankenstein’s 200th birthday. This famous book, written by British novelist Mary Shelley (1797—1851), is rightly known as the first work of science fiction. Frankenstein is the name of a doctor who creates a creature from human body parts. The doctor’s ambitions for his work are noble, but his experiment has disastrous results.

Shelley was writing in an age when science was beginning to have a great impact on the world. People had different attitudes toward science back then. Some found it inspiring- they thought of the progress medicine was making in curing common illnesses. But others found it a little frightening—it was changing the, making it a lot less familiar.

Science plays a bigger part in our lives than it did two centuries ago. Today, science has brought us great things like the internet, but also nuclear weapons, which, if used in large numbers, could kill off our species. Science still therefore creates the mixed feelings it did in Shelley’s day. It’s because Shelley saw both the promise and the danger of science that she’s still an influence today.

In fact, the subtitle of the book, The Modern Prometheus (普罗米修斯), shows how important myth (神话) was to the writer. Prometheus, a figure from classical Greek mythology, written by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, steals fire from the gods and gives it to people, an act for which he is terribly punished. Shelley’s husband, the famous poet Percy Shelley, wrote about him in Prometheus Unbound. In the poem, he is a revolutionary hero, who triumphs over the gods. In Mary Shelley’s book, however, her modern Prometheus. Dr Frankenstein, is a highly controversial figure, who sacrifices his home and life for his crazy addiction to his creation.

In short, Mary Shelley’s book is not just a scary and moving story, but a philosophical tale that, even after 200 years, still speaks to modern readers.