In honor of Mother's Day, following are two books and one film that tell the stories of three remarkable mothers:

From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island by Lorna Goodison describes this local poet's mother, Doris who grew up in a privileged family in Jamaica but then married a chauffeur, moved to urban Kingston and raised nine children.

A Remarkable Mother by former President Jimmy Carter is his loving tribute to Lillian Carter, a nurse serving troops in World War I and in her later years a Peace Corps volunteer in India.

My Flesh and Blood is a documentary about Susan Tom, a single mother, who adopted eleven special needs children.

Spring Storytimes ended with BEARS at Malletts Creek and Pittsfield Branches. You can find many versions of the Three Bears. Byron Barton's The Three Bears is perfect for littlest kids. Jan Brett's Goldilocks And The Three Bears has fabulous illustrations. Add action with Michael Rosen's We're Going On A Bear Hunt. If you also have kids in grade school you can continue the theme with the movie A Bear Named Winnie, the true story that inspired A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh.

The other night my son asked me a very profound question. "What would you do if you found out you only had two days left to live?" I told him that I'd spend it with my family. No parties, no wild adventures, no spending sprees, just time with my wife and kids. That got me thinking. What would I read if I could only read two books in my life. My first pick is the Bible. My second is The Hobbit.

Why The Hobbit you may ask? Well, the story of Bilbo, Gandalf and the thirteen dwarfs is a classic for all ages. Written by J. R. R. Tolkien, the story was originally intended to amuse his three sons. The library has several different versions of the story: Book on CD, Book on Cassette, DVD, graphic novel, large print, Spanish translation, and Korean translation.

So, if you could only read two books, what would they be?

If you loved the Death Note manga, you won’t want to miss the fabulous anime adaptation now available on dvd at the library. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, it’s the story of a bored high school student, Light Yagami, who takes justice into his own hands when he finds a notebook which gives him the power to kill simply by writing down someone’s name. But when criminals begin to die of unexplained causes, the authorities send the legendary and eccentric detective L to track down the killer. The cat-and-mouse chase between Light and L is one for the ages. Volumes 1, 2, and 3 are in, and volume 4 is on order. Add your name to the hold list today! For older teens and adults.

Girl detectives have come a long way since Nancy Drew first hopped into her roadster and solved The Secret of the Old Clock. Learn the history of the Nancy Drew series in Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak, or watch a modern-day girl detective in the tv show Veronica Mars. Or read Kelly Link’s amazing short story “The Girl Detective” from her collection Stranger Things Happen. (Don’t want to wait for the library’s copy to be returned? Download the book for free under a Creative Commons license, or listen to this free audiobook version of the story.) And tell us about your favorite girl detectives in the comments.

Parents struggle with creating healthy habits for children. One BIG issue these days is "Screen Time", homework, social behaviors, video games, computers, television, and how it all fits together. Perhaps these titles can help .... Taking Back Childhood and Grand Theft Childhood, or the following web site, and it's links.

David Walsh of the National Institute on Media and the Family, presented research on the topic at the Public Library Association 2008 Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota in March 2008.

If your book group has trouble getting enough copies for every member to read, the discussion is lackluster from time to time, or you're hard pressed for time reading the book--let alone researching author information and books reviews: The AADL's new service Book Clubs To Go is the answer.

In each of our attractively packaged Book Clubs to Go kits you will find:

* 10 copies of the book (many literary award winners and some in large print format)
* Book reviews and an author biography
* A list of thoughtful discussion questions (Believe me, our staff labored over these so you don't have to!)
* A list of "read alikes"
* and some helpful Book Group Tips to revive, revamp and revitalize any book group.

The kits circulate for 6 weeks and may be picked up at all library locations. Holds should be placed by a representative of the group.

Check out these hot new releases from Amazon which are now available at the Library:

The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep. Based on a novel by Dick King-Smith, author of The Sheep Pig from which Babe was adapted, this sweet and often visually spectacular story is about the friendship of a lonely boy with the Loch Ness Monster.

Sense and Sensibility, BBC production, 2008.
This is a charming new adaptation of Austen's novel in which the eternal conflict between money, status and love again play out.

Six Degrees Could Change the World, National Geographic. (on order)
By some, this documentary can be seen as "a non-fiction counterpoint" to the feature film, The Day After Tomorrow. Based on Mark Lynas's book, Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet, this film, narrated by Alec Baldwin, shows scientists and ordinary people who are already experiencing the effects of global warming.

The Saline Area Players will be presenting “Cheaper by the Dozen” on April 18, 19, 25 & 26 at 7:30 p.m. and April 20 & 26 at 2:00 at the Liberty School Theater, 7265 N. Ann Arbor St., Saline, Michigan. The play is dramatized by Christopher Sergel based on the book of the same name by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students through high school and seniors 65+. Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling 677-3727 or at the door. Special advance group rates are “cheaper by the dozen” – buy a dozen (tickets) and save a dozen (bucks)! Visit the website for more information. Meanwhile, you can also check out the 2003 DVD movie or the earlier 1950 version.

"There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew." ~Marshall McLuhan, 1964

Today, April 22 is the official anniversary of Earth Day which was first observed in 1970. Since then, both national and local groups hold celebrations, usually either the weekend before or after. In Ann Arbor, Earth Day festivities will be sponsored by the Leslie Science Center on Sunday, April 27. To become more knowledgeable about enviromental issues, check out the Library's wide ranging collection of materials on global warming and energy conservation.

Did you feel the earthquake this morning (Friday, April 18) at about 5:45 a.m.? The epicenter was in Illinois but some Ann Arborites who were up that early felt some weird vibrations. Adding to that weirdness was my discovery that on April 18, 1906, the catastrophic San Francisco earthquake hit, and because of resulting fires, most of the city burned to the ground. That quake measured 8.3 on the Richter scale and was felt from Southern Oregon to south of Los Angeles and as far east as central Nevada. Scientists later determined that the San Andreas Fault had moved about 23 feet. To learn more about earthquakes, check out the Library's books and dvds.

Huge, sweeping patterns of intricate, geometric shapes appear in fields of standing wheat and barley over night. No tracks appear leading to the shapes. The crop circles are perfectly formed - with mathematical precision and utilizing ancient symbols - they have created a following of “croppies” all over the world. Star Dreams investigates the phenomenon, interviewing true believers (in the other-worldly artists) and researchers, and providing dozens of aerial shots of the most breath-taking circles. Though you may argue about how they get here, there is no doubt they are mysterious and beautiful. Hundreds of circles appear in England every summer and you can track each one as it is reported. For more on crop circles try Secrets in the Fields: The Science and Mysticism of Crop Circles.

Watching The Waitress made me want to eat pie. (Even more so than hearing Andie MacDowell sing about pie in Michael. And almost as much as the Double R Diner scenes in Twin Peaks.) The waitress is Jenna, played by Keri Russell. She's adorable, young, newly pregnant, and has a not-so-great husband who keeps her on a short leash. She's also really good at "inventing" pies and knocking peoples' socks off with them at the local diner. She dreams big and wants to enter a pie contest, but of course her husband puts a stop to that. Feeling stifled, alone and downright sad she falls head over heels for her doctor. As she tries to figure out what to do with her love affair, her mean husband and her unwanted pregnancy, she relies on her fellow waitress friends and the surprise "friendship" of a cranky diner customer to keep her afloat. Ultimately, when a new little life is born, Jenna is finally able to be born herself and live the life she always knew she wanted but could never have. So, be warned- this charming and sassy film may have you itching for a slice of marshmallow mermaid pie.

Ann Arbor welcomes the 14th Dalai Lama this week for a two-day educational program, Saturday and Sunday, April 19 and 20, sponsored by Jewel Heart, Garrison Institute, and The Tibet Fund. The Dalai Lama is the subject of several works in the Library, including the recent book The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, currently on order; the award-winning film Kundun, by Martin Scorsese; and the DVD 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama. He's also written many books. For an excellent overview, try The Essential Dalai Lama: His Important Teachings. The Dalai Lama will deliver the Peter M. Wege Lecture on Sustainability at 2:00 p.m. Sunday in Crisler arena in conjunction with Ann Arbor Earth Day celebrations. A live broadcast will be carried on Michigan Channel 22 on Comcast cable in the greater Ann Arbor area and a live streaming video will be available at: http://umtv-live.rs.itd.umich.edu/pres/dalailama.asx.

About three minutes into The Darjeeling Limited, we watch a close up of a businessman running to the titular train pulling out of the station. All of a sudden, Adrien Brody’s character pops into frame and overtakes the man to the crunching opening chords of The Kinks’ “This Time Tomorrow,” and is able to throw himself aboard while the businessman falls into the distance, all in slow motion no less, and I knew I was going to love this movie already.

No one makes a film quite like Wes Anderson does. Bottle Rocket showed promise, Rushmore fulfilled said promise, and his unique filmmaking style culminated in The Royal Tenenbaums. And even though I actually liked The Life Aquatic (so much so that its cool reception actually surprised me,) I will admit it didn’t offer anything particularly new, and when a director releases a movie only every three years or so, especially a director so unconventional, one so-so movie will raise the questions, “Does he still have it in him, or is he just rehashing a formula?” making this next movie much more important.