Marian Anderson, whose deep, resonant voice, moved people to tears, became a symbol of the struggle for civil rights. The refusal by the Daughters of the American Revolution to allow Anderson to sing in Constitution Hall in 1939 ignited a controversy that opened peoples' minds to the meaning of freedom. It also unexpectedly created a new musical opportunity in the huge outdoor concert held at the Lincoln Memorial as an alternative. Russell Freedman does a wonderful job in The Voice That Challenged a Nation depicting Anderson's early life growing up in Philadelphia and her concert tours through Europe. Photos from archives enrich the telling.

Check out a poetry slam at the Neutral Zone this year or read Listen Up!:Spoken Word Poetry. Even rockers are getting in on the act. Henry Rollins from Black Flag and The Rollins Band has become a popular spoken word performer who will present his sarcastic socio-political work at the Michigan Theater on October 26th at 7:30 pm.

Ramadan will begin next week. Click the link to see
some Youth books that cover the subject of Ramadan.

Spartan fans of the World Unite! And while we’re waiting for the big game, read up on it’s history in Backyard Brawl: The Storied Rivalry of Michigan-Michigan State Football. Sparty also recommends The Spartans: A Story of Michigan State Football. Hungry for more? John Madden’s Ultimate Tailgating will give you the edge off the field as the Spartans march down the field to Victory!

M. Scott Peck, author of the bestselling The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth (1978), died September 25, 2005.

A Harvard graduate with a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University, School of Medicine, Dr. Peck launched his literary career after ten years as a practicing psychiatrist. His very first sentence in The Road Less Traveled, “Life is difficult,” is at the heart of his belief that once people accept that fact, they can experience a life of deep rewards and valuable lessons.

Dr. Peck, who was 69, was the author of more than 15 books, including A Bed by the Window: A Novel of Mystery and Redemption (1990), Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey toward Spiritual Growth (1993), and The Road Less Traveled and Beyond: Spiritual Growth in an Age of Anxiety (1997)

Gregory Maguire, whose Wicked (1995), is enjoying a second life as a big-budget Broadway Musical will release its much-anticipated sequel Son of a Witch on Sept. 29th.
The story picks up where Dorothy did in Elphaba Thropp, the Wicked Witch of the West and brought about spectacular changes in the Land of Oz – not all of them pleasant. A caravan leader stumbled upon a badly hurt young man, Liir, who might be the dead witch’s rumored secreted son. The ensuing tale is one of great drama, eccentric characters and object lessons.

Leap back 100 years with Brown Angels:an Album of Pictures and Verse. The book displays sepia-tone photos of African-American children from the turn-of-the-century, in companion with poetry by Walter Dean Myers. Bring the timeline forward to today and read So Much about an exciting birthday within an extended family and Yo! Yes?, the first conversation of a budding new friendship.

Mississippi is an Ojibwe word meaning “Great River.” Monday on the Mississippi makes you feel you're in a boat flowing down the river through the states from the Minnesota source to the Louisiana mouth. Steamboat! the Story of Captain Blanche Leathers is a biography of the first female steamboat captain. Blanche married Bowling Leathers, captain of the Natchez, the fastest and grandest steamboat on the Mississippi. Blanche joined her husband in the pilot house and was taught everything he knew. In 1894 she passed the difficult exam and became a “Steamboatman”.

Put mystery and science together and you get a cool thing called forensic science. If you are a big fan of the television show CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), then you know what I'm talking about. Check out our graphic novel collection based on the series, CSI and CSI Miami.

If you are in to hands on science, check out our CSI program on October 1st. There are still spots open for the 1pm program. Just call the Youth Department desk at 327-8301.

The value of a library is the ideas it holds and shares. It is Banned Books Week season, and The Librarian Of Basra is the true story, told in a picture book, of a brave Librarian in Iraq, Alia Muhammad Baker, who saved the contents of her library during war.