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In the Beginning...

by RiponGood

There was the Dragons of Autumn Twilight. It's hard to believe the entire Dragonlance series started over 20 years ago. Written by Margaret_Weis and Tracey_Hickman to support Advance Dungeons and Dragons, the Dragonlance series has grown to include over 90 novels and 16 adventures for the game. I remember as a teenage rpg junkie when I first read the book. I just had to get the corresponding modules, which I never did play. So, if you love the Dragonlance series or fantasy in general, be sure to read the first book and see where it all started.

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Blog Post

Hikaru no Go

by joy k

Hikaru Shindo is just your average lazy middle schooler, not anyone you would expect to be interested in old timers' game like Go. But one day he finds an old Go board in his grandfather's attic, and he's the only one who can hear the weird voice coming from it. He faints in surprise, and when he wakes up, Sai, the ghost of a Heian Go master, has become part of Hikaru's consciousness. And after Hikaru meets a go genius his own age, he's inspired to learn the game for himself. Want to know what happens next? Follow the whole story in the Hikaru no Go manga and anime. Interested in learning the game? Check out some of the library’s great books on how to play, or attend a meeting of the Ann Arbor Go Club.

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Little House on the Prairie Tunes Come to Life

by manz

Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books are noted for telling tales of frontier life. Not often mentioned are the over one hundred musical references in her books.
Happy Land Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder
is a CD that features a selection of these classic American songs that are ready to get your toes tapping if you’re not already setting off to reread your favorite Little House book. Fans of the Little House on the Prairie books might call this a soundtrack to the books that brings the sounds and music of the stories to life. Pa Ingalls would have his fiddle in high gear with this CD!

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The Life of Stile

by RiponGood

Stile is a serf on Proton and a player of the Game. His alternate self, the Blue Adept, on Phaze has been killed and now Stile can travel between the worlds. Can Stile find his enemy that kis trying to kill him on both worlds? You can follow Stiles adventures on both worlds in Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series, Split Infinity, Blue Adept, and Juxtaposition.

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Tellebration!

by StoryLaura

When was the last time you treated yourself to an hour of story listening? A balm to the soul. This is the weekend, with tellebrations happening all over the country and in your own Ann Arbor. The family story fun for ages 5 and up will be this Sunday, November 11 at 2:00 pm at the Pittsfield Branch with the Ann Arbor Storyteller's Guild. As an extra added bonus, a magnificent gift is raffled off each year made by talented artist and teller Judy Schmidt!

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Blog Post

The Education of Little Tree

by muffy

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has pulled a discredited children's book, Forrest Carter's The Education of Little Tree, from a list of recommended titles on her Web site, blaming an archival "error" for including a work considered to be the literary hoax of a white supremacist, according to the International Herald Tribune. Carter, who died in 1979, was identified as Asa Earl Carter, a member of the Ku Klux Klan and speechwriter for former Alabama governor George Wallace.

First published in 1976, Little Tree was supposedly the real-life story of an orphaned boy raised by his Cherokee Indian grandparents; the book became a million seller and sentimental favorite. In 1991, the American Booksellers Association gave "Little Tree" its first ever ABBY award, established to honor the 'hidden treasures' that ABA bookstore members most enjoyed recommending.

According to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks about 70 percent of industry sales, Little Tree" has sold about 11,000 copies in 2007.

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Library Lions

by muffy

Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese was honored Monday, along with historian John Hope Franklin, author Jhumpa Lahiri, and playwright Tom Stoppard by the New York Public Library as this year's Library Lions.

"Library Lions honorees were chosen for their exceptional contributions to scholarship, literature, science, history and the visual and performing arts," library president Paul LeClerc said.

The Library Lions award was first given out in 1997.

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The "Other" Coraline and More Spooky Books to Come

by Cherie Lee

Neil Gaiman already does pretty well for himself with popular works like the Sandman, American Gods, and Stardust which is now a major motion picture (and a really good one at that, if you missed it in the theatre, you definitely need to see it on DVD.) But I predict that in another year he'll be getting more recognition for his children's books, particularly Coraline, which is slated to be a stop-motion film in 2009 by Henry Selick who did The Nightmare Before Christmas (I know Tim Burton's famous for that but Selick directed it).

Coraline is a beautifully crafted horror/fantasy for kids about a bored little girl who opens a door that normally leads only to a brick wall to find an apartment exactly like her own except there is a creature with long fingernails and button eyes who says she is Coraline's "Other Mother"...

Gaiman is also working on, and perhaps has already finished though it's not yet published, another children's book to be called The Graveyard Book. I wait in drooling anticipation after hearing him do a reading which you can also see here.

Then there’s a book for younger kids called Crazy Hair illustrated by Dave McKean with a projected publication in 2008. It has to be the best poem for kids I’ve ever heard and you can also hear that one here. I challenge you not to smile.

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Blog Post

Guitar Hero 3

by jaegerla

Guitar Hero 3 is amazing. The song selection is great, there are more options for the multi-player mode, the graphics are much improved from the previous versions', there are more stylistic choices for the characters, and there are now cut scenes between the levels (contributing to the storyline). While the design of the gameplay itself may be pretty basic, it doesn't change the fact that this is a great, addictive game. Even though this system obviously doesn't have many similarities to true guitar playing, it provides something very valuable for the player in addition to the sheer fun: interest in taking on an instrument. If you've become curious about playing the guitar, you should check out the wide variety of resources the library has on learning the instrument, including

Playing the Guitar
Essential Guitar Chords: Everything You Need to Play Basic Guitar
The Complete Guitar Course
and Teach Yourself Guitar.

Whether you love Guitar Hero or not, you have to admit that the creators of the game succeeded in what they originally set out to do: to imitate the experience of creating music for people that otherwise would not get to enjoy that side of the music.

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Kid Bits - Gift Ideas

by ryanikoglu

Holiday season is near and folks minds turn to gifting. An excellent title to help make choices on gifts for children of all ages is Oppenheim Toy Portfolio. This book is a consumer tool for "best toys, books & DVDs for kids". The 2007 edition is in all Library Branches. The part I like best is they suggest free or cheap play alternatives among the listings.