Today in the Bloggernacle: LDS author's international book covers

International covers: What would it be like to see your book’s cover reinterpreted across the world? LDS author Shannon Hale gets that honor and shares with us her covers of “Book of a Thousand Days Around the World.” My favorites are Korean and English-UK paperback. Which are yours?

Mormon Moment: Watch Laurie Maffly-Kipp, professor and chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explain "The Long Approach to the Mormon Moment: The Building of an American Church" in a lecture last week at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics in Missouri. She compares the politics of today with the early 20th century Mormon moment that involved Apostle James E. Talmage. It’s a fascinating comparison that helps place this moment more in context. She explains that Mitt Romney’s candidacy is highlighting the tensions of what it means to be a Mormon and American and “it raises an interesting question of all of us of ‘What would Mormons have to do, short of renouncing their religion, to be accepted in significant ways in the public square?’” Check it out!

Friday fun: If you haven’t yet seen this BYU video that is popular on Facebook feeds, you just have to click in to watch “Girls Get Easter Pranked with Live Animals.”

Emily W. Jensen updates "Today in the Bloggernacle" on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, presenting the best from the world of LDS-oriented blog sites. Her extended "Bloggernacle Back Bench" appears on Tuesdays. Email: ejensen@desnews.com