"We’d go to bookstores and libraries all the time and I was like, 'Why aren’t there any pictures of kids that look like my kids?'" So fretted actress Garcelle Beauvais, mother to biracial sons. She was so frustrated by the situation, she went ahead and wrote a children's book herself. » 8/12/13 1:50pm 8/12/13 1:50pm

Unfortunately for our sense of optimism that humanity has not yet reached the apex of its narrative parabola, we're all privy to the existence of Westboro Baptist Church leader (and possible lizard person) Fred Phelps. Among the many vile things we've learned about Phelps over his tenure as a hate-mongering demagogue… » 3/15/13 2:40pm 3/15/13 2:40pm

Are you a serious bookworm? Are you seeking to impress people with your love of reading or attract only the most erudite of mates? Then perhaps you would like to invest in a bottle of Paper Passion, the perfume that will make you smell exactly like a freshly printed book—because, as Karl Lagerfeld says, "The smell of a… » 6/03/12 9:45pm 6/03/12 9:45pm

Anthony Smith is a four-year-old boy from New Hampshire who was born with a chromosomal disorder that left him mostly deaf. He started wearing a hearing aid, which he calls "blue ear" because it's blue, and it made a huge difference in his life by allowing him to go to school and socialize more easily with people. But a… » 5/25/12 11:50am 5/25/12 11:50am

Alas, yet another sign that yet another era is ending. The New York Times is reporting that after 244 years, the Encyclopaedia Britannica is going out of print. While it's easy to imagine that we'll survive just fine without it—in this age of Wiki everything—we also know that life will never be the same. Now… » 3/13/12 9:00pm 3/13/12 9:00pm

Gah. Just when you thought Gabrielle Giffords' loving husband Mark Kelly couldn't be any more perfect—he is an astronaut for Christ's sake—he goes and ups the ante. It's just been announced that he is writing a kids book about a mouse who goes up into space. Commence "aww-ing" sequence now. » 2/20/12 9:45pm 2/20/12 9:45pm

She may look innocent, but Hello Kitty could be a lot sneakier than we could have ever dreamed. The tiny white cat—whose iconic cheerful face is plastered on everything from notebooks to vibrators—has invaded our consciousness to such an extent that we accept her unquestioningly. » 1/30/12 10:20am 1/30/12 10:20am

New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor has a new book coming out this week called The Obamas, about—as you might have guessed from the title—the Obamas. For the book, which many are calling "explosive" for its revelations about the very private Obama White House, Kantor says she interviewed 33 members of Obama's staff. She… » 1/08/12 6:35pm 1/08/12 6:35pm

This week, Jezebel Bounty features the book Ambition Is Not a Dirty Word, which has been proclaimed by The New York Times as, "A defiant charge to women to ‘reclaim ambition as a virtue.'" This ambitious giveaway will not only include the book, but the entire bundle with private consulting time with author Dr. Debra… » 2/25/11 4:00pm 2/25/11 4:00pm

On tonight's Report, Amy Chua—the controversial author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother—was Stephen Colbert's guest. The interview was a mix of funny and serious, with defenses by Chua of her parenting throughout. Here are some highlights. » 1/26/11 9:21am 1/26/11 9:21am

...at least, if the couch on which she's reclining in this Time photo is hers! And then there's that review: » 1/08/10 2:30pm 1/08/10 2:30pm

Olympia Le-Tan makes amazing clutch purses based on the jackets of first editions. As she says, they're "mainly classics, as unfortunately the covers of books nowadays are not as nice as they used to be." [DazedDigital] » 11/04/09 11:40am 11/04/09 11:40am

"[The Sartorialist] still stands as an antidote to what we so mindlessly call "celebrity style" – in other words, the alleged individuality of TV and movie stars who hire people to dress them." [Salon] » 8/25/09 11:20am 8/25/09 11:20am

Valerie Plame, who was outed and smeared by no less than the Earl of Minor Despair, Bob Novak, in an effort to discredit (true) stories that Saddam didn't really have nukes before we invaded, is hard at work on a novel » 11/18/08 10:40am 11/18/08 10:40am, though she won't say whether it's more about her covert life or the end of it. She will, say, that…

Diet or calorie-portioned packs of snack food are actually counterproductive since they make people believe they can eat more of the unhealthy food inside. • New trend? New York City is welcoming its first vaginal fitness spa, meant to tighten women up, down there. • Environmentalist and author, Robert Engelman, says… » 7/02/08 5:20pm 7/02/08 5:20pm