BOOKS

New England's old cemeteries hold a lot of information about the religious and cultural life of people who lived long ago. Author John G. S. Hanson talks about life, death and eternity contained in the stones in Western Mass.

Mount Holyoke College Sociology Professor Patricia Banks is out with a new book titled "Black Culture Inc.: How Ethnic Community Support Pays for Corporate America." Through her research, Banks explores how Black culture has been leveraged by corporate America.

"The Adventures of Robo-Kid" by Amherst, Massachusetts, author and illustrator Diane deGroat is about a child living in the real world who encounters a comic book character.

Ellington, Connecticut, author Jeanne Zulick Ferruolo leaned to rock climb in order to write her third book. She also met Ndengo Gladys Mwilelo, a New Haven resident and refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Together they wrote "Each of Us a Universe," the story of two 11-year-old girls: American-born Cal and Rosine, a Congolese refugee.

Growing up in the hills of western Massachusetts, Astrid Sheckels always had a knack for telling and drawing stories — and she’s managed to turn those skills into a full-time career.

Springfield City Library branches are collecting high school yearbooks from residents and are digitizing them as a way to preserve the city's history.

Rosie pays close attention to the care her mother, a veterinarian, gives to animals in need. When Rosie grows up she, too, wants to be able to help animals like her mom does. Author Jennifer Welborn of Amherst talks about the origins of her first children's book.

The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts, opened its doors to the public Tuesday for the first time in more than two years, and the day's dozen group tours were sold out.

NEPM's Books for Young People series begins this year with Jim Price's "The Adventures of Harold from the Hood: A Trip to the Park." It's a tale for very young readers that teaches social skills for living in a diverse world.

"Dear Mister Ward" is a collection of unearthed letters from almost 100 years ago, written to the complaint department of Montgomery Ward, a full-service mail-order catalog, the Amazon of its time. They recently were read aloud by actors at a theater in western Massachusetts.