Olga is one of my favorite guinea pigs!
We have not had her story in the Library since the books wore out.
Now ... Olga Da Polga is Ba-a-ack!
If you like Charlotte and Wilbur I bet you will like Olga.

You can find Tales Of Olga Da Polga on the NEW Book shelves in each Branch Library.
Olga is also in recorded format Tales Of Olga Da Polga and Olga Meets Her Match.
If you like to read stories of animals and pets, try my personal recommendations from this list:
Animal Rescue Team series by Susan Stauffacher, a Michigan author.
Mitt The Michigan Mouse and more by Kathy Jo Wargin, a Michigan author.

Then check out Turkish Delight & Treasure Hunts : delightful treats and games from classic children's books and plan a celebration with your family and friends.

Just about this time each year, with the first hint of spring, I've found myself humming April in Paris, and thoughts tend to drift to the City of Light. Now debut novelist Hilary Reyl will take us there, through the painterly eyes of a young American artist, in Lessons in French.

1989, a time of social and political upheaval. Her fluent French got new Yale grad Kate hired by famous American photojournalist Lydia Schell as her assistant. Kate is thrilled with the chance to pursue her dreams as a painter, but also to return to France where, as a child she was sent to live with cousins while her father was dying.

Immediately she is dazzled by the Schell's fashionable Sixth Arrondissement home, frequented by their famous friends, and falls into the orbit of a band of independently wealthy young men with royal lineage. Impressionable and wanting badly to fit in, Kate deliberately engages in a forbidden romance, becoming deeply enmeshed in the drama of this volatile household, and the ever-more questionable requests they make of her. In the meantime, Kate struggles with her own art.

"In compelling and sympathetic prose, Hilary Reyl perfectly captures this portrait of a precocious, ambitious young woman struggling to define herself in a vibrant world that spirals out of her control. Lessons in French is at once a love letter to Paris and the story of a young woman finding herself, her moral compass, and, finally, her true family".

French literature scholar (Ph.D. NYU) Reyl's first novel is rich and magnetic. Will appeal to readers who enjoy novels of Americans in Paris and other coming-of-age stories.

Bomboclats are trying something new! Invention, composition, and imagination are at your fingertips with Legos. The sky is the limit when you create with these self locking building blocks. Where will the new drop zone be? Your bedroom, basement, classroom, back yard, or community center? You decide, the power is in your hands! Check out all things Lego starting here!

Ms. Rachel did stories about MONSTERs for Preschool Storytime this week ... and we fell in love with them.
We fed the "The Very Hungry Thing" until finally it said "Thank You".
We scared the "Big Green Monster" away... all by ourselves... with support from each other.

If you like to observe monsters from afar ... and talk about monsters ... and not get too scared ... here are more books for you.
Your Pal Mo Willems Presents Leonardo The Terrible Monster by Mo Willems
Go Away Big green Monster by Ed Emberley
Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Bedtime For Monsters by Ed Vere
There Was An Old Monster by Rebecca Emberley
How To Potty Train Your Monster by Kelly DiPucchio

If you want to find the best monsters for YOU, follow this link into the catalog.

Wild Swan Theater presents "Shipwrecked!" March 14-16 in Towsley Auditorium in the WCC Morris Lawrence Building. This original play, appropriate for kids in about grades 3-8, was written by accomplished local playwright Jeff Duncan. The story is a coming-of-age drama set during a fierce storm on Lake Huron in 1893. Twelve year-old Aaron Buchanan is sailing with his parents on their small schooner loaded with Christmas trees. Aaron's mettle is tested when a fierce gale hits "Shipwreck Alley," and he helps rescue his family. The play is based on historical accounts of the time and should give young people a good chance to learn some of the history, geography, music and maritime heritage of Michigan and the Great Lakes. For those families who may want to learn more about shipwrecks before going to the play, AADL has some great resources.

Red Cat Blue Cat by Jenni Desmond is the story of two cats. Blue Cat stayed upstairs, and Red Cat stayed downstairs, and when they crossed paths they always hissed at each other. Blue Cat didn’t know that Red Cat secretly wished he were as smart as Blue Cat, and little did Red Cat know that Blue Cat wished he was fast and bouncy like Red Cat. One day they both come up with the best idea! Blue Cat will dress up as Red Cat and Red Cat will dress up as Blue Cat. Well, it doesn’t quite go as planned and in the end they find out that they like being themselves more than anyone else, and surprisingly, after all that ruckus, the two cats end up friends. It’s a super cute picture book with wonderful illustrations and a surprise ending that both small children and grown-ups will enjoy reading together.

Currently the bestselling teen book on Amazon is Angelfall(Penryn and the End of Days, Book 1, the debut novel of Susan Ee. Romantic and dystopic, this novel has spent 97 days so far on Amazon's list of the top 100 teen books. It was written for readers about age 14 and up.

The novel opens shortly after angels of the apocolypse descended to destroy the world, seeking revenge against humans for killing the archangel Gabriel. When warrior angels grab a little girl, the child's 17-year-old sister, Penryn, makes a deal with Raffe, a handsome injured angel, and they set out through Northern California toward San Francisco, the angels' stronghold.

According to Amazon, the author "used to be a lawyer but loves being a writer because it allows her souped up imagination to bust out and go feral."

I love gardening and look forward to spring when all the new buds start coming up. In the winter I continue my plant obsession indoors and a great way to get inspired was by perusing the book, the Unexpected Houseplant by Tovah Martin. Beautiful pictures, wonderful ideas, some plants and trees I never even considered for the indoors like Cupressus arizonica (or Blue Ice), or heard of before like Kangaroo Paws. Her writing draws you into her Victorian home located on 7 acres in Connecticut and overflowing with abundant flowers, herbs, and beautiful plant combos like sedum 'Angelina' with blue fescue. The plants are just as much a part of the pictures as the containers and the rooms themselves. The book's chapters are divided into seasons and describe not only each houseplant for the season, but the care, light exposure, water requirements, optimum temps, and any problems to note. Tovah Martin has a blog you can follow called Plantswise and many books, one in particular covers the rediscovered joy of terrariums, called The New Terrarium.

In popular fiction, the atom bomb destroys not only physical matter, but also society and even reality as we know it. Nuclear destruction is the modern day equivalent of the biblical flood that wipes out the world and its entrenched order. Unfortunately (according to the imaginations of most writers) this tends to lead to an even more brutal world instead of giving our children a clean slate and a fresh start. I guess we’ll never learn. Here are a few of my favorite post-nuclear-war graphic novels.

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind – This ecological parable from the artists of Studio Ghibli follows a teenage girl caught up in a war for the dwindling resources of the planet.

V for Vendetta – A masked crusader fights for freedom against the corrupt government in the post-nuclear totalitarian state of England.

Barefoot Gen – After the bomb destroys Hiroshima, Gen, his mother, and his little brother must find a way to survive and carry on with their lives.

The Dark Tower – The Gunslinger rides to meet his destiny among the sorceries and plots of his war-torn world.

Akira – Neo-Tokyo sits on the ruins of the old city, which was destroyed by a mysterious blast years earlier. Now history is beginning to repeat itself.

A current resident of Ann Arbor has a story to tell about her remarkable survival during a period of tremendous upheaval and bloodshed a lifetime ago and an ocean away. Miriam Garvil's autobiography "I Have To Survive: Miriam's Story" is available on Amazon and is the culmination of twenty years' worth of work. Ninety-two year old Garvil, who resides in an assisted living facility in Ann Arbor, began writing with the encouragement of social worker Ruth Campbell, who continued to assist Garvil's work even after retiring herself.

"I Have To Survive" reveals the author's past growing up in Poland before the outbreak of the Second World War, and recounts her memories of the concentration camps Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. She lost her mother, father and sister in the camps, and recalls her promise to her father: "If you don't survive, I will survive for you".

You can find more information on Miriam Garvil and her story in this month's issue of the Ann Arbor Observer.