Paul SikorskiParents interested in learning about Interactive Metronome with Paul Sikorski from Michigan Peak Performance are invited to bring their Kindergarteners and older children for a program of learning and fun on Tuesday, June 25th at 11 am at the Downtown Library. Paul will discuss his concentration improving technique with the grown-ups while Steve Osburn of Oz Music fame will play rhythm games with the children in the same room. Get ready for a happy, noisy and stimulating experience!

Meet O.J., a dog like no other, in When Life Gives You O.J. by Erica S. Perl.

When Zelly Fried’s parents refuse to let her get a dog, her grandfather comes up with a crazy plan. Zelly will care for a “practice dog” to show her parents she is responsible enough to care for a dog of her own. The problem? This “practice dog” just happens to be an old orange juice container, and Zelly is terrified about what her classmates will think if they see her feeding it and taking it for walks! Will Zelly be able to stick it out long enough to earn a real live dog?

While the hilarious “practice dog” plot is sure to hook listeners, there is also much more to this heartfelt story. It takes on timely kid issues like being the new kid, feeling like an outsider, dealing with the death of a grandparent and worrying about losing a best friend. This book is also a 2012 Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Older Readers, awarded for its authentic portrayal of the Jewish experience.

If you enjoy realistic stories with just the right blend of humor and heart, you should definitely check out When Life Gives Your O.J. You'll find it on our NEW shelf.

Fans of audiobooks like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess or Joan Aiken’s The Wolves of Willoughby Chase may want to check out The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson, narrated by Patricia Conelly.

Abandoned by her mother as a baby, Annika grows up as a “kitchen child” in the home of three eccentric professors, and even though she loves her guardians – the professors’ cook Ellie and housemaid Sigrid – she cannot help dreaming of her long-lost mother. When an elegant mother finally does arrive and sweeps her away to a crumbling German castle, Annika’s dream-come-true is plagued by homesickness for her warm Viennese kitchen and troubling hints that all is not right with her newfound family.

Ibbotson herself grew up in early 20th-century Vienna, and her descriptions of life in the city – the aging emperor, performances of the Lipizzaner stallions, rides on the giant ferris wheel – make the world of the story truly come to life. If you love stories of the vivid past, love old-fashioned tales of kind heroines and dastardly villains, then give this audiobook a listen.

Make a Father's Day Card

This Sunday is the day we honor dads, grandpas, and uncles.
Come to the Pittsfield Branch on Saturday, June 15 at 11:00 a.m. and make a card
for those special people in your life. This is for preschoolers through 5th graders but
everyone is welcome. All supplies will be provided.

For books on this summer holiday, click here.

Sunday June 9, 2013: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm -- Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Drop in and get connected with other LEGO-minded people! All LEGOs will be provided, so you can make things and make friends!

If desired, your LEGO creation will be photographed for AADL's LEGO Look Book before it's time to clean up. Get some early ideas for the AADL annual LEGO Contest on August 8!

This event is for grades K - 5, with an adult.

Saturday, June 8 | 3pm-5pm | Pittsfield Branch | Grades K-Adult

June 8 is International Yarn Bomb Day! We have two yarn bomb programs at Pittsfield to celebrate.

Grades kindergarten through adult are invited to create fiber arts pieces to help complete the yarn bomb exhibit at Pittsfield. What is yarn bombing? It’s a form of knit graffiti and public art.

We’ll have a variety of yarn and supplies on hand for you to make unique fiber pieces, including pom poms! No experience required. After we make our pieces we’ll head outside and hang up our creation.

There will be NO knitting instruction at this event, but if you do knit or crochet, you’re welcome to bring needles and come stitch with us! Or if you have a piece already made, bring it to the program and we’ll direct you our yarn bomb zones!

For more info on yarn bombing see this great website, and check out the book Yarn bombing: The art of crochet and knit graffiti. For better visuals, visit the Downtown library garden, which was yarn bombed in May!

As the school year winds down, you may be looking for ways to keep your young thoughtful readers engaged over the summer. Why not check out one of our new Kids Book Clubs To Go bags?

The Library provides 12 copies of the featured book, one copy of a movie DVD (if available), and a resource guide that includes information about the book, author biography, book reviews, discussion questions, suggested read-alikes, and book group tips.

There are 21 different book titles to choose from. Each Kids Book Clubs to Go kit circulates for six weeks and may be renewed if there are no outstanding requests. Kits are checked out to one library cardholder representing the book club and can be requested through the online catalog or by calling Material Requests and Renewals at (734) 327-4219.

If you enjoy children's fantasies with ghosts, princesses, evil wizards and plenty of good wizards too, then give Magyk by Angie Sage a listen. It will take you to a magical world where young wizards’ eyes turn green when they learn magic and where magic spells may be written on a piece of breakfast toast!

Excellently narrated by Allan Corduner, this story begins on the day that the wizard Silas Heap discovers a baby girl in the snow and his own newborn son, Septimus Heap, is supposed to have died. But ten years later, the Heaps learn that everything is not as it appeared. Their daughter is really a princess who must now outwit the assassins who killed her mother, the queen, a decade before, and their son…well, you’ll just have to check out the audiobook to learn what happened to him.

The series continues with Flyte, Physik, Queste, Syren, Darke and Fyre.

In 1913 Paris, two Russians, Igor Stravinsky the composer and Vaslav Nijinsky the dancer/choreographer, took the western European art world by storm when the Ballet Russes premiered The Rite of Spring on May 29th. This book, composed with much alliterative, musical language, and onomatopoeia, tells the story of the friendship and collaboration between composer and dancer. Focusing on the changes to their work and personal styles that resulted from their meeting to the culmination of their efforts, the ballet The Rite of Spring, the story conveys their composition process in a lively, upbeat fashion, with a percussive vocabulary. Children may be surprised to learn about the commotion the composition caused, and the riotous ballet is sure to catch their attention. Vibrantly colored illustrations, inspired by Matisse and Picasso, of the musical notes, instruments, and dancers depicted, enhance the tone of the story and complement the text well. Stringer trusts readers with a challenging and exciting account of the transformative power of visionary, risk-taking art.

If you're feeling inspired after reading the book, try making up your own dance to the music. NPR Music is inviting "professionals and the public alike to take the last minute of Stravinsky's inimitable score — in an exceptional performance by conductor Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra — and create a new video to go along with this music." Follow this link for more information, or to see some of the submitted videos. Happy Dancing! Happy Spring!