Blog Post
Probuditi! by Chris Van Allsburg
by Tahira
For Calvin’s birthday Mama gave him two tickets to see Lomax the Magnificent. Calvin asks his best friend Rodney to come along. The boys are amazed at the hypnotic skills of Lomax and try it out on Calvin’s little sister. With a clever twist at the end, awarding winning author, Chris Van Allsburg, weaves a fun and interesting tale in Probuditi. The brown hues and lifelike illustrations give the book an old fashioned feel.
Blog Post
It's all sewn up.
by Maxine
Besides the wearin' of the green, try a range of colors on March 17, National Quilting Day. Quilts have been used as navigation tools for African Americans fleeing slavery, to warm wounded soldiers, and to express the cultural traditions of many countries. This day represents a grass roots effort to unite quilters around the world. Organizations, groups and individuals are encouraged to join NQA and to promote quilting in their communities.
Quilting is alive and strong in the Ann Arbor area. In fact, this weekend, the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild will be presenting a talk, "Treasures in the Trunk," followed by a showing and sale of quilts by members. For more information, call 878-6396.
The Library has a rich collection of books on quilting as well as inspiring stories about how quilts can be catalysts for building community and a folklore all its own.Whitney Otto's How to Make an American Quilt is one such story.
Blog Post
New Fiction on the New York Times Best Sellers List (3/11/07)
by Mazie
There is just one new entry on the List this week. Nora Roberts is back with her latest bestseller. While it seems as if she has written a gazillion books, the last time I checked it was hovering around 124. (You can view a complete list on her web site.) Since 1999 most of them, if not all, have been on bestseller lists. Even the ones written under her pseudonym of J.D. Robb.
Innocent Blood is #24 in her futuristic cop series featuring Lt. Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband Roarke. While Eve spends her days investigating a murder at a posh private school, Roarke spends his time with an old flame.
While many prolific authors start to coast or have hirelings write their new material, Roberts has maintained her winning ways and stayed on top.
Blog Post
Kid Bits - "Easy" chapter books
by ryanikoglu
Like Goosebumps? Like Chillers? Like Bailey School Kids? Do you know about Ghostville Elementary? You better try one, or else!! The first two are Ghost Class and Ghost Game.
Blog Post
Kid Bits - "easy" chapter books
by ryanikoglu
Are you in Elementary School? Do you read books like Junie B. Jones, Unicorn Secrets, Zack Files, and Animal Ark? Then you can read books like Ruby Lu Empress Of Everything by Lenore Look; Boo's Dinosaur by Betsy Byars; Gloria Rising by Ann Cameron; and Akimbo And The Elephants by Alexander McCall Smith.
Blog Post
Kid Bits - NEW "easy" chapter books
by ryanikoglu
NEW books for kids who are reading "thin" chapter books are always coming in. I see the following NEW titles by Kate DiCamillo on the shelf, Mercy Watson Goes For A Ride and Mercy Watson Fights Crime. Mercy Watson joins Babe, and Wilbur in delightful pig literature. If you already found Mercy Watson To The Rescue you will like these additions. You can also find them in audio-book for car rides. =)
Blog Post
National Pi Day: March 14 (Also Einstein's Birthday, Born in 1879)
by Van
Daniel Tammet, author of Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant: a Memoir, in 2004 “raised money for an epilepsy charity by memorizing and publicly reciting the number pi to 22, 514 digits – a new European record” (New York Times, February 15, 2007, page F1).
The article continues:
“His decision to memorize and recite the digits of pi was an important turning point. Racked by nervousness the night before the recitation, he fell into a deep sleep and dreamed that he was walking through the landscape of pi -- that he was actually deep inside the number, enveloped by its sights and colors and textures.
The recitation took place at the Museum of the History of Science in Oxford, lasted five hours and nine minutes and was monitored by students from the department of mathematical sciences at Oxford Brookes University. Mr. Tammet made no mistakes.
''I wanted to go as far into the other place as I could go,'' he said, speaking of the world of numbers. ''Having reached that point, I felt I felt a kind of release because I could look back and in my mind's eye I could see all the numbers -- all 22,000 numbers in my head -- and I actually turned around in my head and waved them good-bye, because I knew that I wasn't going to see them again, I wasn't going to do something like that again.”
Read a recent book on mathematics to celebrate Pi Day:
The Artist and the Mathematician: the Story of Nicolas Bourbaki, the Genius Mathematician Who Never Existed by Amir D. Aczel. The book is about a “group of French mathematicians who in the 1930s decided to publish their collective work under an imaginary name” (Publishers Weekly, October 10. 2006).
How Mathematics Happened: the First 50,000 Years by Peter S. Rudman: the evolution of number systems (the Babylonian base-60 and the Mayan base-20) and the development of mathematical proofs by the Greeks.
The Mobius Strip: Dr. August Mobius’s Marvelous Band in Mathematics, Games, Literature, Art, Technology, and Cosmology by Clifford A. Pickover: the story of the twisted strip with only one side.
Blog Post
It’s Not Easy Being Mean (Clique Series)
by jillean
If you thought The Plastics from Mean Girls were especially callous, watch out for The Clique in Lisi Harrison's Clique Series. The latest It’s Not Easy Being Mean is on Amazon.com Teen Top Sellers list.
Clique Series (Books 1 - 7)
The Clique
Best Friends For Never
Revenge of the Wannabes
Invasion of the Boy Snatchers
The Pretty Committee Strikes Back
Dial L for Loser
It’s Not Easy Being Mean
Blog Post
The Braid
by K.C.
When their family is evicted from the Western Isles of Scotland in 1850, teenage sisters Jeannie and Sarah are torn apart. Jeannie goes with her parents and younger siblings to Cape Breton, Canada. Her older sister, Sarah, hides so she can stay behind with Grandma. Before they separate, the sisters braid their hair together, and cut it off, each taking half of the braid.
Though likely separated for life Sarah and Jeannie each tell their stories through poems that are knitted together and resonate with those things most important to both sisters, home, security, and heritage. The Braid made the 2007 Best Books for Young Adults list.
Blog Post
Hot Vegetarian Cookbooks, For Everyone!
by manz
The AADL has many cookbooks to browse through. If you’re looking for something different, or something yummy, why not check out some tried and true vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. They are sure to please both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Vegan With a Vengeance has simple and delicious recipes. By the same author is Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. The book is just that; all cupcake recipes that are sure to make any dessert lover’s hot list. Fresh From The Vegetarian Slow Cooker is packed with many easy recipes that require staples you’re sure to have around the house. Throw them in the slow cooker and come home to a tasty meal. Last but not least, The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen is full of authentic recipes rich in flavor. These books definitely make cooking fun, and even healthy.