- On this episode of "American Stories: A Reading Road Trip," we're heading to a state known as the Small Wonder.

- Delaware was the first state in the Union, and a place where powerful voices helped shape a nation.

- [Fred] From founding Father John Dickinson to generations of writers and dreamers who followed, its story continues to be told by the voices of today, like Newberry winner of "The First State of Being," and the celebrated "Twin Poets."

- Join PBS Books, the Library of Congress, and the Delaware Center for the Book on a literary adventure through Delaware.

This is "American Stories: A Reading Road Trip."

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome.

I'm Fred Nahhat here with Lauren Smith from PBS Books.

- Come along as we look into the storied past of the United States and explore today's writers that continue to shape our literary landscape.

- Every stop reveals something new and you can explore the full collection on the PBS Books YouTube channel, where each stop adds to the story.

Subscribe, follow the journey as it unfolds.

- Today, we're diving into Delaware, the second smallest state in size with only three counties.

It's famously known for its beaches and boardwalks, but to locals and book lovers, it's so much more.

- So, many people may know this, but for those that don't, Delaware is the first state, which is a really neat fact.

We are also the second smallest state, but that doesn't keep us from having rich history, culture and a great connection to our community.

- It's only 98 miles long, 32 miles is the widest point in Sussex County, and what, 10, 12 miles in New Castle County.

So it doesn't take forever to do it.

- Delaware, we say, is a state of neighbors.

So we're so small that everyone's connected to someone, you know someone who knows someone and we call it the Delaware Way.

That's the way we get things done because everyone knows someone.

- Delaware, I think, is a national secret.

One, it's a state that is really underappreciated.

Most people don't know very much about Delaware, but one of the very special things about Delaware, I think is its proximity to so many other states and so many other metropolitan areas.

- We are geographically located almost smack dab between Washington DC, Baltimore, Maryland, and Philadelphia.

And having that sort of central location means you can get to a lot of cultural institutions very quickly.

It's also why I think a lot of people retire in Delaware.

- Two hours this way, two hours that way, you can reach anything and everything.

So it's a great place to to be and a lot of great people will come through here, wonderful artists have written about Delaware and did things in Delaware.

But to just be here is amazing.

- As a writer, my favorite thing about Delaware is of course we have an incredible library system.

There's only three counties in Delaware and you can check out a book in any of the counties and return it, but also incredible beautiful parks, which are good when you need a forest bath or you need to just bask in nature, can be very inspiring.

- So we've got the deciding vote for the Declaration of Independence and the first state to sign the Constitution.

And I can't end this without saying that we are also the state that houses the 46th President of the United States.

That's a big deal.

(bright music) - Delaware's literary history mirrors the American journey marked by voices of resistance, reflection and storytelling that have captured the truth of experience over time.

- So John Dickinson was one of our founding fathers and known as a Penman of the Revolution.

He wrote letters from a farmer in Pennsylvania that helped unify the Colonies.

- He was quite a remarkable character.

He wrote the state constitutions for Delaware and Pennsylvania.

He also was instrumental in the drafting of the US Constitution.

- He also co-wrote another screed, really long title, the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms in 1775.

And he wrote that.

So Thomas Jefferson wrote that book and then he went and he edited it and he edited it because Jefferson was like really fiery and Dickinson was a little bit of an apologist.

He's just like let's take it down a notch or two, which is probably why Dickinson isn't featured in Hamilton the Musical.

But no, he was really important in the founding of this nation.

And Delaware was really important in the founding the nation.

- There is a Dickinson plantation where you can go and see where he lived as his boyhood home for a number of years.

And there is a plantation stories project actually that's dedicated to telling the stories, not only of John Dickinson and his family, but of the people who lived on the plantation, who were indentured servants, who were enslaved, people who were in some cases manumitted Black people.

And so I think capturing those stories also has become part of the legacy of Delaware.

And one that's really important.

- One of the great secrets of literature in Delaware is that Howard Pyle was an illustrator and an author in Wilmington, Delaware in the late 1800s through the early 1900s.

And he's called the Father of American illustration.

He started a studio, we taught a lot of prominent illustrators and he had some phenomenal, phenomenal books that I think really kind of molded how we see certain historical figures.

The first was a book about pirates where he through his beautiful illustrations, he kind of created the modern idea of what we see as a swashbuckling pirate.

Second thing Howard Pyle did was he went and he researched a bunch of the, the middle century poems about Robinhood and he rewrote them in a modern way and compiled it into a book called The Merry Adventures of Robinhood.

And that is really like, that's the origin of what we think of as Robinhood.

The Robinhood book stories really came from Howard Pyle.

And the third thing he did really, really cool was he took the text of Lamar de Arthur and he rewrote that for modern American audiences.

And his illustrative plates for his books on King Arthur are some of the most fantastically gorgeous things that I've ever seen.

So much of what we consider fantasy imagination came out of Delaware, and I think that's kind of fantastic.

- Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson was a poet, a journalist and activist associated with the Harlem Renaissance.

Her work explored African-American identity and social justice.

- Her husband, her middle of her three husbands Paul Dunbar, was more known for the poetry, but she was really as good a poet as he was.

She was a poet of of national reputation.

And she was very influential.

- Her work dealing with the Harlem Renaissance and writing for the Crisis Magazine was just pivotal in taking that movement of just finding our voice in negritude all around the world.

- And a cool story.

We were in Germany and her name to be mentioned, you know, to us.

And it was so, yeah, this was an artist from Delaware and it's like, we're from Delaware and for them to bring up her name was just amazing.

So that's always a cool story that kind of sticks out to me, well, how her art can just travel from this little city all across the globe.

- She was really instrumental in helping to get the Howard High School built and established for education in the state of Delaware.

She had a lot of influence on the advancement of Blacks in the whole state 'cause the fact that she was able to use her influence, it wasn't just a selfish movement.

I mean, it was for everybody that she actually influenced the changes that took place during her regime.

- Pauline Young was a pioneer in education, a librarian, a historian.

She wrote one of the first comprehensive histories of Black Delawareans and her work preserves stories that might otherwise have been lost to us.

- Pauline Young was an activist and a thinker.

She was the niece actually, of Alice Dunbar Nelson.

And she moved into her aunt's house with her mother and her grandmother.

And so she had all of this sort of matriarchal influence around her.

And the house became this sort of hotspot where all of these writers, like Langston Hughes and Paul Robeson would stop on their way through to other places.

- And she joined the NAACP when she was only, I think 12 years old.

And she was one of the first, if not the first people to document the lives of Black Delawareans.

There's a quote that's attributed to her, and the quote is, I stay mad.

And that's kind of what fueled her activism.

And I have a lot of respect for that because it's exhausting to stay mad, but it's because of people like Pauline who used their anger and frustration to do good in the world that we now have all these documents that we would not have had otherwise.

So I have a lot of admiration for Pauline Young.

- Carol Hoffecker is one of Delaware's most respected historians.

Through her writing and teaching, she helped generations to better understand the state's industrial, cultural and women's history.

- She was an old friend of ours.

We published a book that she wrote about the history of the Delaware General Assembly in the early 2000s.

She was a history professor at the University of Delaware.

- True legend in our state for everything she's done in terms of the history and culture, mainly geared toward like the Hagley Museums and just telling Delaware story, she was phenomenal at that and her work and make sure that it was preserved in our museums and our libraries.

- My family's big into history.

My brother was a history major down at Delaware State University, so her name just always pops up in the middle of everything.

You know, like she was kind of the glue that kind of held things together, you know, and made sure the story was told correctly, you know, and it lived on, and that momentum carried on.

And still to this day, you know, they speak very highly of her and her work, it's just amazing.

(bright music) - Today's writers in Delaware are doing their part to keep these strong literary traditions alive.

Among them are the Twin Poets.

- The Twin Poets are powerful spoken word artists and community leaders here in Delaware.

They've served as poet laureates of Delaware and are widely recognized for performances and collections that center on social justice, history and lived experiences.

- Gratefully, we come from a family of social workers and a part of our social work gave us the opportunity to write, to learn writing.

We had an uncle who was a poet, he encouraged us to write, and we as social workers were writing about our community and writing about youth and foster care, so they go hand in hand.

So that's how we became writers.

- And it was telling stories that weren't really being told.

You know, there was a time in our communities where, I mean, things were just happening in our neighborhood and it wasn't big major news, you know, there would be a shooting in our neighborhood and it would be like, almost like non-existent, like, okay, he died and that was it.

The world just moved on so quick from, you know, when the Black youth was passing away.

And we ended up telling a story about, I wrote a poem about this little kid, and it became a cry.

And it was like, okay, now bringing attention to the matter.

And it became a way for us to start telling stories of our generation, of our community that were often swept under the rug or overlooked.

And it became a voice of empowerment as well.

And I think that that's when we truly found our niche and what we are here to speak about.

- When spoken word poetry and slam poetry became popular, this was the way for us to share a message gratefully that message, you know?

And that movement went across the nation, eventually around the world with slam poetry.

And it helped us to broaden the base and audience for our work and our collective power and our work and our voice together is just, it just magnifies what, what we wanna accomplish, both as social workers as well as artists.

- There's many people who can write or there's some who can do great work but not really be able to convey the message.

But when you're able to do work, both put the message in it and do the work.

I mean, that's the blessing, that's the gift, you know, that's when you realize it's not just, it's purpose and passion here.

- Reaching the next generation of readers is two time Newberry medalist and New York Times bestselling young adult author Erin Entrada Kelly.

- Erin Entrada Kelly is an award-winning children's author.

She's best known for Hello Universe and The First State of Being, she received the Newberry medal in 2018 for Hello Universe.

And again, in 2025 for The First State of Being.

And most recently here in Delaware, she launched the Delaware Young Authors and Artist Award to help inspire future artists in their endeavors as well.

- So I've been writing since I was eight years old, and at some point I thought, you know, I'm gonna try short stories.

And I realized that almost all of my short stories had a young person as the main character, even though the stories were written for adults.

And that's what made kind of a light bulb go off and say, huh, maybe I should be writing for and about this age group.

And from there it was just, that was all she wrote, literally.

Partly it's just remembering what it felt like to be a middle schooler, which can be challenging in and of itself, especially if you had a difficult middle school experience, which let's face it, most of us did.

There are some things that just never change and feeling awkward, feeling left out, wanting to fit in, wanting to blend in, but also wanting to stand out, first crushes.

I mean, all these things, they don't change with time.

Just the landscape is a little different.

And I think that's honestly the key to any great work of literature is tapping into our shared humanity.

I mean, that's what connects people to books of all types, because you feel like you see yourself in the pages for better or worse, and that's what brings you closer to it.

It helps you feel seen and who doesn't wanna feel seen, especially when you're young?

- Christina Henriquez is another Delaware born author who weaves her Latin American identity into her work.

- Christina Henriquez is an acclaimed novelist whose work include the Book of Unknown Americans and The Great Divide.

She has received numerous honors and her writing thoroughly explores migration, identity and human connection.

- My inspiration for all of my work is to tell the stories of people who are often overlooked and to tell the stories that I think are often untold, or at least the ones we don't always listen to.

I've written four books now.

One is a short story collection, and then I've written three novels.

And the notable one, perhaps is called The Book of Unknown Americans.

Notable because it's set in Delaware.

It's about people from all over Latin America and from Puerto Rico, from Mexico, who all live in one apartment building together in a fictional apartment building that is on Kirkwood Highway, which is a real street in Delaware.

And I wanted just to show how all of these people sort of come together and form a sort of family with each other.

Shortly after it was published, there was a woman from Delaware who read it and she said, you know, I didn't realize every day I drive down Kirkwood Highway and there's a bus stop there, and people are waiting for the bus, and I drive by them every day, and I never think about it.

And after I read your book, I drove down that same streets by that same bus stop, and I saw those same people and I realized they have a story.

And I think to the degree that my work can do that can open people up to the idea that people have stories to expand sense of empathy and of compassion for other people, I think that's a really amazing thing to be able to do through fiction.

- One author and Illustrator who takes a seriously fun approach when crafting his stories is Jay Cooper.

- Jay Cooper is a graphic novelist who illustrates both his own work as well as works for others.

Jay was also the 2023 Center for the Book Great Reads to Great Places, Delaware youth author.

- Interestingly enough, it was going with my grandmother to flea markets.

I would buy comic books.

The graphic nature of those comic books as a visual learner was what stimulated me to read and want to read more.

And I became a lifelong reader because of graphic books.

And now, if I go to a lot of schools, I visit a lot of schools and I talk about reading, I talk about writing, I talk about illustrating, and I say that it was honestly, it was Spider-Man that truly led me to appreciate William Shakespeare.

And it was Mad Magazine that led me to appreciate Maya Angelou.

So I'm a huge advocate for graphic books and the, you know, the melding of words and images together.

I often use the metaphor of dogs and cats.

So people say that they're dog people or cat people.

It's like, well, why can't you be both?

It's super cute when you have a dog and a cat lying in the same dog bed.

it's almost better in some ways.

So for me, it's when cats and dogs are together, that creates sort of a perfect, a perfect blending of ideas that makes me interested in reading.

My origins as an illustrator and a writer are more about wanting to pay it back a little bit and create stories for kids that will also visually engage them in a way that makes them willing to, you know, overcome the hurdles that they might be facing of literacy.

You know, for whatever reason.

- Another influential voice in Delaware is Valerie Biden Owens, who made history as one of the first female campaign managers in US politics.

Her memoir Growing up Biden brings an insider's perspective that reveals the family bonds that shaped a president.

- Some people, you know, put on lace on their sneakers and they go out and ruin and others, you know, go have a nice dinner.

What I do is write, I sit when things are going on in my brain and I'm tied up.

I sit down and I write vignettes, and I've written literally hundreds of them.

And my children said, mom, put this together.

You know, write a book.

I said, okay.

And I started writing and what the book is about is the magic of family.

And we grew up, I grew up with three brothers in a middle class Irish Catholic background family.

And I think it's probably very similar to most of the people who read book, you know, it was just a regular ordinary family in the late 20th century growing up.

I think that the threads that weave the fabric of family together, of commitment and love and loyalty and disappointment and heartache and loss are the same threads that you shared and that I shared.

And to me, the best thing would be when they close the book, they said, god, she got me.

You know, that was my dad in that book, or, you know, that's my sister.

Yeah.

Wow.

That's the glory that I see, the joy that I see in being an author, to be able to connect.

(bright music) - Delaware is a state with many wonderful libraries, both old and new.

Here are a few you should be sure to check out.

- We are very fortunate here in Delaware, as I mentioned, being a small state, I would say one of our benefits is that we are a statewide catalog, which means that all of our libraries, such as public libraries, some of our school libraries, special libraries and academic libraries are all connected through one library, which means our residents have access to over two million books that they can check out.

They can borrow it from one location and return it to another.

So I think that's really great about our libraries here in Delaware.

- One is the Hockessin public library, which is the library that's closest in proximity to where I lived growing up.

And I still go there sometimes when I'm back and just, it's a lovely space.

It's a nice small library, but a very, and a sort of beautiful setting.

It's out on this field and it has these huge windows and you can look out and it's great.

- There's the Harrington Public Library in Harrington that's brand new, just erected, it's fantastic.

Just visited there a couple months ago.

- Harrington Public Library is a great example of how Delaware is investing in its libraries.

It was once housed in a converted funeral home.

It's now in a modern facility that truly serves the community and the growth.

- Definitely our Downtown Wilmington library.

I mean, it's probably one of our first places we started performing and reading our poetry was there in the library, in the early rooms, in their culture, the programming, their central downtown, so central to all communities.

They have programming for everyone, and we're so grateful here in the first district.

We just have a new extension of that library being built, the normal library.

So we're looking forward to that.

- I would definitely say Seaford, we go down to Seaford and that it's an amazing library.

And we do some, I mean, each year it brings down there an amazing crowd.

It's just nice, yeah, truly enjoying.

- And then I would also go to the University of Delaware Library, which was a real treasure to be able to have in basically my backyard because they have all these special collections.

They had, you know, really rigorous academic material that sometimes my own brain was sort of thirsty for.

- It is among the largest collection of Lincoln memorabilia in the country.

And we have it here at the University in our library, so that's pretty cool.

- There's the Winterthur Library that is also a museum.

It's also a fantastic garden, I highly recommend it, some of the most beautiful environments in all of Delaware and all of the East Coast for that matter.

- Winterthur Museum Garden and Library is world renowned for its decorative arts and research collection, and it's also connected to a gorgeous home, which for those that might know the name is connected to the DuPont family.

- The Appoquinimink Library is close to my house, has big, beautiful windows, lots of natural light, great children's and young adults selection.

They've always carried all my books have been very supportive.

In fact, all the librarians in the state that I've interacted with have been so incredibly supportive and appreciative.

It makes you feel like you're a literary landmark of the state when librarians treat you like you're a rock star.

(bright music) - Well, the state is small, but it has a strong collection of independent bookstores that are bustling community hubs with much to offer their readers.

- The bookstores here in Delaware, although we are a small state, are still thriving.

They make sure to curate and for their communities, make welcoming spaces where you can discover something unexpected and connect with their knowledgeable staff.

- MeJah Books is definitely my favorite bookstore.

Used to be in Wilmington, now she's moved up into Claymont, Delaware.

Miss MA, a warrior, I mean, she's been through everything with that bookstore.

- I have a really special relationship with Hockessin BookShelf in Hockessin, Delaware.

They were the first bookstore in Delaware where I had an event and they always support my book launches full force.

- And it's just a really lovely little nook in an unassuming kind of strip mall.

But you walk into the bookstore and you're just transported.

There's books, floor to ceiling and the staff who works there are really wonderful.

- They have new books, but they also have used books.

And I'm a rare book collector, so I appreciate any kind of secondhand used bookstore or rare bookstore.

And Hockessin kind of has all those things.

- There is a bookstore called Dawn's Books and Stuff, in Dover, Delaware in Main Street.

And they've got a really, really great curated selection of books.

I highly recommend everybody check them out.

- One of my favorite bookstores is Huxley & Hiro, which is on Market Street in Wilmington.

It is a fantastic independent bookstore with a really dedicated staff.

Huxley & Hiro also does really great author events and they partner with a lot of organizations around Delaware to provide the books at those events.

And it's absolutely worth a stop.

It's very, very beautiful and they have a great selection.

- Bethany Beach, that's my favorite bookstore that when I go down for a vacation, I could spend hours in a bookstore just looking around and, you know, picking up every book, seems to have everything.

It's a little melting pot because when people come to the shore to visit, they come from all over.

And so you're in Bethany and you look up and, oh, there's my friend, she moved to Pittsburgh and I see her, she's back here in the store.

- I mean, Beach & Book.

Who doesn't love a beach bookstore?

You've got Bethany Beach Books, you've got Browseabout, I've done events at both of them.

- Browseabout books is located in Rehoboth and it is a very active and beloved bookstore in the beach town and works very closely with their local public library Lewis.

- But those bookstores are truly just, they're like the glue that brings us all together and I mean, you add them to our library system and it's just phenomenal but it's truly a part of the way that we keep the culture together here throughout our state.

(bright music) - If you're looking for a few more stops to add to your own reading road trip, Delaware offers a wonderful mix of museums, historical sites, and literary landmarks.

- Delaware has some wonderful literary landmarks.

I think one of the things I like best about all of these landmarks is Fort Delaware.

You have to take a ferry to get there.

- Yes, it's a vast stone pile that sits on a small island out in the middle of the Delaware Bay off the shore from the town of Delaware City.

And Fort Delaware was built in the early 19th century to provide an artillery protection for the Port of Philadelphia, but it never really got used for that purpose.

And by the Civil War, it was converted into a prisoner of war camp for Confederate prisoners.

- Well, I think historic Newcastle is worth a stop.

I think one of the things that people don't realize about Delaware, despite the fact that we were the first to ratify the Constitution, is just how much history is embedded in the state.

And historic Newcastle is one of the places where you will find so much of that history.

There are tours of old houses, there's lots of plaques that you can stop and read about things.

And a lot of it has been preserved in a way so that you can really access the past and feel history come to life.

- We have the Kalmar Nyckel where the Swedish first landed here in Delaware.

So I mean, it's right here central, and you go to that part of our city.

I mean, you have old homes that were built in the early 1700s.

I mean, they are so old, the break original bricks still there.

I mean, it is just phenomenal to visit that part of our community, just so historic.

- And then I of course, being a Howard High graduate, I would say Howard High School, and if you get a chance to just go through their, the alumni and the historical room and being able to just see where this was the first or the only school where African Americans could attend at the time.

So be able to just walk through there and just see that this building and what it meant to the communities, the entire state where, I mean, everyone was coming to this one school and the pride that they took in it, you know, it's just made that so that right there is a testament to me as well.

- I've talked a lot about Howard Pyle.

You can actually go and visit his studio.

They do have tours of his studio in Wilmington, Delaware.

- The Delaware Art Museum is really, really lovely.

I love the illustrations.

They have a big collection with a lot of illustrations, so illustrations from, you know, stories that appeared in magazines and books.

So I love that as well.

There's also a beautiful outdoor sculpture garden.

The whole area is just very soothing and aesthetic, you know, which is kind of a good mood to write in.

- Hagley Museum.

I believe it was the first DuPont who came over here and it was on the Brandywine River, which is magnificent.

Also, the DuPont people were instrumental in building the infrastructure of Delaware because when they built out their industry, we needed roads and bridges.

- There's a very famous curse on the Deer Park Tavern in Newark, Delaware.

Edgar Allen Poe was there.

I'm sure he was tossing one back.

This is Poe we're talking about.

He was leaving and he slipped in the mud apparently, and he cursed the place and said that anybody that tried to leave there would have to return.

And that's sort of part of the local lore.

That's a great Poe place if you like the creepy stuff.

They do have readings there and stuff.

(bright music) - Today's look at Delaware's bookish culture is part of a nationwide celebration.

2026 marks the United States' 250th birthday.

So we've partnered with the Library of Congress to celebrate the stories, authors and books that define each corner of our nation.

- You might know that the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, but what you might not know is that they've established affiliated centers for the book across the US with the mission to make the Library of Congress and its resources even more accessible to all Americans.

- I'm Lee Ann Potter, the Director of Professional Learning and Outreach Initiatives at the Library of Congress.

The Library of Congress is the congressional library and the National Library of the United States and the largest library in the world with more than 181 million items.

From photographs, to maps, from motion pictures, to sound recordings, from newspapers, to manuscripts and more.

Oh and yes, there are books, millions of them.

in this series, American Stories, A Reading Road Trip, you will hear about many books and authors and poems and short stories and more, and how together they make up our nation's literary heritage, as you do, I hope you will keep in mind that while they are all unique and come from different parts of our vast country, they all have something very important in common.

They all live in the collections of the Library of Congress.

We'll also hear about the library's affiliated Centers for the Book.

There is one in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

These centers promote reading, libraries and literacy and they celebrate and share their state or territory's literary heritage through a variety of programs that you'll hear about in this very special series.

- Today we're joined by the Delaware Center for the Book, part of the Delaware Division of Libraries.

- The Delaware Center of the Book is dedicated to celebrating reading, writing, and storytelling across the state.

Our center is located within the state library, the Delaware Division of Libraries, which allows us to connect directly with communities and resources statewide.

What makes us unique is our strong emphasis on partnership, making literacy programs accessible to everyone and of course, our community.

One of my favorite programs we help support is Festival of Words.

It's a statewide celebration that brings together authors, poets, readers for reading, workshops and conversations, it's designed for all ages and really highlights the diversity of voices in Delaware while creating space for people to engage directly with the writers.

We also highlight local authors, support youth literacy initiatives and work to preserve and promote Delaware literacy heritage so more people can discover the stories rooted here in Delaware.

Our center is also working to promote our local authors through local author programming, which is also a great opportunity to connect with our community, our local authors, and working with our bookstores or local libraries as well.

We also participate every year by going to DC for National Book Festival and take part in Great Reads for Great Places.

And we've been very fortunate since I took over this role in 2023 that we have been able to have at least one of our authors every year to come with us and sign books.

- If you'd like to learn more about how the Delaware Center for the Book supports literacy in its community, you can visit them online at libraries.delaware.gov/centerfo.

- Well, our trip through Delaware has been delightful.

Thank you again to the Library of Congress and the Delaware Center for the Book for partnering with PBS books as we journey across the country exploring the books, authors and destinations that define America's story.

- Tell us about your favorite Delaware spots that out of town book lovers should visit in the chat or comments and share your thoughts on the Delaware authors we talked to and any others that we should explore.

- And if your Reading Roadtrip has sparked your curiosity about the landmarks, authors and literary treasures in your own state, the Library of Congress is a great place to start.

Visit in person in Washington DC, search its vast digital collections online, or connect with your local Center for the Book.

- For more information on the authors, institutions and places featured in this episode, visit us at pbsbooks.org/readingroadtrip.

- And this is just one stop along the way, on the PBS Books YouTube channel, you'll find the full journey, stories from across the country all in one place.

Ready whenever you are.

And be sure to share this video with all of your friends to start planning your next Reading Road Trip.

- Until next time.

- Happy reading.

(bright music) (gentle music)