Almost 16 years ago, three young children died after they were trapped in a car that went into Clinton Lake. Edith Brady-Lunny has been covering the story since that first night. We’ll speak with her about her new book, The Unforgiven. Also, local communities play a big part in the census. But this time, there’s a lot of fear about being counted. Today, we’ll focus on what this looks like in the central Illinois community of Beardstown.

Food industry groups want to change the “sell by” and “use by” dates on products in order to cut down on food waste. Today, how to know when something is really expired, and how we can reduce food waste in our own kitchens. Plus, we’ll continue our weeklong series on summer reading. Today we’ll hear about nonfiction from librarians from across the state. And if you’re trying to learn a new language, you should do it as early as possible. That’s part of the reason more daycares and early childhood centers are teaching kids in more than one language. 

On this encore edition of The 21st: We learned more about the story of Chicago blues with Renee Rosen, author of Windy City Blues, a new historical novel about Chess Records. We also heard from Terry Chess, son of the late Phil Chess. Plus, what books can you turn to as a way to alleviate your news fatigue? 

Do you fancy yourself a reader? Do you prefer fiction or nonfiction?