Parent's Corner: Play Time!

Tue, 10/02/2012 - 12:46pm 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 phonics to tantrums to potty training to diet. 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.

An important aspect of childhood is play. It promotes cognitive, social, and emotional development that children need and crave. We have some books in the AADL collection that can help guide parents through some new (and old) play ideas for their little ones. Try these:

The Parent's guide to play

Fifty dangerous things (you should let your children do)

Catch a fish, throw a ball, fly a kite : 21 timeless skills every child should know (and any parent can teach!)

The complete book of rhymes, songs, poems, fingerplays, and chants

The Star Wars Craft Book

Tue, 10/02/2012 - 11:51am by manz

This Saturday, October 6 is Star Wars Reads Day! It's a national event and AADL is participating. To gear up for it, why not make some Star Wars crafts? If you're ready to rock your empire, The Star Wars Craft Book as you covered.

The book has projects for the home including magnets, a Jabba the Hutt body pillow, and an Ewok flower vase. There are also science and nature crafts, playtime crafts like a Yoda doll and a General Grievous finger puppet, and of course there are holiday crafts like a Hanukkah Droidel and a Star Wars snow globe. With full color illustrations and instructions, it's time to grab the glue gun and get crafting.

Local Mystery Book Store Celebrates Anniversary with Visiting Authors

Tue, 10/02/2012 - 11:08am by Spectacular Reference-Man

Mystery bookstore, Aunt Agatha's is celebrating their 20th Anniversary by having 15 authors visit their store on Fourth Ave. Aunt Agatha's will be hosting an open house on Wednesday, October 3rd from 4-7pm, feature cake and drinks as well as the opportunity to meet the authors.

A few of the guest authors include:
Alyse Carlson, author of The Azalea Assault
Sarah Zettel, award-winning author of mystery and sci fi books and Ypsilanti native
Steve Hamilton, author of the Alex McKnight series
And many more.

For the full schedule of authors and more information, check Aunt Agatha's Event Page.

Mossy

Fri, 09/28/2012 - 10:53am by jaegerla

Jan Brett’s newest release is Mossy, a delightful story about turtles in love. Brett’s artwork is gorgeous (as always). Each page is packed with detail, almost guaranteeing you’ll spot something new each time you read it. The drawings are on par with The Hat, Town Mouse, Country Mouse, The Three Snow Bears, and The Mitten.

Are There Any Books Like [BLANK]?

Thu, 09/27/2012 - 5:02pm by Professor Plum

Do you ever crave a book just like something else you’ve read? Maybe you’re looking for suspense as juicy as Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Perhaps you’re in the mood for a level of satire that only Chuck Palahniuk seems to deliver. Or maybe the copies of Ready Player One are checked out but you’re open to similar titles. You can access reading lists comparable to these books and more through searching the library’s public lists. User created booklists can be searched through AADL’s catalog page by clicking on the link to “ View All Public Lists” located on the right hand side of the page. To access compiled lists of readalikes simply enter the term “Readalikes” or “Read Alikes” in the search box located in the upper right hand corner. The result page allows you to browse reading suggestions to your heart’s content. These lists are a growing resource on the library’s website. If you are interested in an author or title that is not currently listed, consider using the library’s database subscription to Books & Authors to find your next read.

Film: Guilty Pleasures

Thu, 09/27/2012 - 12:50pm by hillary dorwart

Thursday September 27, 2012: 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Julie Moggan's delightful 2010 documentary takes an amusing and touching look at the global phenomenon of romance novel popularity. Guilty Pleasures portrays five romance devotees who must, ultimately, find their dreams in the real world.

Guilty Pleasures is a delightful and touching discovery of the depths of human emotion in what may at first seem the cultural shallows. This event is a collaboration with POV, PBS' award-winning nonfiction film series.

If You Liked "Fifty Shades of Grey"

Tue, 09/25/2012 - 7:20pm by annevm

I haven't read the mega-bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey. So when a patron asked for similar books, I saw the Hennepin County Library in Minnesota has a list "If You Liked Fifty Shades of Grey," with titles we have in our AADL collection including Kushiel's Dart and Slave to Sensation. The Minnesota list comes with this warning: "Steamy reads. Be careful of scalding if you open the covers of the books too quickly."

Talking Books Narrator Roy Avers

Tue, 09/25/2012 - 3:24pm by iralax

Listen to a fascinating interview with acclaimed talking books narrator Roy Avers at 8pm, Wed. Sept. 26, on Books and Beyond. Avers, 63, has made his living as a businessman, sings bass in the Louisville Opera, and he has also narrated more than 300 books of many genres for the National Library Service. I know one Washtenaw Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled patron who will listen only to books narrated by Roy! As long as she hears his voice, no matter what the book is about, it will be greatly enjoyed. So tune in to learn what makes Roy Avers so unique. Just visit the Books and Beyond Room and enter your first and last names on the sign-in screen, or contact Marcia Moses at 734-495-1496, mgmoses@comcast.net.

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #356

Sat, 09/22/2012 - 5:47pm by muffy

Anyone interested in rollicking adventure, puzzle-solving/code-breaking, the history of books and printing, digital technology, conspiracy theory, secret societies, quirky San Francisco (Did I catch just about everybody?) would find Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore * immensely enjoyable. (Coming out in October, I will be doing a lot of hand-selling in the meantime. Get on the waiting list if I were you. )

It didn't take long for Clay Jannon, an unemployed graphic artist/web designer to realize that Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is anything but the obvious. Working the grave-yard shift, his customers never buy but "borrow" archaic volumes according to some elaborate scheme. Mr. Penumbra's strict missive of never looking into any of the volumes produces just the opposite effect and soon, Clay finds himself, and his willing dot.com recruits plunging ( Googlers figure prominently in the plot and the solution) head-long into a heroic quest of complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, and digging at the truth behind secrets that reach back to the famous Venetian printer Aldus­ Manutius. "A gleeful and exhilarating tale".

"With irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan has crafted a literary adventure story for the twenty-first century, evoking both the fairy-tale charm of Haruki Murakami and the enthusiastic novel-of-ideas wizardry of Neal Stephenson or a young Umberto Eco, but with a unique and feisty sensibility that's rare to the world of literary fiction."

Debut novelist Robin Sloan, a native of Michigan is a gradate of Michigan State University (Economics). He was a member of the Media Partnerships team at Twitter before becoming a writer and a "media inventor".

* = starred review

The "Ypsi Flea" is happening this Sunday, Sept 23rd

Fri, 09/21/2012 - 2:58pm by prlhw

With television shows such as American Pickers becoming increasingly popular, people across the country are realizing that the old saying is still true, "one man's junk is another man's treasure!" From flea markets to garage sales, thrifting culture is now more popular than ever, and America is on the hunt!

Once every blue moon, it is known that some folks over in Ann Arbor's neighboring city of Ypsilanti throw together a community event - "The Ypsi Flea" - that combines local vendors featuring everything from used clothing and records to crafty things and live music.

The Ypsi Flea will be happening this Sunday, September 23rd from 12pm-8pm, and will be held at Woodruff's at 36 East Cross Street in Ypsilanti.

Come out and hunt for some treasures of your own, or just to enjoy some live local music; either way, the event is free, all ages and held in the name of fun and community expansion!