The Miniaturistairs Sundays at 8:00 pm and is available to stream.

It is 1686. Amsterdam is the wealthiest city in the world, a center of global finance and trade. Merchants like Johannes Brandt have become fabulously wealthy from buying and selling exotic goods such as sugar and spices from Indonesia, India, and the Caribbean. So Brandt can afford to spend an exorbitant sum on a wedding gift for his new bride, Petronella: a finely crafted miniature reproduction of his home for her to enjoy.

Nella is a bit puzzled by this gift, but then she’s young and from the country. Her marriage to Brandt and the accompanying access to his money have saved her struggling family from debt. And the miniature home is just one of several oddities in her new life, not as significant as some of the others.

Most concerning to Nella is her lack of intimacy with Johannes. He seems to always be busy or traveling on business; he’s not even at home when she first arrives. The new couple have separate bedrooms, and they don’t share a kiss until they’ve been married almost two weeks. Despite Nella’s repeated hints that she’d like to consummate the marriage, the one time she does embrace Johannes he starts away when she shows a desire to do more than kiss.

Is this icy distance a result of Johannes’s unusual relationship with his devout sister Marin? She’s a strict housekeeper who values humility and thrift, dressing in nun-like black garments despite her family’s wealth. She immediately takes a dislike to Nella, banishing to the kitchen the parakeet the girl brings to her new home and offering Nella herring when she asks for marzipan.

Johannes's pious sister Marin takes an immediate dislike to her brother's new bride. Photo: The Forge/Laurence Cendrowicz for BBC and MASTERPIECE

It’s clear Marin doesn’t want Nella there. Johannes has ordered dresses made for Nella, but Marin purposefully gave measurements a size too large. However, Marin seems to see Nella as a necessity – she insists that the windows stay uncovered, so that Amsterdam knows Johannes has a bride, and that the house has nothing to hide.

Despite her pious aversion to luxury, Marin gives Nella a list of craftspeople and tells her that she can commission some items for her miniature house. Nella and the house maid, Cornelia, visit the shop of a miniaturist and leave a letter with requests when they find it shut up and seemingly empty. Within a few days the commission is fulfilled: a package for Nella is dropped off by a dashing young man whom Johannes seems upset to see.

Inside the package is a note reading, “Every woman is the architect of her own fortune,” and the items Nella requested: a lute, a birdcage, and a tray of marzipan. But there’s more, too: Johannes’s dog, a cradle, and a chair that is the exact replica of one in Nella’s room. Unnerved by the miniaturist’s apparent familiarity with the house, Nella quickly draws her curtains and dashes off a note ending all business with the craftsperson.

But another package soon arrives, with more knickknacks and two dolls, of Marin and Johannes. Nella places them inside the miniature house, turning Marin on her head.

When Nella, Marin, Cornelia, and Johannes’s manservant Otto then go to church without Johannes, Marin begins to have a headache. Regardless, when she spots a pair of Johannes’s clients who are selling a huge amount of valuable sugar through Johannes, she invites them to dinner. Nella has already met Agnes and Frans Meermans, at a ball hosted by the silversmith guild that she attended with Johannes – the only time the new couple has spent any substantive time together so far. Both the Meermans and Johannes stand to make a fortune from the sale of the sugar, which everyone tastes at dinner and finds exquisite.

Nella has entered a household full of secrets that even the servants seem to be in on. Photo: The Forge/Laurence Cendrowicz for BBC and MASTERPIECE

Despite the eeriness of her miniature house, Nella has begun to take more of an interest in it. When she opens a tiny chest in the replica of Johannes’s room, she finds a pair of keys. Intrigued, she goes to the same chest in the real house and finds the same thing. She pockets the keys.

But when Otto – who was freed from slavery by Johannes; mutterings at church condemn him as a “savage” – discovers the Marin and Johannes dolls, he warns Nella not to buy any more miniatures. His job is to protect the house and the people in it, and “We stand or fall together.”

Nella only becomes more intrigued by the miniatures, and discovers that the Marin doll’s plain smock is secretly lined with luxuriant fur. Sneaking to Marin’s room, she finds that the miniature once again reflects reality. She moves further into Marin’s chambers and begins to read a love letter, but is caught and chased away by Marin before she finishes.

On edge from her confrontation, she looks out the window and sees Johannes leaving the house, despite the late hour. Learning that he has still not returned in the morning and that Marin is also gone, she insists on going to find him against Cornelia’s warnings that he’s busy at his office. But Johannes’s office is empty. Nella searches the attached warehouse and decides to try one of the pilfered keys on a locked door. Opening it, she hears moans of pleasure and creeps towards their source. In another room she sees Johannes naked and ecstatic. But he’s not with Marin, as Nella feared. He’s with a man.

So that’s why he wouldn’t touch her.

Find our streaming recommendations for the previous month here.

Do you ever wish you could binge-watch your favorite PBS programs? If you’re a member you already can; if not, it’s easy to join. With WTTW Passport, members can watch a huge library of PBS and WTTW programming on-demand on any streaming device. To learn more about WTTW Passport, check out our dedicated site. You can activate or sign up for Passport here.

Each month we’ll bring you a few Passport picks. September is Hispanic Heritage Month, so we’re bringing you the stories of a memorable Chicano activist and a Mexican photographer who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as tours of Havana, Mexico, and a vibrant hub of Chicago’s Latino/a community.

The Rise and Fall of the Brown Buffalo

You may not know the name Oscar Zeta Acosta, but you should. Acosta is most famous for his appearance in Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as the sidekick Dr. Gonzo, but this film aims to showcase Acosta’s own radical work fighting racial bias, especially within the criminal justice system. Acosta was a lawyer, writer, and activist in the Chicano movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s who mysteriously disappeared in Mexico in 1974.

Great Performances: Havana Time Machine

Discover the rich musical traditions of Cuba in this performance documentary hosted by Grammy-winning singer Raul Malo of The Mavericks, featuring such Cuban star musicians as Eliades Ochoa and Roberto Fonseca (who also appears in Geoffrey Baer’s Weekend in Havana as a friend and tour guide to his city).

Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer’s Journey

This American Masters documentary expires from Passport in October, so watch it while you still can! It profiles the life and work of the Mexican American photographer Pedro E. Guerrero, who was a preeminent architecture photographer famous for his work with Frank Lloyd Wright. Later in his life, he collaborated extensively with Alexander Calder and Louise Nevelson. His career is little-known and mostly unsung; this documentary is a corrective. En Español.

Wonders of Mexico

Broadcast in August, the three-part Wonders of Mexico is still available to stream in case you missed it. The series takes you on a tour of some of our southern neighbor's most remarkable landscapes, introducing you to the people and animals that reside there. From the Yucatán peninsula, with its Mayan ruins and underground cave and reservoir system, to the volcanoes of Mexico's mountainous spine, to the dry deserts and prairies of the north, there are some extraordinary sights, cultures, and biospheres.

My Neighborhood: Pilsen

This WTTW documentary and web initiative focusing on the neighborhood that is a hub of Chicago’s Latino/a community is always free to stream and access, but it’s worth a revisit. Meet some of the people working to transform, preserve, and brighten their neighborhood in both the documentary, web stories, and digital videos, from the struggling immigrant who now owns a restaurant to muralists to immigration activists, and more.

Weekend in Havana

Like My Neighborhood: Pilsen, this national WTTW documentary hosted by Geoffrey Baer can always be streamed, but there’s also a lot more to discover beyond the documentary on our immersive website. Tour Havana in 360 degrees while riding in a classic Thunderbird; visit a tobacco farm where they make Cuban cigars; learn about architecture, cocktails, flamenco, and Santería, and more!

Dishalicious: Mexican

And as a bonus, watch three of Chicago’s top chefs cook up some Mexican food on WTTW’s Dishalicious– and if you get hungry, you can find the recipes here!

Christopher Kimball's Milk Street airs Saturdays at 4:00 pm.

It's apple season! Whether you go pick apples yourself in Michigan or buy some from a farmers market or grocery store, this is the best time of year to eat the fruit – and to bake with it. For something different than apple pie, try this French Apple Cake from Christopher Kimball's Milk Street. It's as if you took baked apples and swathed them in a delicious custard, and it's perfect for the beginning of fall.

French Apple Cake

This simple dessert is less cake than sautéed apples set in a thick, buttery custard encased in a golden crust. We liked using two varieties of apples here, one tart and one sweet – the variation in the apples’ sweetness gave the cake a full, complex flavor. The cake is delicious served unadorned, but it’s equally wonderful accompanied with crème fraîche or ice cream.

Note: Don’t use a spatula to scrape the browned butter out of the skillet—simply pour it into the bowl. A skim coat of butter in the pan is needed for cooking the apples. And don’t slice the cake until it has fully cooled; if it is at all warm, the texture at the center will be too soft.

Start to finish: 1 hour (25 minutes active), plus cooling

Serves: 8

Ingredients

8 tbsp (1 stick) salted butter, plus more for pan
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1 1/2 lbs Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 lb Braeburn or Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
12 tbsp white sugar, divided
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 tbsp brandy or Calvados
95 g (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F with a rack in the middle position. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with butter, dust evenly with flour, then tap out the excess.

2. In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high, melt the butter. Cook, swirling the pan frequently, until the milk solids at the bottom are golden brown and the butter has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Pour into a small heatproof bowl without scraping out the skillet. Stir the allspice into the butter and set aside.

3. Add all of the apples, 2 tbsp of the sugar, and the salt to the still-hot skillet and set over medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all moisture released by the apples has evaporated and the slices are beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the brandy and cook until evaporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer to a large plate, spread in an even layer, and refrigerate uncovered until cool to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and 9 tbsp of the remaining sugar. Gradually whisk in the browned butter. Add the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until smooth; the batter will be very thick. Add the cooled apples and fold until evenly coated with batter. Transfer to the prepared pan, spread in an even layer, and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tbsp sugar.

5. Bake until deeply browned, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Run a knife around the inside of the pan and remove the sides before slicing.

The Great American Read airs Tuesdays at 8:00 pm. Explore the list, vote for your favorite book, and find more book-related features, quizzes, and interviews at wttw.com/read.

You probably think of the United States as a fully literate society: signs help you navigate, you read and write emails and texts, instructions tell you how to cook something or the proper dosage for medicine, and you’re reading this article right now. But an astounding one in six adults– 35 million people – read below a fourth-grade level in the U.S. “I think most people would be startled to hear that statistic. Illiteracy can be kind of an invisible problem,” says Ken Bigger, the executive director of the Chicago Literacy Alliance (CLA).

In Chicago, it’s estimated that some three out of 10 adults have low basic literacy skills (the national and local statistics do not exactly correlate, as the Chicago number is pegged to around a sixth-grade reading level), while at the time that the CLA incorporated as a nonprofit, 54% of public school students did not meet or exceed reading standards. And that’s why the CLA exists. “After you feed, clothe, and house people, literacy is the next step,” says Bigger.

The CLA came about in 2009 when a collection of literacy nonprofits met to discuss their work and discovered that all of them offered programs at the same elementary school, but none of them knew about the others’ work there. The moment was a wake-up call: the groups could be much more effective if they all worked together, rather than each trying independently – in the same school, no less – to improve literacy.

The Chicago Literacy Alliance brings together organizations working towards the same goal and helps foster collaboration. Photo: Eileen Molony

The collective eventually incorporated as a nonprofit and expanded its membership to organizations addressing a broader range of communities, including adults. “One of the biggest drivers of a child’s educational success is the literacy level of that child’s caregiver,” Bigger says. “That speaks to our network approach, because if you’re only doing work in the schools with the kid, but you’re not also working so that the child’s parent can become a confident reader and support that effort, then the work with the kid is not going to be as productive as it could be.”

Teaching children (and their parents) to read only goes so far, however, if they don’t have access to books. According to Bigger, there are approximately thirteen children’s books for each child in middle- and upper-class households, while in lower-income communities there is roughly one children’s book for every 300 children. So there are organizations such as ReadAskChat, which is developing an app to encourage and help parents read and engage with young children. “Practically speaking, it can be much easier to get a mobile device into a low-literacy household than it is to get a book in,” explains Bigger.

There’s also Open Books, which donates books to schools and nonprofits and operates a used-book store on the ground floor of the CLA’s Literacenter, a Google-style co-working space in the West Loop that opened in 2015. The Literacenter provides office, meeting, and classroom space for the almost 130 organizations that are a part of the CLA (all the rooms have literary pun names, such as “Roomeo and Juliet,” “Catcher in the Room,” and “Room with a View”). Some organizations have their offices in the Literacenter; others simply use space occasionally or have their mailboxes there. (WTTW is a member of the CLA.)

The idea behind the Literacenter is to foster collaboration between organizations working towards similar goals. To that end, it includes fun spaces for casual interaction, with games or a piano, and hosts events such as happy hours. That collegiality is attractive to smaller organizations, offering their staff more colleagues. Plus, the Literacenter’s cheaper rent can help reduce overhead costs for organizations.

The Literacenter is a Google-style co-working space that encourages collegiality and is especially beneficial for smaller organizations. Photo: Tim Benson

“We’re not a direct-service organization,” Bigger explains. “The power we have is to allow organizations to connect dots.” And CLA member organizations aren’t all focused specifically on teaching adults or children to read: there are also groups that focus on literacy in a broader sense, such as the Chicago Review of Books or the American Writers Museum. “If we have a city where writing and literacy is valued, it’s going to make all the work focused on general reading ability more effective,” Bigger says. “By covering the territory from literacy to more literary groups, we create some alignments and partnerships, and we advance a culture, moving towards a literate society.”

For literacy doesn’t have only functional implications for people’s lives; it also provides a less tangible benefit. “There’s something immensely valuable to being able to express oneself through writing, or to the ability to find somebody in the world who has said something that speaks to you, and recognize that you’re not alone in that thought,” Bigger says. “That ability to cultivate empathy and connection with other people is huge. And it is something that will also decrease social stratification, help increase understanding between people, increase people’s civic capacities.

“I always reference the Bob Dylan song, ‘Tangled Up in Blue,’ where the narrator reads a book of 13^th century Italian poetry, ‘and every one of them words rang true/and glowed like burning coal/pouring off of every page/like it was written in my soul/from me to you.”

The Miniaturist airs Sundays at 8:00 pm and is available to stream. Recap the previous episode here.

Nella wakes into a pleasant dream: her parakeet has been moved into her room and rosewater wafers await her. Except that these pleasures are gilding a nightmare. She has discovered that her new husband, Johannes, prefers sex with men over her – a criminal offense punishable by drowning in puritanical 17^th-century Amsterdam – and these gifts are attempts by Johannes's sister Marin to bribe Nella to keep her mouth shut. Nella is outraged that no one in the household – not Marin, nor the servants Cornelia and Otto – warned her about Johannes, and she is despondent that her husband will never love her. She begins preparing to leave the wicked house behind and return to her mother.

Marin and Cornelia both beg her not to go, but it is her confrontation with Johannes that convinces her. He offers to annul the marriage and give Nella enough money to pay off her family’s debts, but he also expresses a fondness for her and says he would be happier if she stayed. Having begun to care for the people in her new home, Nella decides to stick around, on one condition: that Johannes always tell the truth from now on. He agrees.

After finding out her husband's secret, Nella is ready to leave forever. Photo: The Forge/Laurence Cendrowicz for BBC and MASTERPIECE Nella does parlay her threat to leave into a bargaining chip to get some information from Cornelia about Marin’s past, in order to understand the love letter she found in Marin’s chambers. Turns out that Frans Meermans, who has contracted Johannes to sell a stock of sugar, fell in love with Marin when she was a girl. He waited five years while her guardian Johannes was at sea to ask her to marry him, but Johannes refused to allow it – Frans had a bad reputation. Despite the rejection, Frans continues to send unsigned gifts to Marin on every feast of Saint Nicholas, the day they first met.

Still unsettled by the revelations about her husband, Nella has decided to let her parakeet fly free of its cage – a small push against the strictures of the household that has wronged her. But someone has opened the window in her room, and the parakeet is gone. Nella goes out into the street to search for it but instead spots a mysterious woman whom she has already caught staring at her several times before. Nella decides to follow her.

The woman flees to the shop where Nella first had miniatures made – the woman must be the all-knowing miniaturist! But there are soldiers at the shop. Otto and Cornelia appear and pull Nella back home as the soldiers disperse, having found no one in the shop. The woman slips inside.

Nella finds another package of miniatures at the house: dolls of Agnes and Frans Meermans, Otto, and Johannes’s scruffy young lover Jack Philips. A tiny dagger on Jack’s belt pricks Nella’s finger, drawing blood. The Jack doll also piques Marin: when she discovers it, she throws it out the window. The next morning, as a drowned body is pulled out of the canal outside, Nella finds the Jack doll propped up on the doorstep.

Increasingly curious about the miniaturist, Nella writes another note asking about the craftswoman’s intentions, and requests a miniature backgammon board. On her way to deliver the note, she is distracted by a scene at a baker’s shop: soldiers are destroying the gingerbread men, because the devout Protestant government has banned as a false idol anything created in the shape of humans. When Nella arrives at the miniaturist shop, she sees through the window the mysterious woman talking to Agnes Meermans. Nella rips up her note and goes home.

Otto finds himself in a dangerous situation when Jack Philips flies into a rage. Photo: The Forge/Laurence Cendrowicz for BBC and MASTERPIECE There she finds Jack Philips waiting for her with a package – and some abuse. Johannes has gone to Venice at Marin’s request to sell some of the Meermans sugar, but Jack taunts Nella, claiming that Johannes is there simply to indulge in the city’s infamous hedonistic pleasures. Marin appears and tells Jack to leave; he draws his dagger. When Johannes’s dog begins to bark, Jack stabs it in the head. Otto intervenes, the pair tussle, and the dagger is driven into Jack’s shoulder. He staggers away, promising to go to the authorities with charges against Otto, who won’t stand a chance in a trial, given that he’s black and thought of by many as a savage.

What’s in this ill-begotten package? The backgammon board that Nella requested – but she ripped up that request before sending it. She goes to the miniaturist’s shop again and is given another parcel by a man working across the street. Inside is a doll of Cornelia and a bunch of the tiny cookies that she often bakes. Now the only doll missing is Nella.

Johannes returns, and quickly gets into a fight with Marin, admonishing her that the household is no longer hers but Nella’s. Marin responds that it doesn’t matter who’s in charge; they’re all prisoners to Johannes’s desire. Nella finally ends the shouting by telling Johannes that his dog is dead. Johannes storms off.

Nella follows, reminding him that he promised that he would no longer keep secrets from her. He admits that he didn’t sell any sugar in Venice; he’s delaying as long as possible because the Meermans hate him (see his refusal to let Frans marry Marin), and as soon as they have the money from the sugar they will use it to ruin him.

Unfortunately, the Meermans soon stumble upon another way to destroy Johannes. After Otto disappears, upon Marin’s suggestion that he not endanger the household by staying there after stabbing Jack, Frans appears at the house demanding to speak to Johannes. He’s not there, but Frans explains his purpose anyway. He went to the warehouse to see how much of his sugar had been sold and saw that it was all still there. Worse, it was moldering. And that’s not even the kicker: he also saw Johannes having sex with Jack – and Jack claimed to Frans that Johannes had attacked him. Frans is going to the authorities with these charges of “devilry” immediately.

Johannes goes into hiding, giving Nella a key and a list of possible buyers for the sugar. Perhaps she and Marin can salvage the business deal, at least. Marin seems to have given up hope, however. Nella hears sobbing coming from her chambers and finds a disheveled Marin holding a glass, presumably of poison, ready to commit suicide. We can fix this!, Nella cries. But it’s not Johannes that Marin’s worried about, that’s not the problem at all. She lifts her dress. She’s pregnant.

On October 13 and 14, you can see things you’ve never seen before: the ultraviolet disinfection operation at a wastewater facility, an elementary school converted into residential units, the remains of a moat surrounding a castle-like apartment building, spectacular views of the city from new vantage points. More than 250 locations across Chicagoland throw open their doors for the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Open House Chicago that weekend for free admission.

The choice of sites is overwhelming, so we’ve chosen a few highlights, with emphasis on uniqueness, places that are typically closed to the public, and locations that offer stunning vistas that you typically can’t see. Most are new to Open House Chicago this year. Pick a few and create your own tour around them. See their locations mapped out here.

Catalyst Circle Rock

5618 W. Washington Blvd.

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

This Mid-Century Modern building from 1954 housed a school until 1977, then remained vacant for decades. In 2008, a charter school moved into the Austin building and began renovating it. The latest renovation is on the 1,000-seat auditorium, which is almost complete. Open House Chicago offers an exciting chance to see a renovation in progress, and explore the attractive school, which is new to Open House this year.

Catholic Charities Father Augustus Tolton Peace Center

5645 W. Corcoran Pl.

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

Another Austin building new to Open House Chicago, this neoclassical building was designed by the neighborhood’s own Frederick Schock, who designed many nearby homes. Originally a bank when it opened in 1913, it gained an annex in 1926 and another addition in the 1960s. Though it is now home to a Catholic Charities community center, it still has a bank vault and some striking decorative features.

Optimo

1700 W. 95th St. (Closed Sunday)

Photo: Tom Rossiter

Like Austin, Beverly is a new neighborhood in Open House Chicago. Optimo is a haberdasher (hatmaker) that has long had a cult following. It has a store in the Monadnock building downtown, so it’s only fitting that its factory also have an architecturally pleasing space. This firehouse was recently redesigned by the renowned firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to fit Optimo’s factory, which includes vintage hatmaking equipment that they still use. Not only do you get to see a hatmaking factory that is normally closed to the public, you get to see one that uses old-fashioned equipment! 

ArtReach Chicago and Great Lakes Yard

2651 W. Lake St. (ArtReach Chicago opens at 11:00 am)

Great Lakes Yard. Photo: Kyle Bice

These two sites, both new to Open House Chicago, share a building in Garfield Park next to the Green Line El tracks. At ArtReach Chicago you can watch glassblowing and ceramics work as well as take part in some hands-on art projects. Great Lakes Yard salvages lumber and architectural artifacts from deconstruction and demolition sites around the Great Lakes region to be re-used in new art, crafts, remodeling, or architectural projects; you can glimpse some of these historic features in their warehouse, which is normally open by appointment only.

Loyola University Piper Hall

970 W. Sheridan Rd., use west entrance (Closed Sunday)

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

This grand 1909 residence, designed by William Carbys Zimmerman and new to Open House Chicago, is one of the last of the ornate mansions that used to dot Chicago’s lakefront. It became part of Loyola University Chicago in 1991 and was restored in 2005, so you can get a sense of how the ultra-wealthy of a century ago lived. It’s now home Loyola’s Gannon Center for Women and Leadership and the Women and Leadership Archives. 

Stewart School Lofts

4525 N. Kenmore Ave, enter at north end of building

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

Designers and architects don’t just repurpose architectural artifacts and old materials these days; they even reimagine entire buildings. Graeme Stewart Elementary in Uptown was located in an Arts and Crafts Style building from 1905 that was designed by Dwight Perkins, who is responsible for many schools across Chicagoland. It was one of 50 Chicago Public Schools closed in 2013, and the Chicago Landmark building has now been redesigned into 64 apartments. Many of the school’s features remain, making this a unique residence.

Park Castle Condominiums and Park Gables Apartment Homes

2416 W. Greenleaf Ave., enter from park; 2460 W. Estes Ave., enter from park via east courtyard

Park Gables Apartment Homes. Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

These two apartment buildings from the 1920s, both new to Open House Chicago, border Indian Boundary Park in West Ridge. They’re both fantastically strange and opulent. Park Castle, designed by Jens J. Jensen, is true its name, featuring battlements and bridges that once spanned a moat graced by live swans. Park Gables, designed by James Denson, is inspired by a traditional English village, complete with an elegant courtyard, half-timbering, and slate roofs. Both buildings also contain highly decorated indoor pools – the ceilings over them look like a tent.

Terrence J. O’Brien Water Reclamation Plant

3500 Howard St., enter via main gate; parking available (Closed Sunday)

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

If you’ve ever driven down McCormick Boulevard and wondered what the gargantuan structure at Howard Street was, now’s your chance to see inside. The 1928 Water Reclamation Plant, new to Open House Chicago, is one of seven wastewater treatment facilities servicing Greater Chicago. If you visit you can take a guided walking tour of the plant and learn how an average 230 million gallons of wastewater is sterilized per day. It’s a rare chance that’s not to be missed.

Unity in Chicago

1925 W. Thome Ave. (Opens at noon on Sunday)

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

This 1925 building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright protégé George W. Maher has seen some very different tenants over the decades. Originally built for the Chicago Town and Tennis Club, it is modeled on the Tudor Revival buildings of Wimbledon. It later served as an Elks Lodge before sitting vacant for a decade, whereupon the Unity in Chicago church moved in. Now the church has sold the building, which is new to Open House Chicago, and the new owners are reportedly considering demolition, so this may be your last opportunity to see the vaulted dining hall and large gardens. 

VCNA Prairie Material Concrete Plant

835 N. Peoria St. (Closed Saturday)

Sure, this industrial plant near Goose Island isn’t as attractive as most of the sites in Open House Chicago, but how often do you get to tour a giant concrete production yard and see how the concrete used in high-rises such as Aqua and Trump Tower gets made?

Chicago Tribune Freedom Center

560 W. Grand Ave. (RSVP required by September 21; Closed Sunday)

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

One exciting part of Open House Chicago is getting to see behind the scenes of industrial facilities, like at this enormous 1981 plant where the Tribune and other newspapers are printed and assembled. On the guided tour, which requires an RSVP, you’ll see 1-ton rolls of paper, printing presses, inserting machines, and more.

Lake Point Tower

505 N. Lake Shore Dr., enter on Grand Ave.(RSVP required by September 21; Only open until 1:00 pm)

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

It’s one of the most prestigious residences in Chicago, having been home to celebrities from Sammy Sosa to Tom Cruise, and is the only high-rise east of Lake Shore Drive. While you don’t get to see any of the residential units during Open House Chicago, you can enjoy its beautiful garden, located above the parking pavilion and designed by the revered landscape architect Alfred Caldwell. 

CTA Skokie Shops

Via Howard CTA Station, 7519 N. Paulina St. (RSVP required by September 21; Closed Sunday)

Photo: Eric Allix Rogers

A fleet of trains as large as that operated by the CTA requires a lot of maintenance, and all major repairs and overhauls are carried out at the Skokie Shops, located along the Yellow Line since 1926. During Open House Chicago, you can ride a vintage train from the Howard CTA Station to the shops, then take a tour of the facilities and learn how trains cars are maintained.

Looking for a stunning view? Here are some of our vantage point choices

The view from Eastlake Studio. Photo: Steve Hall, Hall + Merrick Photography

Try the new offices of the architecture and design firm Eastlake Studio, in the historic Holabird & Root-designed 333 N. Michigan, one of Chicago’s “gateway buildings,” located at Michigan Avenue and the river. Located on the 26^th floor, the studio offers stunning views of some of Chicago’s most iconic architecture, from the Wrigley Building to the Carbide and Carbon Building. See up and down Michigan Avenue, and up and down the Chicago River.

Thornton Tomasetti is an engineering firm with offices on the 15^th floor of Mies van der Rohe’s landmark 1972 IBM building that is new to Open House Chicago. Not only do you get to go inside one of Chicago’s most famous riverfront buildings, you also get views along the Chicago River out to Lake Michigan.

If you want to see the skyline from a bit farther away than right in the middle of downtown, head to the Ambassador Hotel in the Gold Coast, new to Open House Chicago. Weather permitting, the historic hotel’s rooftop terrace will be open on Sunday between 3:00 and 5:00 pm.

For a panoramic view of the city, with the skyline as background, head to the 14-story original Sears Tower in North Lawndale, Nichols Tower at Homan Square (closed Sunday), which was built in 1906 as part of the Sears, Roebuck & Co. Complex but now houses a community center and event space.

And if you're looking for more vista suggestions, most of the sites we recommended last year are still participating this year.

The Great American Read airs Tuesdays at 8:00 pm. Explore the list, vote for your favorite book, and find more book-related features, quizzes, and interviews at wttw.com/read.

At the 1982 American Booksellers Association trade show in Anaheim, California, locked metal cages greeted visitors to the convention center. Inside were that most innocuous-looking but powerful thing: books. All of them had either been banned outright from libraries, schools, or other institutions, or challenged by someone with objections to it.

Since that exhibit, the American Library Association and other groups have hosted a Banned Books Week every year to draw attention to instances of attempted or successful censorship. The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom has also kept track of the most frequently banned or challenged books since 1990, publishing lists of them. Books are challenged for reasons ranging from offensive language to discussions of sexuality to violence and racism.

In 2017, the most common reason for challenges was sexuality: six out of the top ten challenged books received complaints for issues of sexuality (four contained LGBT characters, one was a sex education book for children, and one had sexually explicit material). The Kite Runner was said to “lead to terrorism” and “promote Islam,” Thirteen Reasons Why generated controversy over its depiction of suicide, and The Hate U Give was considered “pervasively vulgar.” The last book on 2017’s top ten challenged books list? The classic To Kill a Mockingbird.

Ever since the ALA has tracked challenged books, To Kill a Mockingbird has been one of the most frequent offenders. It was in the top ten in 2009, 2011, and 2017, and has been in the top fifty since 1990. Why? Mainly because of its use of the N-word, and also instances of violence. Despite the challenges, it’s still one of the most beloved books in America, as is proved by its place on The Great American Read’s list of America’s 100 favorite novels.

And it’s not the only book on the list to be frequently challenged. 17 others have also found themselves in the ALA’s top 100 lists since 1990, including the obvious (Fifty Shades of Grey) as well as the surprising (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Pillars of the Earth). Besides discussions of sexuality, other reasons that seem to crop up often are “offensive language” and “religious viewpoint” (these include Harry Potter, the number one most challenged book from 2000-2009; Beloved; Twilight; Bless, Me Ultima): atheist characters or those with magical or supernatural powers seem to offend. And books that explicitly deal with difference, from LGBT characters to issues of race, are also frequently challenged, while young adult books seem particularly susceptible.

But don’t let the challenging of books stop you from reading! One of the most important things a book can do is expose you to different viewpoints and challenge your own preconceived notions. So get reading, and vote for your favorite book for The Great American Read!

Curious what books from the The Great American Read have been frequently challenged? Here's a list:

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger 
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
The Giver by Lois Lowry
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Looking for Alaska by John Green
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
TheTwilight series by Stephenie Meyer