IT’S NATIONAL NEWS LITERACY WEEK. I was saddened to hear that D.C.’s physical monument to responsible journalism, the Newseum, had closed its doors on December 31st. I’d like to think of the NEWS LITERARY PROJECT as its virtual monument.

What’s the difference between a reporter and a columnist? What do you do when encountering online content you’re unsure about? The nonpartisan, independent PROJECT is helping young people get smart about news—goaling to have 20,000 news literacy practitioners and teach 3 million students annually by 2022. But with our president labelling any criticism as “fake news,” we could ALL use a lesson in what to trust, share and act on. Tools include The Sift (a weekly newsletter of hoaxes and misinformation), interactive Checkology lessons, News Lit Tips, rumor rundowns, and more.

To join the fight for facts, subscribe or donate, visit newslit.org.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HAWKEYE. How did Alan Alda, the respected, Emmy-winning star of TV’s “M*A*S*H” who turns 84 today, also become a respected science communicator? It was while hosting PBS’s “Scientific American Frontiers” (1993 to 2005), that he began to theorize how improv and other theater skills could help scientists (who are notoriously non-verbal) become better speakers. One Nobel Prize-winner probably spoke for many, when he said, “We don’t have time for that, we’ve got too much science to teach.” But enough DID see results that the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science was established at Stony Brook University in 2013.

Despite having Parkinson’s, Alda is opening a California outpost at Scripps Research in La Jolla. And those who think his acting heydays are behind him should watch his extraordinarily varied work in the 2016 web series, “Horace & Pete” and 2019’s Oscar-nominated “Marriage Story”—I think he’s the most interesting thing in it.

“THE TRUANTS” HAILED AS A DAZZLING DEBUT. When Kate Weinberg’s first novel is consistently likened to Donna Tartt’s hugely popular “The Secret History,” my curiosity is sparked. When she’s included in the same sentence as Agatha Christie, it becomes a must-read. The story of Jess Walker and a tightly knit group of rule-breakers who fall under professor Lorna Clay’s spell—only to be tragically undone by it—has been called, “a combination of the best elements of a crime thriller, campus novel, love story and psychological study.” Read a sample here.

Have a Book Club? Find a discussion guide here. (Note: guide may contain spoilers.)