Need a distraction? Here's five of our favourite big reads

Since splitting their Instagram accounts it's been a tale of two social media accounts. Photo / Getty Images

The Covid-19 pandemic has thrown most of the world off its axis. It's taken lives, impacted the health of thousands of people and interrupted our very way of life.

It's easy to be overwhelmed by all the information coming at you, so it's important to take your mind off things, even for a little while.

To help you with this we've pulled together some of our favourite big reads from our international partners. There's not a Covid-19 story in sight, promise.

Today we take a look at the royal instagram mystery, how to raise high-flying children, 50 years of Sesame Street music, teens declaring virginity rocks, and the young refugee taking on Elon Musk.

A royal Instagram mystery

While sovereignty operates under hierarchy, it survives by public support. What happens, then, when monarchical order is pitted against social popularity?

On Instagram: a mystery.

This is a tale of two social media accounts, both alike in dignity, yet cast as star-cross'd competitors on Instagram, where we lay our scene.

Caity Weaver of The New York Times takes us back a year, to when one royal brand was cleaved in two.

That's when things got weird.

Harry and Meghan's @SussexRoyal account looked poised to surpass William and Kate's @KensingtonRoyal account in followers. Instead, they grew in lock step. Photo / Getty Images

Secret of success: Esther Wojcicki on how she raised three world-beating children

Esther Wojcicki is the mother of three wildly successful women: Susan, 50, her eldest, was employee No 16 at Google and since 2014 has been the chief executive of YouTube. Her younger sister Anne, 45, founded the in-home genetics testing company 23andMe. Janet, 48, the middle sister, is a professor of paediatrics at the renowned medical school of the University of California, San Francisco.

Esther Wojcicki tells Danny Fortson of The Times how to raise children as impressive as her three high-flyers.

Anne Wojcicki (23andMe founder) Janet Wojcicki (paediatrics professor) and Susan Wojcicki (YouTube CEO) have risen to the top of their fields. Photo / Getty Images

How Sesame Street started a musical revolution

Since its inception in 1969, Sesame Street has redefined what it means to teach children through TV, with music as its resounding voice.

Big-name stars lined up to make guest appearances that have become the stuff of legend.

The New York Times looks at how pop stars have been singing the Muppets' tunes (and vice versa) for 50 years.

Elmo, a very musical Muppet, has been a big part of the evolution of songs on Sesame Street. Photo / Vincent Tullo, The New York Times

Teenagers are declaring 'virginity rocks'

Some are wearing them in jest. Others sport them sincerely.

But whatever their motivation, teenagers have been going wild for shirts that bear a chaste declaration: "Virginity Rocks."

The trend has puzzled some school administrators, who have banned the shirts only to face criticism, and other adults, who have wondered if youth abstinence is on the rise.

Sapna Maheshwari of The New York Times look at how a clothing item inspired by a YouTube star has stumped adults.

Danny Duncan, who popularised "Virginity Rocks" shirts on YouTube, in West Hollywood. Photo / Samuel Trotter, The New York Times

Meet the Bosnian refugee taking on Elon Musk

Nine years ago, on the streets of Zagreb, there was a drag race. One of the participants was driving the new Tesla Roadster. The other car was a 26-year-old BMW, driven by a Bosnian-born former refugee, who only converted it to electricity because he could not afford to put in a new petrol engine.

We know what happened to Elon Musk. What about the man who beat him, Mate Rimac?

Tom Whipple of The Times goes for a (very speed) test drive with the man transforming the automotive industry.

Mate Rimac is redefining the limits of electric cars. Photo / Facebook