After President John Kennedy was assassinated Nov. 22, 1963, his widow Jaqueline Kennedy commissioned Mass: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers in his honor. The composer and conductor was Leonard Bernstein. Based on a Catholic mass, the piece was both controversial and memorable. Some selections may sound familiar, particularly “Almighty Father“ and “A Simple Song.”

Ashlee Simpson has just recently released her second album I Am Me. The burning question is – Can she even sing? Critics and fans have been arguing this question ever since she emerged from her sister’s shadow (famed reality star Jessica Simpson). Of course, her lip-synching fiasco on Saturday Night Live didn’t help prove her talents. Either way, her CD has been booming since its release. The first single ‘Boyfriend’ peaked at #19, and is currently positioned at #47, on Billboard’s Charts (a song that she claims is NOT about Lindsay Lohan and Wilmer Valderrama).

November is National Adoption Month, and amid all the publicity, adoptive parents can usually pick up a few good reading recommendations. Our family’s all-time favorite titles are Through Moon and Stars and Night Skies by Ann Warren Turner, and Pablo’s Tree by Pat Mora.

Actor Pat Morita, best known for his role as Mr. Miyagi in the Karate Kid series of movies, and as Arnold in the television series "Happy Days" died of natural causes yesterday in his home. He was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1984 for his role in the first Karate Kid movie, and then went on to star in three sequels.

Morita originally wanted to become a comedian, but in the 1950's in California, he did not feel there was very much hope for a Japanese-American stand-up comedian. At the age of 30 he finally was able to enter show-business full time.

Why does snow always make me want to read about boarding schools? Something about the idea of a cozy wood-paneled room, a roaring fire, and the promise of institutional food at the end of the day ...

If you feel the same way, here are a handful of stories set at boarding school to help you get your fix:

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, in which Lee Fiora copes with being both invisible and an outsider at the East Coast prep school to which she has won a scholarship.
Boy by Roald Dahl, in which the author explains how to mask burned toast and keep from being thrashed. (more below the cut)

The aging baby-boomers have prompted a swell of books on living longer and healthier (mentally, physically, and spiritually).

Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever by Ray Kurzweil
Healthy Aging: a Lifelong Guide to Your Physical and Spiritual Well-Being by Andrew Weil
Life Beyond 100: Secrets of the Fountain of Youth by C. Norman Shealy
The Long Tomorrow: How Advances in Evolutionary Biology Can Help Us Postpone Aging by Michael R. Rose
Ten Years Younger: the Amazing Plan to Look Better, Feel Better, and Turn Back the Clock by Steven Masley
The Wisdom Paradox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older by Elkhonon Goldberg
Younger Next Year: a Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond by Chris Crowley

For some perspective on old age through history, read A History of Old Age, edited by Pat Thane.

“Riches cover a multitude of woes”…Menander Lady of Andros
“The love of money is the root of all evil”. Bible 1 Timothy 6:10

Moolah, bread, dough, call it what you will, it all comes down to money. This book Money, Money, Money: Where it Comes From, How to Save it, Spend it, Make it by Eve Drobot explores the past, present and future of money. Did you know that Iceland leads the world in the use of credit cards, that a coin machine can count 2,500 coins a minute, that piggy banks go back about a thousand years, that the biggest denomination ever printed in the United States was a $100,000 bill, and that the bird pictured on American money was a real eagle named Peter? This is a fascinating book about a subject that is endlessly fascinating. Check it out! Ages 8 and up.

The Library of Michigan has announced the five finalists for the 2006 Michigan Reads program. This program picks one picture book title to feature for a year. It is part of the Library's push to promote early childhood literacy.

The five finalists are:
Bed Hogs by Kelly DiPucchio
In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming
Stranger in the Woods by Carl Sams
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw
Imogene's Antlers by David Small

The public is welcome to vote. Votes can be cast here. The winner will be announced on December 12, 2005. That title will be featured in programs statewide during March.

The 2004 Michigan Reads book was Barnyard Song by Rhonda Gowler Greene. There was no 2005 award.

If you missed Anne Garrels at University of Michigan this month, listen to the NPR foreign correspondent’s frank memoir of her sudden immersion into Iraqi culture and the culture of war, Naked in Baghdad. Garrels is the antithesis of the flak-jacketed, steel-jawed journalist-celebrity, acknowledging her real fears for her life, her journalistic misunderstandings and missteps, and the overwhelming complexity of the situation in Iraq.

Pulitizer-prize winning author and journalist Rick Atkinson’s In The Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat provides an equally honest and unadorned look at the war in Iraq. Atkinson followed the 101st Airborne from Kentucky to battles in Najaf, Hilla, and Karbala, narrating the gritty, brutal and ultimately deadly experiences of the soldiers he grew to respect and mourn.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah redux. If classic Messiah isn't your cup of eggnog, the Motor City is presenting "Too Hot to Handel" at the Detroit Opera House on December 17 & 18th. This jazz gospel Messiah features The Rackham Symphony Choir with red hot performances by pianist Alvin Waddles, bassist Marion Hayden and beebop saxophonist George Benson.This is being billed as a "hand-clapping, soul-stirring holiday rapture." A good way to keep warm.