On the grounds of Windsor Great Park is a special little house where generations of British royal children have played. Now, as Britain celebrates the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, Princess Beatrice has overseen a year-long renovation of her Grandmother's childhood cottage.

Looking for ideas for your own dream house playhouse? Try these books:

Playhouses You can Build : Indoor & Backyard Designs

Backyards for Kids : a Sunset Outdoor Design & Build Guide

The Backyard Playground : Recreational Landscapes & Play Structures

Fabulous Play House Plans : Simple and Sophisticated Hideaways for Boys and Girls

Building Outdoor Play Structures

Children's Play Yards

Outdoor Playhouses & Toys

The University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center is pleased to announce its 18th Annual Cancer Survivors' Day Celebration. The event takes place this Sunday, June 3rd from 1:00-3:30 at the Morris Lawrence Building on the campus of Washtenaw Community College. Presenting will be Lori Hope, motivational speaker & cancer survivor. There will also be exhibits & information, light refreshments & door prizes! To register, complete this form or call 734-998-7071.

The Downtown library has a shelf in the Youth Department known as the Parent Shelf. On this shelf you’ll find a variety of parent-child related books on a multitude of topics- including everything from phonics to tantrums to potty training to diet. These books are available for checkout, and can be found in the catalog when searching “parent shelf,” if you’d like to have one sent to a branch of your choice.

If you’ve got a child who can’t get enough reading, or if you're looking into ways to enhance their reading skills and comprehension, check out some of these titles to get you going, and see here for more.

Humpty who?: A crash course in 80 nursery rhymes for clueless moms and dads

Shelf-esteem

Family of Readers : The book lover's guide to children's and young adult literature

Mommy, teach me to read!: A complete and easy-to use home reading program

Yellow brick roads: Shared and guided paths to independent reading 4-12

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How often can a student find a free Tutor whose core academic proficiency has been assessed & has undergone a thorough reference & background check? How often can you find a free tutor who has been trained in research-based teaching methodology & State-Aligned Standards? The answer? EVERY day from 2 pm-11 pm from your own home with your library card verification. Tutors are for grades 3-12 but there's a portal for for adult learners that features career-enhancing skills if you are a job seeker or going back to school to build your skills for a new career. Try Brainfuse today!

If you like assisting library staff with fun programs, OR if you like working behind the scenes packaging up Summer Game orders, then AADL has some work for you between June 20 and August 31.

What do you need to do? Stop by a branch, sign up, and take an application packet. NOTE: you MUST be age 14-18 AND be able to attend an orientation at the Downtown Library on 10:00-11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 18.

Complete the application, information sheet, and permission slip. Return it to the branch no later than June 8. Library staff will contact the adult references you list and let you know if you are part of the summer AADL volunteer crew.

This summer’s game is for all ages but only you, our teens, will get to help on the inside. The numbers of volunteer slots are limited so stop by today and pick up an application!

Celebrate Children's Book Week by watching the Magic Carpet Theatre bring some classic children's stories to life. They will be performing at the Downtown Library, in the downstairs multi-purpose room on Thursday, May 10 at 7:00 p.m. Featured stories include Dr. Seuss's The Sneetches and Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.

This is for children in grades K - 5 and their grown-ups.

Access to books for education, employment & social inclusion has dramatically increased for people with print disabilities. An early ebook innovator, Bookshare developed a new approach to digital rights management (DRM) which include both electronic fingerprints in the books as well as legal agreements & social pressure. Bookshare's parent company, Benetech is a leading provider of accessible open content and open source tools to improve accessibility. Bookshare started with volunteers digitizing and legally sharing materials over the Internet with others who had qualified print disabilities. To date, over 180 publishers have now contributed over half of the 140,000 titles in the collection. For more information about Bookshare or to see if you or a family member qualify, click here.

The Downtown library has a shelf in the Youth Department known as the Parent Shelf. On this shelf you’ll find a variety of parent-child related books on a multitude of topics- including everything from phonics to tantrums to potty training to diet. These books are available for checkout, and can be found in the catalog when searching “parent shelf,” if you’d like to have one sent to a branch of your choice.

On the parent shelf, and in the regular collection, the library has a slew of books that may answer questions that parents, teachers, and caregivers may have about working with children with special needs. See here for a list of titles in the regular collection, or check out these Parent Shelf titles to get you going:

Positive discipline for children with special needs

No longer a secret: Unique common sense strategies for children with sensory or motor challenges

The learning tree: Overcoming learning disabilities from the ground up

The complete guide to special education: Proven advice on evaluations, IEPs, and helping kids succeed

The Ann Arbor Young Actor's Guild will present a lively adaptation of Mark Twain's classic book on April 27 and 28. Twain's book tells the story of Hank Morgan, the quintessential self-reliant New Englander who brings to King Arthur’s Age of Chivalry the “great and beneficent” miracles of nineteenth-century engineering and American ingenuity. Through the collision of past and present, Twain exposes the insubstantiality of both utopias, destroying the myth of the romantic ideal as well as his own era’s faith in scientific and social progress.

Mark Twain first published his novel in 1889. Since then, this famous story has been adapted many times. In A Knight in Camelot Whoopi Goldberg plays a computer scientist whose computer malfunctions. This causes her to be sent back in time with her laptop. She uses the device to amaze the court of the 6th-century English King Arthur and his court.

It has been said that If Mark Twain were alive today, he'd probably be publishing interactive novels on the Web. Like many people of his time, he embraced new technological developments and saw them as a measure of human potential. But Twain was also keenly aware of the limitations of technology, as he shows in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court.

Washtenaw County was recently hit by a devastating tornado. Do you know what to do in a storm emergency? In a tornado or a violent thunderstorm? How would you keep your family safe? The Washtenaw County Chapter of the American Red Cross will present a special disaster session featuring tips to prepare for and respond to disasters. This includes tornadoes, floods, thunderstorms and other emergencies. Red Cross staff will look at natural disasters from both a scientific and safety perspective. This session will be in English but geared to English Language Learners, too! Join us at the Traverwood Branch, April 16 from 7:00-8:00 PM.