Blog Post
Rose Martin, champion of Ann Arbor's low income citizens, has died
by sernabad
Rose Martin, co-founder and director of Ann Arbor's Peace Neighborhood Center, died yesterday.
PNC was established in 1971 to provide a safe environment for residents of the diverse West Side to get together to solve problems. Co-operation between Peace Lutheran, Trinity Lutheran, and Zion Lutheran Churches made possible the Center at 1111 North Maple Road. Five years later, Ms. Martin became its Executive Director, a position she held for 30 years. Over the years she expanded its services to include working to end violence and drug abuse through educational and economic initiatives.
In 2001, Ann Arbor's Nonprofit Enterprise at Work awarded PNC its Prize for Excellence in Nonprofit Management.
A year later, Ms. Martin published her autobiography, One Rose Blooming: Hard-Earned Lessons about Kids, Race, and Life in America. Former Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon wrote of this book: "It grabbed my heart and forced me to evaluate myself. A fantastic book from a visionary community leader."
When she retired, Ms. Martin went right back to work. She opened Rose's Good Company whose clientele, according to RGC's mission statement is to "...serve individuals and families who have lost hope." The organization's focus is on the unemployed, the homeless, dependent children, ex-convicts and recovering addicts.
Ms. Martin, who was 70, died at a local restaurant of cardiac arrest.
Blog Post
An Audiobook for Young Harry Potter Fans
by skcramer
Fans of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and especially fans of the audiobooks narrated by Jim Dale may be interested to learn about The Worst Witch audiobook by Jill Murphy.
Like the Harry Potter series, The Worst Witch takes place at a school for young witches (though no young wizards here), complete with broomstick lessons, potion tests and uniforms with house colors. At Miss Cackle's Academy, we meet Mildred Hubble, dubbed the worst witch at the school because of her talent for getting into trouble. What kind of trouble? How about turning a rude classmate into a pig! (She meant to turn her into a toad, you see.) It's a short but magical story -- and very funny too.
Oh, yes, and did I mention that it's narrated by Miriam Margoyles, whom you may remember as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?
The audiobook series continues with The Worst Witch Strikes Again and The Worst Witch All at Sea.
Blog Post
Chickadee wins 2013 Scott O'Dell Award
by mossing
Louise Erdrich's Chickadee has received the 2013 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, announced on January 16. This award was established in 1982 by Scott O'Dell to encourage writers to focus on historical fiction, and it is awarded annually to an author for a "meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults," according to the award website. To be eligible for the award, the book must be published by a U.S. publisher and set in the Americas.
Chickadee is the fourth installment in Erdrich's Birchbark House Series and takes place in the nineteenth century, chronicling the kidnapping of Chickadee, an eight-year-old Anishinabe (known today as Ojibwe) boy, and the adventures that follow as Chickadee tries to return home and his family leaves home to look for him.
Some previous Scott O'Dell Award winners in the library's collection:
In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.
In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.
The Storm in the Barn (Graphic Novel)
In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local bullies, his father's failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of "dust dementia" would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in the Talbot's abandoned barn - a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it's hard to trust what you see with your own eyes, and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes.
Click here for a complete list of previous O'Dell Award winners.
Blog Post
Extra Yarn
by manz
Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett is one beautiful picture book. It has the potential of winning a Caldecott Medal, thanks to Jon Klassen's beautiful illustrations. The story features young Annabelle who comes across a box containing some yarn. But a magical thing happens! She knits and knits and knits and the yarn never seems to run out. So she knits sweaters for dogs, and people, and trees, and cars, and soon the entire monochromatic town is awash in color thanks to her handiwork. The greedy archduke decides to steal her magic box, which leaves Annabelle in a bit of stitchuation. Will she knit her way out of it?
Blog Post
The 2013 Edgar Allan Poe Awards nominees have been announced
by sernabad
The nominees for the 2013 Edgars, honoring all things mystery -- novels, non-fiction, and television -- that first appeared in 2012, have been announced.
Named after Edgar Allan Poe, considered the grandfather of the genre, the Edgar is enjoying its 67th year.
Some of the nominees are:
Best novel category:
Gone Girl, Gillain Flynn. In this twisted, double-triple-quadruple backstabbing epic, the reader falls into an ever-changing quagmire between one of literature's most twisted couples. Haven't heard yet of a reader who read the whole thing and DIDN'T fling it across the room.
Live by Night, by Dennis Lehane is set in the Prohibition Era and stars Joe Coughlin, son of a Boston cop who eschews his father's line of work and strives to be a gentleman gangster. Since this is a Lehane novel, you know that's not going to happen.
Best first novel category:
The Expats, by Chris Pavone -- CIA spy Kate Moore falls in love, marries has two sons, and willingly gives up her career to move to Luxembourg with Dexter, her nerdy banker husband. They are befriended by a couple who raise warning flags for Kate. Soon she becomes in clandestine efforts to unravel the threads that make less and less sense, not the least upsetting is the growing suspicion that even Dexter is not who he seems.
Best paperback original:
Louis Berney produces a sequel to Gunshot Straight (2010) with Whiplash River. In another fast-paced thriller, Shake Bouchon buys a restaurant on Ambergris Gray, an island off Belize. But things don't work out so well -- not only does he dodge three hitmen's bullets, but someone burns down his restaurant.
Another sequel is in contention in this category. Malla Nunn brings back her popular character, Det. Emmanuel Cooper, first seen in A Beautiful Place to Die (2009), in Bleassed are the Dead who is investigating the death of a beautiful Zulu housemaid.
For a complete list of nominees, check out this link.
The winners will be announced on May 2nd in New York.
Blog Post
Teen Stuff: Boy21, by Matthew Quick
by manz
While there is a basketball theme to the book, Boy21 is not a sports book, and it’s not just for teens. It is a heartfelt and fast paced story of loss, family, friendship, and competition. It's also a book that is on many "best of 2012" lists regarding young adult fiction. From the writer of Sorta Like A Rock Star and The Silver Lining’s Playbook, we meet Boy21, who is one unique teen.
Set in a fictional blue collar suburb of Philadelphia, Boy21 centers around Finley, AKA White Rabbit, who selectively doesn’t say much and calls himself a “minimal speaker.” He goes about his life playing basketball, living with his hardworking father, and hanging out with his fellow ball-playing girlfriend, who is pretty much his only friend. Together they long to get out of the rough and tumble life in Belmont, which is mainly divided between Irish Americans and African Americans.
Life proceeds as normal until one day his coach lets him in on a little secret. There is a new kid heading to town, and Coach wants Finley to keep a big secret about the new kid and stick to him like glue as he helps guide him as he transitions to the new school. It sounds easy enough, but ends up being more challenging than Finley thought. Russell, who calls himself Boy21, has lost his parents in a tragedy and heads to Belmont to live with his grandparents. His coping mechanisms (acting as though he’s from another planet) are hard for Finley to grasp at first, but as the story progresses the boys learn a lot from each other as they find out that they have more in common than just basketball. These boys are coping with more than any teen should, and how they conquer their demons and rise above leaves for a magical ending.
Blog Post
The Next Generation in Downloading eBooks and Audiobooks
by Stewart
Overdrive users will be pleased with the new "Next Generation" platform from Overdrive. Go to our download page to take a look at the new digs and watch this video to learn more about the new experience. On the same page, read the step-by-step instructions that highlight what's new. The new format, Overdrive READ, allows you to read your book with your internet browser, no download required. After you begin reading, be sure to click on the bookmark in the upper-left corner of a book page to save as an internet bookmark or favorite. Also new are the enhanced filtering options including always available books, a list of free public domain titles that never expire and don’t count against your library checkout limit.
Blog Post
Parent's Corner: Raising a Bilingual Child
by manz
The Downtown library has a shelf in the Youth Department known as the Parent Shelf. On this shelf you’ll find a variety of parent-child related books on a multitude of topics- including everything from language to tantrums to potty training to homework. These books are available for checkout, and can be found in the catalog when searching “parent shelf,” if you’d like to have one sent to a branch of your choice.
The parent shelf features a few helpful books with information on raising a bilingual child. Check out 7 steps to raising a bilingual child, and The bilingual book of rhymes, songs, stories, and fingerplays. We also have a plethora of books on this topic in the regular collection, with titles such as Growing up with two languages : a practical guide for the bilingual family, and Raising a bilingual child : A step-by-step guide for parents.
To go along with this, AADL also has a wonderful collection of books in world languages, including materials on learning other languages. Check out this handy list of languages!
Blog Post
2012 LGBT Books
by pkooger
It seems impossible, but we’re already a couple weeks into the new year. Before 2012 fades into the mists entirely, let’s take a look back at some of the best books containing LGBT subject matter the year had to offer. May 2013 bring us many, many more excellent additions!
The Hunger Angel – The haunting story of a young gay man forced to work in a Soviet gulag just before the end of World War II. Herta Muller (winner of the 2009 Nobel prize for literature) writes with an unmatched intensity and beauty in describing the stark world of her characters.
In One Person – John Irving returns to the themes that he writes so well about in his previous novels, namely New England, great writers, and forbidden sex. His latest book tells the story of a boy growing up in an all-male prep school, discovering the true nature of his family and his past.
Does This Baby Make Me Look Straight? – Dan Bucatinsky offers his own humorous observations on parenting and family life in a family with two dads.
These Things Happen – Wesley’s best friend gets elected as class president and immediately comes out during his acceptance speech, which is rather a surprise to Wesley. Wesley’s adventures in adolescence make for an entertaining read.
A Sense of Direction – This autobiography follows the author, a self-proclaimed slacker, as he goes on several pilgrimages around the world in search of his life’s direction.
Blog Post
2012 National Book Award winners have been announced
by sernabad
The 2012 The Story Prize has announced its finalists for short story collections that were written in English and published last year in the U.S.
The finalists are:
Stay Awake, by Dan Chaon. A two-headed baby, a child with a sleeping disorder, a near-fatal car accident -- these are just some of the themes around which Chaon builds twelve stories filled with unsettling tension and unexpected resolutions.
In Dominican author Junot Diaz's wildly popular This Is How You Lose Her, he brings back Yunior, the narrator of Drown (1996) and of his prize-winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) who takes it upon himself to relate the "...important and necessary story of the inner lives of 'bad boys..." in nine riveting stories.
Battleborn, by Claire Vaye Watkins is a collection of ten stories in which the rich Nevada landscape is as much a character as the individuals who populate these tales.
For the first time in the Story Prize's nine-year history, they are announcing a new award, The Spotlight Award, given to an author who may have slipped under the radar. This year's recipient is Krys Lee for her debut collection Drifting House. Ms. Lee's nine stories tackle the Korean immigrant experience.
The winner of The Story Prize will be announced at the New School's Tishman Auditorium in New York City on Wednesday, March 13th.