200 years ago this month Noah Webster published "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language" to the horror of English language purists who were shocked by the Americanized spellings (such as "honor" instead of "honour"), the inclusion of new words American words, and the elimination of ancient British words such as "fishefy." But Webster's aim--to promote homegrown culture and reflect the language America was actually speaking--proved highly successful and today there are hundreds of dictionaries and books devoted to American English usage such as last year's Right, Wrong and Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage and Contemporary American Slang. There's also every manner of online dictionary, notably the collaborative wiki dictionary Wiktionary, an offshoot of Wikipedia. And that's just a start, since collabulary--a new word worth looking up, by the way--may alter the digital dictionary in ways Noah Webster could never have imagined.

Teens at Risk.Wasting Away is a dvd that will be of interest to parents, teens and those who work with teens who are affected by the devastating conditions of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia. Young people who have been there and back tell their stories in the film.

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

We've got a weekend of multiplayer mayhem lined up for you at the library, starting off with a Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournament for ages 13+, Friday Night, 2/24, from 6-9 PM at the Downtown Library. First prize $40, Second prize $30, third prize $20.

Then, on Saturday, 2/25, we've got an all-ages Dance Dance Revolution tournament from Noon-3 Downtown, immediately followed by our first ever all-ages Karaoke Revolution tournament, from 3-5! So you can dance, but can you SING? These tournaments will feature the lovely and talented Edith as your MC, and the format will be similar to our DDR tournaments, with qualifying duets for score, and then elimination. Both tournaments will have $40/$30/$20 prizes, so if you're a double threat, you can win big. Games will be either Karaoke Revolution volume 3 or Karaoke Revolution Party, with all songs unlocked. Check out songlists here.

We'll then head into midwinter break with Open Play events, including DDR Mario Mix, Donkey Konga, Monkey Ball, and more, Sunday, 2/26 and Monday 2/27, from 1-4, for grades 5 and under, and Teen Open Play, Tuesday, 2/28 from 1-4.

So, brave the winter winds, get downtown, and warm up with some hot competition this weekend!

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who came! Next Animanga Club meeting will be the FURUBA Reunion!

Kanpai! Its time to announce the next Animanga Club program. On March 15, AC will be meeting the Northeast Branch (Plymouth road and Nixon, the little shopping mall) and the theme will be Samurai.. or basically all anime involving samurai-like characteristics (think Samurai Champloo, as well as Bleach).

So what is your favorite Swordsman/samurai series? Favorite character? I would have to say Bleach right now (Byakuya certainly makes an impression on me.. cold, unfeeling and weird hair!).. but that's because I'm on Episode 44 of the series, and if I were rich, I would have bought all the books by now.

Also, what would you like to watch during the last part of the program? I'm partial to Bleach, but I'm open to bribes.. er I mean, suggestions.

Filmmaker-turned-first-time-novelist, Galt Niederhoffer’s A taxonomy of Barnacles is a charming and sly spoof of the concept of the survival of the fittest, and the nature-versus-nurture debate. Starred review in Booklist.

Barry Barnacle announced to his 6 daughters during a Passover Seder that whoever could immortalize the Barnacle name would be the sole beneficiary of his pantyhose fortune. This challenge plunged Bell, Bridget, Beth, Belinda, Beryl and Benita Barnacle, ranging in age from 10 to 29 into merciless fistfights trying to best each other.

Titled after Darwin's monograph on the arthropods, which he studied before he used the Galapagos finch to illustrate his theory of evolution, this zany 1930s-style romantic comedy will certainly bring to mind The Royal Tenenbaums. Pure Fun.

I am so excited. Kingdom of Hearts II for the PS2 is set to be released March 28, 2006. Some of the voices on the game will be from Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense, Rachael Leigh Cook from Josie and the Pussycats, and Mena Suvari from American Pie. But my husband said he heard that the U.S. release date has been put on hold indefinitely. Has anyone heard anything about that? Are there any other cool games coming out soon?

The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty was a thoroughly entertaining book to listen to and I enjoyed it to no end.
Ashbury and Brookfield are two rival high schools in New South Wales, Australia. In an effort to bridge the gap between the schools, the Year 10 students are required to write letters back and forth to a pen pal at the other school. Friendship, romance, humiliation, revenge plots, and a prank war between the schools ensue.
The story is told through letters, emails, diary and journal entries, notes, and notices. The use of different actors helps give each character a more definite personality.

Gwendolyn Brooks was named Poet Laureate of Illinois in 1968, served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1985-86, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950 for Annie Allen. She wrote over twenty books of poetry and is one of the most celebrated American poets. The Essential Gwendolyn Brooks brings her many works together and provides a complete view of her passion, versatility and genius.

Other works by Brooks include: The Bean Eaters, In Montgomery, and Other Poems, and her two-part autobiography, Report from Part One and Report From Part Two.

In alternating chapters, Lilly, a nurse in a London hospital, recounted evocatively life among the immigrant Muslim families and her unimaginable hardship growing up as a “farenji”(foreigner) in Africa. Orphaned at 8, Lilly was left in care of a learned scholar in Morocco by her hippie parents and was brought up a devout Muslim. Civil war forced her to flee to Harar, Ethiopia where she courageously built a life among abject poverty and famine, and eventually fell in love with an idealistic young doctor.

Written with great warmth, clarity and grace, Camilla Gibb examines the concept of home and what it means to be “foreign”. This novel also celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the redemptive ability of Sweetness in the belly (love). A remarkable novel from a young writer on the Orange Futures List.

Julius Lester, author of many books for young people celebrating African American traditions, takes us in his latest story, Day of Tears, to the largest slave auction in U.S. history in 1859 on a Georgia plantation. Told in dialogue and monologue, the story moves back and forth in time. In the present, Pierce Butler, plantation owner, sells Emma, the one who cared for his children, along with other slaves to pay off his gambling debts. Some time later, the characters look back on that painful time and comment on the horrors they experienced. Many characters fictionalized from history speak, including the auctioneer, several runaway slaves and an abolitionist.