Sunday November 4 | 2:00 - 3:00pm | Pittsfield Branch Program Room

What goes up must come down, but good design means more hang time. Come play with paper to design your best planes, spinners, and other things that fly.

While learning a bit about the science of keeping objects in the air, we'll be making, testing out, and tweaking our best paper-made floaters and flyers. Simple designs and materials sometimes make surprising planes!.

Also, check out this list of AADL materials for easy flying projects and other resources.

This event is for kids in grades K-5.

Wednesday, October 17 | 7-8pm | Pittsfield | Grades K-5

National Fossil Day is October 17! 'Rock' out with us and make your own cast fossil out of clay and plaster of paris while exploring a process that has created fossils in sedimentary rock for billions of years. We will also have fossils found in Michigan on display.

Fossils in the earth can be formed out of plants, or invertebrates like mollusks and arthropods, or vertebrates like dinosaurs and woolly mammoths. Fossils are found in different forms too. Sometimes they are turned to stone or preserved in amber, and other times they leave an imprint in the earth that is filled in by different minerals, forming a cast. We will replicate the process of creating cast fossils.

You're welcome to bring a small, hard item that can fit in the palm of your hand -- for example, a dinosaur toy or a sea shell -- or you can use the objects the library provides. Looking for more information on fossils? Check out these great books and videos from the AADL collection.

Alex Karras, a Detroit Lion for twelve seasons and an actor for many years, died today in Los Angeles.

In 1958, Karras was a first round draft pick for the Lions. He was a member of the Lions' Fearsome Foursome (a term used in pro football to describe the frontline defense. The other Lions players were Roger Brown, Darris McCord, and Sam Williams. Karras was suspended in 1963 for one year when he was caught placing bets on NFL teams. He returned to the team in 1964 and played for seven more years.

In the mid-1970s, he called the plays, with Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell, on ABC's Monday Night Football.

His most memorable Hollywood role was in the the 1974 hit western satire, Blazing Saddles in which he played the Mondo.

He and his real-life wife, Susan Clark, who survives, starred in the TV sitcom, Webster (1983-1987) (the first season is on order), along with Emmanuel Lewis. Karras and Clark played the adoptive parents of the orphaned son of a pro football player.

Karras, who was 77, died from complications due to cancer and dementia.

Ms. Rachel featured "Happenings @ Bedtime" in Preschool Storytime. We featured the letter "H".
There were "Strange Bumps" in Owl's bed, a story by Arnold Lobel in the book OWL at HOME.
There was a Tailor who discovered a "Hudgin" in the book A BED JUST SO or a "Hinky Pink" in the book HINKY PINK: an old tale.

Here are related titles to extend the theme:
BEDTIME for FRANCES by Russell Hoban
LITTLE CRITTER BEDTIME STORYBOOK by Mercer Mayer
NIGHT KNIGHT by Owen Davey
TELL ME the DAY BACKWARDS by Albert Lamb
DON'T LET the PIGEON STAY UP LATE by Mo Willems
LITTLE QUACK's BEDTIME by Derek Andersen

DON'T MISS Derek Andersen at Malletts Creek Library Monday evening, October 29, 2012 at 7-8:00 pm.

Mark your calendars and break out your Star Wars finest as we celebrate Star Wars Reads Day.

This is a national event being celebrated in over 1200 libraries and bookstores all over the country! From 1:00 - 5:00 PM at the Downtown Library we have a full slate of Star Wars awesome planned.

To set the scene members of the MI 501st and the Rebel Legion will be here in full costume! With a costume contest @ 4:00 be sure to dress in your Star Wars finest and compete for gift cards!

And whether you dress up or not we will have a Photo Booth on site with Star Wars props so you can take pics of you, your friends & your family celebrating Star Wars! The pics are free to all attendees and in addition to taking home a photo strip the images will be loaded online too!

All day we'll have simple Star Wars crafts and puzzles for younger children set-up in the Youth Story Corner. In the Multi-Purpose Room we'll have more difficult paper crafts for older kids, teens and adults. At 1:30 PM we'll start the Star Wars Trivia Contest on the 4th Floor with cool prizes for the winners! We'll finish the day at 4:00 PM with a Star Wars Costume Contest in the Multi-Purpose room. The judges will determine who did it best and winners will take home Target Gift Cards.

Whether you love Luke, Darth Vader, Jaba or Boba Fett come celebrate reading, get your picture taken & maybe win some prizes!

This event is for ALL AGES!

Whether you enjoy Autumn by the water, the forest, the ice, on Main Street or at the Farmer’s Market, you must surely check out the Halloween storytimes at AADL!

Ms. Rachel featured Robots this week in Preschool Storytime.
If you want more ROBOTS stuff try Public Lists at Robots for PreK and Robots for 1st to 5th grade.
Did you know about making robot music with some of our cool music tools?
Checkout a Thingamagoop, or a Ningen Gakki 2 and 3 from the AADL Music Tool Collection.
BoOP-beEP-boOP ....

When Teachers are leading units on maps and mapping in school, here is a list for Parents and Kids, especially kids in 1st - 3rd grades.
It is one of our Public Lists and is named HomeWork - MAPS grades 1-3.

We are always ready to sing and dance when the talented Julie Austin, who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, returns to Ann Arbor to join up with her good friend David Mosher for stomp-along, sing-along family fun! Julie and ChickenJulie and David will join us at the Downtown Library on Saturday, October 6th at 11 am. This is a storytime crowd favorite!

Join me at the Children's Literacy Network Bookfair this Saturday! This festive celebration was created by the awesome Family Book Club, now called Children’s Literacy Network. I’ll be representing AADL and sharing stories at 11:30 am.