Write a short story! You have until March 20th to turn it in. Maybe you've had this idea knocking around in your head for months, so now is the time to go ahead and write it down. The announcement about this contest will be mailed to all Middle and High Schools in Washtenaw County, and winners will be announced on May 13th with an Awards Program held during the Ann Arbor Book Festival
For complete contest rules go to this link

PRIZES will be awarded to first-place ($250 cash awards), second-place($150 cash awards) and third-place ($100 cash awards) finishers in three categories-
*6th, 7th and 8th grades
*9th and 10th grades
*11th and 12th grades
It's All Write is sponsored by "The Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Robert Bruce Dunlap Memorial Awards Fund.

Call us at 327-8301 if you have other questions, and good luck.

Najma has lost her mother and infant brother in a bombing raid over her small village during the Afghan war in 2001. After fleeing a refugee camp, Najma makes her way disguised as a boy to Peshawar, hoping to find her father and older brother who were taken by the Taliban. Under the Persimmon Tree by Suzanne Fisher Staples is the story of her journey and in alternating chapters, follows a young American woman, Nusrat, who has married a doctor from Afghanistan and converted to Islam. Her husband is away, treating the war wounded and she fears for his life.

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

With 2005 behind us, it's time to look forward to our off-season schedule, and talk about how the 2006 Season should work. We'll have our planning meeting Sunday, February 12, from 1-4 PM at the Malletts Creek Branch, including open play, heated discussion, and hopefully, the Season 2 DVD. Read on for more.

In November the National Book Foundation awarded its first-ever Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community to Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919-). Ferlinghetti is a poet, publisher, painter, tireless advocate for poetry and free speech, San Francisco poet laureate and proprietor of the renowned independent bookstore City Lights. Several of his books of poetry are available in the library, as well as a documentary of 1987 interviews with Ferlinghetti and other Beat writers, thinkers, and artists. Three cheers for the man who stood up for Howl and blessed the world with the first all-paperback bookstore.

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

It's all over. The 2005 season is behind us, after an intense, action-packed, and entirely on-schedule Grand Championship tournament, with champions new and old emerging victorious from the slightly funky miasma that only a 5-hour videogame tournament can produce. After the Clan Cup, the Wildcard Tournament, and the Grand Championship event, last year's 2nd-place winner [gtplayer:139] triumphed, wildcard [gtplayer:536] took second pick of the prize pool, leaving 3rd place (and 3rd overall) [gtplayer:166] and the aging-out 4th place finisher [gtplayer:288] to their leavings, as for the second season in a row, a championship winner chose a DS over an iPod.

Read on for full details.

Remember when I was taking all your T-shirt sizes? Everyone who attends the GRANDS on Saturday gets a T-shirt to keep! Be sure you don't leave without getting yours...

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

This is it... the GRAND CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND! Registration is now open for all our upcoming videogame tournaments, including the AADL-GT 2005 Wildcard and Grand Championship tournaments, this Saturday, 12/17/2005, from Noon to 5:30 PM at the Downtown Library. Bear in mind that to play in this Saturday's tournaments, you must have a signed Release Form on file. There's no need to bring one if you've given us one before, but if you haven't, make sure to bring one signed by your parent or guardian. The tournament will be broadcast live of CTN channel 18. All GC-qualified players have been marked as such on the leaderboard and will be able to pre-register and self-checkin for the Grand Championships. We also will have an 18+ kart tournament, a kids' kart tournament, open play, and DDR, so read on for full details about upcoming events.

The latest release in R&B is 16 year old Chris Brown’s self-titled debut CD. His first single 'Run It' is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album itself is #2 on the Billboard 200. If you've seen the music video for 'Run It,' you’ll know that Chris Brown has some awesome moves, somewhat reminiscent of Usher. I think it’s pretty safe to say that we can expect more from this promising new artist.

Need some ideas for that special reader on your list?

“Reader Perfect” suggestions cover many categories, formats and genres, as well as age groups.

Amazon.com gives you not only the Best Books of 2005, but also the
Top 50 Editors' Picks.

For the wee bookworms on your list, there's the age-appropriate Parents’ Choice Holiday Gift Guide.

And don't forget The New York Times Editor's Choice and the 100 Notable Books of the Year.

A book is a gift you can open again and again. ~ Garrison Keillor

Liz Hall is killed in a car accident and when she awakes, finds herself in a place not unlike her earthly home. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin is the story of a place where people go after death to carry on their existence. The main difference from Earth is that people age backwards, finally returning to earth as infants. Liz is not happy in Elsewhere. She wants to attend her prom, learn to drive and go to college. She spends much of her time peering through a telescope at her family and friends on Earth. But Liz eventually finds that Elsewhere is where she wants to be for the remaining fifteen years of her life. Life, she learns, no matter where, even in death, is best experienced in the present. Elsewhereturns many questions about existence on their heads and gets one thinking about what's really important.