Hey, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. It's almost Oscars time, so let's talk about actors. In a bit, we'll hear from Isaac Butler and his book about method acting, which when you hear the phrase, you might picture a certain type of actor, maybe kind of an annoying one. And as you hear in the interview, that's not

totally off-based, but it's not the whole picture of the method either. But first, Sarah Polly was a

child actor, and it was tough. The job somehow led to her being eight years old on set in a rowboat

with explosions going off all around her, you know,

not the best environment for a young kid growing up. She's got a new essay collection called

Run Towards the Danger. And she told NPR Sasha Pfeiffer about confronting the memories of that

and some other big hardships in her life head on. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Writer, director, and actress Sarah Pauley began acting at the age of four.

In less than a decade, she was starring in a popular Canadian TV series, and she was

a lead character in the movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

We've got to get back and save the town! Don't fret! The town is in no immediate danger!

Her life seemed idyllic.

Polly had fame, money, and success all before turning 20.

But she was also dealing with the death of her mother, her father's negligence, and serious scoliosis,

all of which she recounts in her new book, Run Towards the Danger.

The title comes from advice she was given by a doctor after a debilitating concussion.

The thing that he told me in our first meeting was, if you remember nothing else from this meeting, remember this, run towards the danger.

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