What a rare opportunity for anyone who has small children in the family or teachers and caregivers who work with small children. Jim Gill is coming to Ann Arbor to give a workshop and a family concert.
The workshop will be at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at the Downtown Library. The concert will follow at 7:00 p.m. At the workshop he will talk about how music plays such an important part in children's development. You will learn a lot but you'll also be entertained.
A Jim Gill family concert is fun for the whole family.
Don't miss these great events that are a part of our Children's Book Week celebration.

Justina is an award-winning novelist for young adults, with her most recent book, Return to Me, called an "uplifting story" by Publishers Weekly.

North of Beautiful was named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus and was given a starred review from Booklist. It tells the story of Terra, a sensitive, artistic high school senior born with a facial port-wine stain, struggling with issues of inner and outer beauty with the help of her Goth classmate Jacob.

In addition, she co-founded readergirlz a cutting-edge literacy and social media project for teens, which won the National Book Award for Innovations in Reading. She lives in Washington with her two children, and you can visit her online at justinachenheadley.com.

Justina Chen is also a Judge for this year's It's All Write short story writing contest for teens.

The panel of 11 judges will look at the finalists in three grade categories of 6-7-8 (Middle School), 9-10 (High School) and 11-12 (High School) and select the winners who are announced at an Awards Ceremony on May 11, with A. S. King as guest speaker.

Wednesday May 15, 2013: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

PBS-featured author and life-long Michigan resident Doc Fletcher returns to the Library for a delightful discussion of Michigan canoeing and kayaking.

Among the rivers featured for this event will be Pere Marquette, the subject of Doc's new book Michigan's Pere Marquette River: Paddling Through Its History.

The event includes a book signing and copies of Doc's books on canoeing and kayaking in Michigan and Wisconsin will be for sale.

Ever wanted to find out the price/earnings ratio of a stock? Find growth or income mutual funds for your retirement account? Read a concise synopsis of the quarterly performance of various industry sectors?

Learn to use the Morningstar Investment database, a service provided by the Ann Arbor District Library. Morningstar is a respected and reliable source of independent investment analysis for all levels of fund and stock investors, ranging from inexperienced beginners to sophisticated experts.

Join us Tuesday, May 14th at 7pm in the Downtown Training Center located on the 3rd floor. We'll go over the basics of looking up a stock or mutual fund, create screens to find specific categories of stocks or mutual funds, and take a look at Morningstar's portfolio planning tools.

No registration necessary.

Monday May 13, 2013: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Join us for an evening on engrossing and lively discussion as former Michigan Representative Lynn Rivers presents "The End Of The Constitution?"

For this event, co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the Ann Arbor Area, Lynn Rivers will discuss issues such as government surveillance and search and seizure under the Patriot Act; detention of Americans without charges as authorized under the National Defense Authorization Act; national security letters, and government infiltration into religious and issue advocacy groups. She will also touch on separation of church and state, separation of powers, the Defense of Marriage Act and gay rights, and how the "parliamentary" behavior of Congress is hobbling the three branch system.

Sunday May 12, 2013: 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm OR 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Learn how to make delicate and creative mosaic pieces to be worn as jewelry! Shannon Kuchera of mosaicgeek.com will share her talent at this unique workshop. All supplies will be provided.

This event (which is repeated at 3:30 pm - please attend only one of these sessions) is for adults and teens (grade 6 and up)

Nothing says " I love you, Mom!" like cards and flowers made by their children's hands.
Come to the Main Library on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. and we'll help
you do that. We'll be making cards and giant tissue paper flowers.
This is for children preschool - Grade 5 but everyone is welcome.
All supplies will be provided.

For materials on this May holiday, click here.

21 Years celebrating teen writers, with this year's contest bringing in 335 submissions, is a lot to celebrate. The Awards Ceremony, where Finalists are honored and winners are announced will take place on May 11, Saturday, from 2 - 3:30pm at the downtown library. Speaking to the teens and their families is award winning A. S. King whose book, Ask the Passengers just won the 2012 L.A. Times Book Prize.

One of my favorites is Everybody Sees the Ants, which was an Andre Norton Award finalist, a Cybils finalist, and a 2012 YALSA Top Ten book for young adults. Her 2010 YA novel, Please Ignore Vera Dietz was a 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book, an Edgar Award Nominee, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book for Teens 2010, a Junior Library Guild selection and a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. Her interests are varied with experiences in farming, photography, and teaching adult literary, to name a few.
Reality Boy is due in Fall 2013 as well as two anthologies.

All finalists have been notified and the top three winners will receive $250 for 1st, $150 for 2nd Place, and $100 for 3rd Place in three grade categories. All finalists will receive certificates honoring their achievements. Stories were judged by an impressive team of authors for teens.

We applaud all the teen writers for their creativity and talent!

Wednesday May 8, 2013: 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

As a final segment of the America's Music series, Mark Clague, Associate Professor of Musicology and Director of Research at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, along with local filmmakers Sophia Kruz and Anna Prushinskaya, lead a screening and discussion of the just-released documentary "A Space for Music, A Seat For Everyone: 100 Years Of UMS performances In Hill Auditorium."

America's Music has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.

Friday May 10, 2013: 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Tonight's concert, originally scheduled for March, is the final concert in the America's Music series and centers on Broadway and Tin Pan Alley.

Barbara Wisse's silky voice has been heard on stages throughout West Michigan and she was featured on Circle Theatre's "Tapestry, The Music of Carol King" CD. Pianist Mark Kahny is one of West Michigan's finest keyboard and vocal talents and was recently named West Michigan Jazz Society's 2012 Musician of the Year.

America's Music has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.