Blog Post
Wonderful World Languages # 2
by krayla
Did you make a new year’s resolution to learn a new language? According to TIME, learning something new is the 3rd most broken resolution. With the help of AADL you never have to feel like it’s a lost cause! The Library has plenty of resources for you to learn languages, including Chinese, Spanish, French, German, and more (click on "language learning").
To look up some of those mysterious words in another language, the Library even has bilingual dictionaries to check out.
Want to get your kids involved? They can check out our online Muzzy Program (you need to log in to your library user account or use a library computer). They can use this free service to learn language lessons, watch videos, and play with vocabulary.
Blog Post
Wonderful World Languages # 1
by krayla
Movie goers, musical fans, and book lovers alike have fallen in love with the new film “Les Miserables,” which premiered on December 25 of this past year. Already “Les Mis,” as it is affectionately called by fans, has earned 8 Oscar nominations. To complement seeing the film, try checking out some related materials, including other movie adaptations, broadway performances, complete and abridged books, and sheet music. If you have the gift of understanding French, AADL even has the original novel and a French version of the movie.
For more information about the new movie, please visit their website for photos, production notes, trivia, videos, and more.
Blog Post
The Next Generation in Downloading eBooks and Audiobooks
by Stewart
Overdrive users will be pleased with the new "Next Generation" platform from Overdrive. Go to our download page to take a look at the new digs and watch this video to learn more about the new experience. On the same page, read the step-by-step instructions that highlight what's new. The new format, Overdrive READ, allows you to read your book with your internet browser, no download required. After you begin reading, be sure to click on the bookmark in the upper-left corner of a book page to save as an internet bookmark or favorite. Also new are the enhanced filtering options including always available books, a list of free public domain titles that never expire and don’t count against your library checkout limit.
Blog Post
Let's Party with Gemini!
by StoryLaura
Let’s celebrate with my dear friends, the awesome Gemini, on Sunday, January 13 at 2 pm at the Downtown Library with music and stories galore! I knew the first time I met these talented twin boys, when we were just young punks, that they would bring harmony to A2 on so many levels. Even when I moved far away to Boston, my family danced to the Deli song before we had ever tasted a Zingerman’s Gemini sandwich and my daughter convinced us to get a dog by singing the Puppy Love song until we had to give in! See you there this Sunday!
Blog Post
Delightful Audiobook for Kids
by skcramer
Did you ever want to learn to play the piano?
That’s what ten-year-old Zoe Elias wants more than anything in the world, but when her father brings home an organ rather than an elegant baby grand, Zoe’s dreams of playing concerts at Carnegie Hall are replaced with competing in the local Perform-O-Rama organ competition. It may not be what Zoe expected, but she just might find it a crooked kind of perfect.
Linda Urban’s debut novel, set here in Michigan, is funny and poignant and hopeful as it chronicles Zoe’s musical dreams, her quirky family and her lost and found friendships. Give A Crooked Kind of Perfect a listen.
Blog Post
On This Day in History--January 8th: Elvis Presley was born in 1935
by nicole
Elvis Presley was born today on January 8th, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi. Known to many as the King of Rock and Roll, Elvis got his start in the music industry singing for Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records, in 1954. Phillips, who had hoped to find someone who could do justice to the songs and sound of African-American musicians and provide those songs with a broader audience, took Presley under his wing and had him record a few cover songs that made their way onto the radio. They were an instant and overwhelming hit.
Elvis went on to become one of the most important artists in 20th century pop culture and the best-selling solo artist in the history of popular music, releasing dozens of albums and singles, including From Elvis in Memphis and Elvis's Christmas Album. His unique voice, style, and his interpretations of songs from African-American sources made him a wildly popular and highly controversial figure. He made his film debut in Love Me Tender in 1956 and continued to appear in many other films in the years following. Nominated for 14 Grammys, he won three, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36. He has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.
Follow the links and you'll find many of Elvis's albums (and a few biographies!) in AADL's collection.
Related Posts:
Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti Reads Event: Film & Discussion: Blacking Up: Hip-Hop's Remix of Race and Identity
Blog Post
Patti Page, 1950s pop and country singer, has died
by sernabad
Patti Page, who topped the 1950s charts selling 100 million records, died yesterday in Encinitas, California.
Ms. Page was the first singer to overdub her own harmonies, with the help of Mitch Miller, musician and record producer. In 1948, she was strapped for funds so she used the overdub technique for Confess, which became her first hit single.
Her second number one hit is the beloved Tennessee Waltz . It has sold more than 15 million copies and enjoyed renewed popularity as part of the sound track for the 1983 movie, The Right Stuff, starring Glen Scott, Ed Harris, and Dennis Quaid.
Another of her signature tunes was the popular children's tune, (How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window, her fourth million-copy seller in 1953.
Until recently, Ms. Page who had maintained a busy performance career throughout the decades, gave 50 concerts a year. She was 85 years old when she died.
Blog Post
eMedia @ AADL
by Stewart
Wednesday January 2, 2013: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Training Center
Come learn how to:
- Log in and search for ebooks and audiobooks using the Midwest Collaborative for Library Services,
- Use Adobe Digital Editions and the Overdrive Media Console,
- Get library books for your Kindle, Nook, or iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch,
- Listen to AADL Podcasts and download music, and
- Watch AADL Video on Demand.
Please bring your library card, laptop, smartphone, tablet, or other device. Registration is not required. Classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Go to aadl.org/classes for the complete schedule.
See you in class!
Blog Post
Audiobook for Teens
by skcramer
One of the best things about audiobooks is finding a voice that makes the character come alive, a voice that makes you feel as if the character herself is speaking to you. I found such a voice in Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Dairy Queen.
Fifteen-year-old D. J. Schwenk has always done what was expected of her, taking on the brunt of running her family’s small Wisconsin dairy farm when her father injured his hip. When a family friend sends Brian Nelson, the quarterback from her high school’s rival football team, to help out on the Schwenks’ farm that summer, D. J. decides to do something unexpected and try out for her high school’s own football team.
Narrator Natalie Moore’s perfect Wisconsin accent brings this hilarious story to life, and whether you’re a football fan or not, you’ll find yourself cheering D. J. on in her quest to try something unexpected. The series continues with The Off Season and Front and Center.
Blog Post
The Magic of Hearing a Story Aloud
by skcramer
There is no denying the magic of a story read aloud. If you’re looking for a little extra magic in your audiobooks, then these fairy-tale titles may just do the trick:
The Frog Princess by E. D. Baker; read by Kathleen Kellgren (5 hours, 30 minutes)
After reluctantly kissing a frog, an awkward, fourteen-year-old princess suddenly finds herself turned into a frog, too, and sets off with the prince to seek the means – and self-confidence – to become human again. A hilarious fractured fairy tale.
The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley; read by L. J. Ganser (6 hours,15 minutes)
Orphans Sabrina and Daphne Grimm are sent to live with an eccentric grandmother that they have always believed to be dead. The first in the series of fairy-tale inspired mysteries.
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale; read by Cynthia Bishop and the Full Cast Family (10 hours)
Princess Anidori, on her way to marry a prince she has never met, is betrayed by her guards and her lady-in-waiting and must become a goose girl to survive until she can reveal her true identity and reclaim the crown that is rightfully hers. Adapted from the Grimms’ fairy tale.
Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine; read by Eden Riegel (5 hours, 42 minutes)
In this novel based on the story of Cinderella, Ella struggles against the childhood curse that forces her to obey any order given to her. Winner of the 1998 Newbery Honor medal.