Ages 11-18
Blog Post
“I am not so bad a person once you get to know me . . .”
by K.C.
Iggy gets kicked out of high school and there’s no one at home for him to tell. His mother has been gone for days, his father is stoned on the couch and the phone’s been disconnected, so even his social worker can’t get through.
Walking away from his public housing, Iggy sets out to make something of his life. Not an easy task when he has no skills and his only friend is mixed up with the dealer who got his mom hooked.
Iggy’s got problems galore, but Iggy also has the kind of wisdom that lets him see what no one else can. Try Saint Iggy.
Blog Post
”It’s easy to become anything you wish…”
by anned
“…so long as you’re willing to forfeit your soul.”
Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel, American Born Chinese, follows three separate stories: the Monkey King who wants to be seen as a god; Jin Yang, the only Chinese-American attending a predominantly white suburban school; and Danny, a white adolescent trying to maintain a social standing while being visited yearly by his boorish Chinese cousin, Chin-Kee. Yang skillfully weaves the three stories into one (with the help of an Herbalist’s wife and Transformers) while exploring self-image, acceptance, and pride.
Yang’s humor and simplified drawing style highlight his talent for storytelling. It’s no wonder this book was a 2006 finalist for the National Book Award in the category of Young People’s Literature—a first for a graphic novel.
Blog Post
Make a T-Shirt Pillow
by lola
Come to the Pittsfield branch on Thursday, January 4 from 2-3 PM to create your own t-shirt pillow. Bring an old t-shirt and make it into a stylish pillow to decorate your room for the New Year. We’ll provide the decorations. For age 8 and up.
Blog Post
Jumping the Scratch
by K.C.
Jamie’s always heard that bad things come in threes. So after his cat, Mister, dies, his father leaves, and his aunt Sapphy has an accident that causes her memory to develop a skip, Jamie hopes his life will go back to being as normal. But unfortunately there’s one more bad thing in store for Jamie-something he’d give anything to forget.
Jamie tries to find the trigger that will help Sapphy’s memory jump the scratch, like the needle on her favorite Sinatra record, but it’s Aunt Sapphy who, along with a curious girl named Audrey, helps Jamie unravel the mysteries of memory and jump the scratch in his own life. [from the bookjacket]
Read Jumping the Scratch or listen to it on CD
Blog Post
One Piece @ Animanga Club January 2
by erin
Who will be the first to find the Pirate King's lost treasure? Join us as we discuss the adventures of the Straw Hat Pirates in Eiichiro Oda's One Piece Manga. We'll make our own pirate flag and come up with our pirate names. As always Pocky and other snacks and drinks will be provided! See you from 7:00-8:30 at the Downtown Library...
Blog Post
Wired & Inspired
by iottJen
Have you seen jewelry made from old computer parts? A combination of art and tech, it's sleek, one-of-a-kind wearable art--especially when you make it yourself! Learn how at the hands-on workshop for teens and adults, Wired & Inspired, at the downtown Library on Wed., Jan. 3 from 7 - 8:30 pm. We'll have the parts, you bring some needle nose pliers, if you have them!
Blog Post
Open Play and DS Fest
by lola
Bored during school vacation? Come to the first every DS Fest at the Downtown Library Multipurpose room on December 26, 27, and 28 from 5-8 PM. Bring your Nintendo DS and any game you want to play like Star Fox Command, Advance Wars DS, New Super Mario Bros, or Big Brain Academy for an impromptu tournament among friends. Eight gaming stations and DDR will also be set up for drop-in open play.
Blog Post
The Boy Detective Fails by Joe Meno
by kimatr
Everybody knows that the Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown could solve every mystery they faced as kids, but what happened when they grew up? In The Boy Detective Fails, Joe Meno tells the story of grown up child sleuth Billy Argo who, at the age of 30, finds himself living in a halfway house, unable to deal with his sister's suicide and his crippling fear of failure. Billy's world is rainy and dreamlike, and you start to feel as though many of his adventures are only side-effects of his medication, but over the course of the book he accidentally solves the mystery surrounding his sister's death and comes to terms with the fact that not always knowing the answers is part of being an adult.
This book also gives the reader a chance to play detective, with a decoder ring tucked into the back cover to help decipher some secret messages that Billy receives, and a cryptogram that runs across the bottom of many of the pages.
Blog Post
Dattebayo!
by joy k
Ann Arbor ninja rejoice! The first set of Naruto anime dvds (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3) has just landed at the library. You can always read the manga while you’re waiting for your copy to come in, or you can investigate some of the library’s recent teen novels about ninja, such as Blue Fingers: A Ninja’s Tale by Cheryl Aylward Whitesel and In Darkness, Death by Dorothy Hoobler.
Blog Post
AADL-GT 2006 Season Wrapup: FJW FTW
by eli
It's all over! The 2006 AADL-GT Super Smash Double Dash Championship Season has drawn to a close, and the Grand Champion was [gtplayer:737], who fought his way through 20 grueling matches, past formidable veterans and hopeful noobs alike, to win the final Kart Race on the infamous Baby Park Oval and claim the grand prize: a Brand-New Nintendo Wii! FJW's clan, We Are Hard, was not as successful in the 2006 Clan Cup event, losing in the Semifinals despite going into the Clan Cup with the highest score, while the #4 ranked Pocket Rockets came from behind to deliver a thorough drubbing to the ever-solid Bros & Co to take victory. With our biggest season yet behind us, let's take a few minutes to reflect on the top stories of the 2006 season, and start thinking about how next season can be even better.
The 2006 season saw almost 200 unique players and 17 Clans compete for glory, prizes, and simple superiority across 7 months of Super Smash Bros. Melee and Mario Kart Double Dash, with monthly single-player and team events in each game. From the preseason event in July to the December Grand Championships, alliances were formed, rivalries fought, and storied careers rose and fell amidst a maelstrom of turtle shells, banana peels, and pokéballs.
While the July preseason tournament set the stage for what was to come, and allowed clans to size up hopefuls and recruit new members, the season began in earnest in August, and it looked like it might just be the Season of the Turtles. Turtle Clan stormed to a decisive Clan Battle victory at Round 1, beating Bros & Co at Mario Power Tennis, and Clan leaders [gtplayer:143] and his brother [gtplayer:146] racked up a mind-bending 6000+ points for their Clan, representing in the finals of every event, and winning two.
However, the tables would soon begin turn as [gtplayer:737] secured the increasingly impressive skills of the Kalamazoo-based Royster Brothers ([gtplayer:606] and [gtplayer:614]) for We Are Hard, turning what was a decent emerging clan into an instantly near-unstoppable powerhouse. The Roysters delivered over 5000 points for WAH in Round 2 and got them to the Clan Battle Finals, where FJW and (was it) [gtplayer:738] defeated the Savage Brothers in F-Zero GX to seize Clan Battle Victory for WAH and moved them to within striking distance of Turtle Clan in the standings, with WAH member [gtplayer:504] closing to within a few hundred points of the mighty [gtplayer:143].
As the season wore on into Round 3, the team events began to take on increased importance and several frequent teams became widely feared names; The Royster's Team Silence, [gtplayer:788] and [gtplayer:509]'s NIXON'S BAAAAACK, The threateningly-named and honestly formidable BEATUSANDDIE ([gtplayer:737] and [gtplayer:504]), the Melee Mastery of [gtplayer:483] and [gtplayer:340], and the constant threat of [gtplayer:143] and his brother ([gtplayer:146]), who won the Kart Team event 3 out of 4 times, only taking second in Round 2 when they fell to Doll-E-Mart ([gtplayer:431] and [gtplayer:371]).
In Round 3, WAH once again sat atop the Clan Scores, propelled by solid performances from the Roysters and FJW, while Bros & Co miscalculated and lost to WAH at Shadow Battle from Four Swords, giving WAH their second straight Clan Battle victory and cementing them atop the Clan Standings.
Round 4 was when it finally happened for Bros & Co; as WAH fell in the Clan Battle Semis, they faced Turtle Clan at Gauntlet and emerged triumphant, although not able to make a dent in WAH's huge lead, especially as WAH's [gtplayer:737] and [gtplayer:504] took first and second in Single Player Kart and second in Team Kart, [gtplayer:614] won Single Player Smash and took 2nd in Team Smash with brother [gtplayer:606]. However, enough recap, let's get to the Grand Championship Results!
The Clan Cup got underway promptly at noon, starting with a set of 2 Mario Kart Team Races for the Clans ranked 5-8. The #7 Foreign Exchange won both races and coasted on to the next round, while #5 It's Called a Crew managed a 2nd place finish, enough to lift them past the #8 Vaccinated Monks and the #6 Black Shark Clan and on to Round 2.
There, they were joined by the #4 Pocket Rockets and the #3 Turtle Clan for two rounds of Melee for each of two teams. The Pocket Rockets, clearly prepared and with high aspirations for the day, won 3 of their four matches and moved on, while Turtle Clan lost three matches and was eliminated. It's Called A Crew and the Foreign Exchange were tied with two wins apiece, so they each sent a representative to what would be the day's only tiebreaker: a round of the venerable classic, Marble Madness. [gtplayer:382] of ICAC and The Right Honourable [gtplayer:325] of the Foreign Exchange fought an evenly matched battle, with both reaching the treacherous Aerial Race, but neither able to complete it. With a thin edge on points, [gtplayer:325] won the tiebreaker and led his clan on to the Clan Cup Semifinals.
Here, the ascendant Pocket Rockets and the capable Foreign Exchange faced the two top clans of the season: #2 Bros and Co, and #1 We Are Hard, with two matches of Melee and two races of Co-op Kart for each team from each clan. The Pocket Rockets astoundingly won all four of their Melee matches to jump out to huge point lead, while WAH went 2-2 and FX and Bros & Co each only managed one win. The Pocket Rockets then proceeded to get totally stomped in Kart, with their teams finishing 6th and 7th in the first race, and 5th and 8th in the second, but their 400 points from the Melee phase was enough to lift them past all competitors and secure the #1 spot in the Final Mystery Round. That #2 spot was the subject of a pitched battle, with only 20 points ultimately separating 2nd from 4th place, as the ever-scrappy Bros & Co, the only clan to make it to every Clan Battle this season, score 450 points to advance to the finals, while the underdog Foreign Exchange just missed a trip to the final by 10 points, and odds-on favorite We Are Hard was also eliminated.
So, the Final match of the 2006 Clan Cup began, and the mystery final game was revealed to be Wario Ware Single-Controller Survival. Both Bros & Co and the Pocket Rockets had all 6 members present, so each clan had six 'lives' to try to complete as many microgames as possible. Bros & Co. went first, but only managed to complete 13 microgames before losing all their lives, allowing the Pocket Rockets to easily coast to their first victory with 3 lives to spare, claiming the Clan Cup prizes and highly-coveted trophies.
On to the Wildcard tournament, or the 'Festival of N00bs' as I like to call it, as the broadcast began with 34 hopefuls vying for 8 spots in the Grand Championship Bracket. Most notable was the return of [gtplayer:136], 2005 prize winner and Grand Championship Semifinalist, who had missed most of the 2006 season doing something called 'sports'. Fulfilling expectations, [gtplayer:136] finished the first round of 4 matches tied for 2nd, behind season regulars [gtplayer:217] and [gtplayer:776], and then went on to be the only player to win all 4 matches in the second and final round of the Wildcard Tournament and finish in first place. The final 8 wildcards to advance to the Grands only included one other non-rookie, [gtplayer:458]. The final Wildcard winners were as follows:
1. [gtplayer:136]
2. [gtplayer:696]
3. [gtplayer:359]
4. [gtplayer:923]
5. [gtplayer:927]
6. [gtplayer:458]
7. [gtplayer:905]
8. [gtplayer:217]
We were then on to the Main Event: The 2006 Grand Championships! With 44 prequalified players plus the 8 wildcards, 52 total squared off for a shot at the hottest game console on the planet, the Nintendo Wii. Each round again consisted of two Melee Matches and two Kart races for each contender, with score-based elimination resetting each round. The very first cut, from 52 down to 32, saw some highly regarded players fall, including [gtplayer:509], [gtplayer:789] and [gtplayer:790] of the Pocket Rockets (as captain [gtplayer:788] just squeaked through in 32nd place), the elimination of wildcards [gtplayer:905], [gtplayer:923], and [gtplayer:927], and the shocking knockout of the well-rounded [gtplayer:340]. Favored [gtplayer:143] also narrowly dodged early elimination, finishing just one spot above [gtplayer:788] in 31st place.
The carnage only grew as 4 more matches cut the field from 32 to 16, with the elimination of [gtplayer:198] and [gtplayer:166] of Bros & Co, the underrated [gtplayer:457] of Black Shark Clan, [gtplayer:797] and [gtplayer:788] of the Pocket Rockets, [gtplayer:396] and [gtplayer:328] of the Foreign Exchange, and many more. Most suprisingly, [gtplayer:136] missed the cut by 10 points, and Season 1 champion [gtplayer:143] finished at the bottom of the pack and was eliminated.
With the contest truly heating up, another round of 4 matches cut 8 more players as the stakes, the competition, and the consensual stalling heated up. This round saw the elimination of the two remaining wildcards ([gtplayer:217] and [gtplayer:776]), Melee Titans [gtplayer:483] and [gtplayer:614], [gtplayer:154] of Turtle Clan and [gtplayer:183] of the Black Sharks, plus the formidable [gtplayer:852] of the Usual Suspects and Chairman of the Foreign Exchange, [gtplayer:325].
With only 8 players remaining and only one more elimination before the prize round, the pressure to excel and to leverage any advantage available was great. Up-and-coming prodigy [gtplayer:821] of the Pocket Rockets was first to fall, but will surely be a future force to be reckoned with with 6 season of eligibility still to come; [gtplayer:795] was also eliminated, the highest-finished player without a clan affiliation. Then, Turtle Clan's [gtplayer:146] fell, the victim of a 3 on 1; and Bros & Cos [gtplayer:197] missed the cut by 20 points and was eliminated as well.
That left four warriors, who had fought their way to this moment through countless rounds, wins, losses, and struggles; four warriors who had just two matches of Melee and two races of kart left with which to prove their worth and claim their prize and the glory of victory. These chosen four were:
From Bros & Co:
[gtplayer:736], who had taken the prizeless 4th place in the 2004 Grand Championship Finals and was hungry for more than a t-shirt, and clanmate [gtplayer:168], who had been to the finals 4 times in the 2006 season, assembling a complete set of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place finishes;
and from We Are Hard:
[gtplayer:737], whose multifaceted skills were undeniable, and whose leadership had brought together the forces that made We Are Hard the standout story of the season, and clanmate [gtplayer:606], whose Melee prowess was undeniable, but whose vulnerability in Kart could cost him Victory, and put the mesh of allegiances that formed We Are Hard to the test.
[gtplayer:606] won both of the melee rounds, while [gtplayer:737] took second in both, setting the stage for an intense and deeply emotional final set of Mario Kart races. [gtplayer:606] had a 40-point lead, but [gtplayer:737] had a skill advantage in Kart; and with the final races being Rainbow Road and Baby Park, it required a lethal combination of skill and luck to survive.
In the first Kart race, [gtplayer:737] took 1st place, as [gtplayer:606] took 3rd, with [gtplayer:168] taking 2nd and [gtplayer:736] coming in 4th. [gtplayer:606] still had a chance, but he had to beat FJW on Baby Park. As the final race came to a ferocious end, [gtplayer:606] finished 4th, and FJW was able to overtake him, seizing first place and the Wii. [gtplayer:606] took second, and chose the iPod over the DS for the first time in GT history, leaving the DS to third place [gtplayer:168], and the lousy t-shirt to now two-time 4th place finalist, [gtplayer:736].
With new controversies born, Clan allegiances possibly shaken beyond repair, and almost all of the big guns due back for one more season, the 2007 GT may be the hottest one yet. Thanks to all of you for your participation, your sportsmanship, and for giving me the privilege of having the coolest job in town. I hope to see you all at DS Fest and Open Play next week, Tuesday-Thursday, from 4-8 PM, and at the Season 4 Planning meeting at Pittsfield Branch, Saturday, 2/10, from 1-4 PM. There will be food, open play, and we'll be doing wrapup interviews for the DVD (which will be done more promptly this year).
Thanks again, guys, and see you next season!
[eli]