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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.

Podcast
Family Folktales logo

Welcome to The Arabian Nights Entertainments! This is the sixteenth and final part of Andrew Lang’s The Arabian Nights Entertainments. In this series, you’ll hear some familiar stories, some new stories, and even stories within stories. This is the final installment of The Arabian Nights Entertainments! We close out by finishing The Story of Two Sisters Who Were Jealous of Their Younger Sister. Three siblings, all young adults, have been orphaned without learning anything of their unusual origins. As a strange quest continues, their lives move closer to that of the Sultan; whose secrets will be revealed by the end of the story?

Podcast
family folk tales logo

Welcome to The Arabian Nights Entertainments! This is the sixteenth and final part of Andrew Lang’s The Arabian Nights Entertainments. In this series, you’ll hear some familiar stories, some new stories, and even stories within stories.

This is the final installment of The Arabian Nights Entertainments! We close out by finishing The Story of Two Sisters Who Were Jealous of Their Younger Sister. Three siblings, all young adults, have been orphaned without learning anything of their unusual origins. As a strange quest continues, their lives move closer to that of the Sultan; whose secrets will be revealed by the end of the story?

Little girl hangs upside own from a tree next to a boa constrictor

Zonia's Rain Forest by Juana Martinez-Neal goes beyond many bromidic books about the tragedy of global warming typically read for Earth Day. Zonia's vivacious spirit uproots the paradigm of a lifeless, victimized planet  in a way that truly honors our Mother Earth. Follow the young Asháninka heroine as she salutes each of her animal friends and decides to stand up for her forest home.

legendborn by tracy deonn

Bree Matthews thinks she's found the perfect escape from her parents and small town when she's accepted into UNC-Chapel Hills residential program for high school students. But then her mom dies, and her perfect escape becomes an escape from grief and guilt. Then, magic and mythical monsters turn to reality which puts everyone around her in peril. 

Check out some of the things NPL staff members have done to help build a more sustainable Nashville!

Military portrait of Bernard Sanderson

This blog post comes to you from Metro Archives' intern, Sami Olesen, who processed the Bernard Sanderson Collection for her internship project. While processing the collection, she learned that Bernard Sanderson led quite an eventful life. But don't listen to me - let Sami tell you his story. 

Podcast
truth b told

We want to keep it real: we've been telling ourselves half-truths because we can't face whole facts. Upon further self-examination, we want to come clean with our Truth B Told family! We discovered that some of our proclamations are more smoke than fire.

Podcast
family folk tales logo

Welcome to The Arabian Nights Entertainments! This is the fifteenth 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. Today we begin The Story of Two Sisters Who Were Jealous of Their Younger Sister. Three sisters jokingly express the desire to marry the Sultan’s baker, cook, and even the Sultan himself! When the Sultan grants their wishes, the older two grow jealous of the young Sultana. What awful revenge will they take on their own sister?

Tennessean clipping from May, 1950

On Friday, April 1st, 2022, the 1950 U.S. Census records were released, and that provides a lot of new information for anyone researching their family. This set came with some new ways to search as well, which also comes with some bumps in the road, so here are some helpful tips of how to conduct your research.