This beloved children's adventure novel and modern fairy tale first published in 1961 was written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer. It tells the story of Milo, a boy bored by the world around him; every activity seems a waste of time. One afternoon he receives a mysterious package that contains a miniature tollbooth and a map of "the Lands Beyond". Having nothing better to do, he decides to drive through it in his toy car. He finds himself in a land called the Kingdom of Wisdom. He meets the "watchdog" Tock, who becomes his companion, has many adventures, and goes on a quest to rescue the princesses of the kingdom, Princess Rhyme and Princess Reason, from the castle of air. Wonderful and surprising plays on words and puns are an important part of the story.

We have two different editions of the book on BOCD, one narrated by Norman Dietz, and the other performed by David Hyde Pierce.

The CBS Sunday Morning show aired a segment yesterday celebrating the fiftieth anniversary, with a profile of the author and the illustrator.

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.

There are some great books on food and nutrition for children that offer advice and guidance on topics such as dealing with picky eaters as well as nutrition facts. Check out Start fresh: your child's jump start to lifelong healthy eating, 44 things parents should know about healthy cooking for kids, or perhaps Healthy food for young children and these other nutrition books for some fresh ideas on food and children.

Buried one foot below the surface of a field called Thistley Green in the English town of Mildenhall, a most fantastic Roman treasure lay for centuries until a ploughman came along in the 1940s and accidentally dug it up. What followed was a tragedy, involving human greed and abuse of a good man's innocence. Gordon Butcher, discoverer of this treasure, was entitled by British law to the full amount of its market value. Although Butcher was not aware of this law, another ploughman named Ford did know about it, and managed to bamboozle Butcher out of the fortune.

This remarkable story was written in 1946 by a young Roald Dahl, who went on to write such beloved classics as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. Dahl's inimitable style blazes through even in his early career. The true story, republished with stunning art by Ralph Steadman, is as riveting as if it had happened today, with heartbreaking notes of unbearable unfairness and sincere naiveté. Each page, thickly covered with rich, dark splashes of paint, sketchy faces, and bits of collage, has a wild and ominous tenor, reflected in the ferocious weather that fateful day when the hapless farmer discovered--and lost--the greatest treasure ever found in the British Isles.

All of us storytime tellers have been reading and telling the best-selling story of Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by Eric Litwin since it landed on our shelf. It’s one of our favorites, so we are so excited that Eric Litwin will be performing at the Downtown Library this Friday, March 23 at 7 pm for the whole family! We just know, with Pete along for the ride, it’s going to be groovy!!

If this weekend's Dance For Mother Earth Pow Wow inspires you, check out the CD More Kid's Pow Wow Songs. The Library also has many other recordings of Native American music.

You can read a story about a young Jingle Dancer in this book by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Or, try the photo essay, Pow Wow by George Ancona, and Pow Wow: A Good Day to Dance by Jacqueline Dembar Greene.

Cloudwalker; Contemporary Native American Stories is a collection of six short stories about modern Native American children's lives and how they blend traditional Native culture with mainstream American culture. Children of Native America Today is a photo essay featuring 25 of the more than 500 native cultures of the U.S. as well as a section on urban Indians.

This year's Dance For Mother Earth is the 40th annual Pow Wow at U.M. Here's a link to articles and photographs from past Pow Wows.

Celebrate The Lorax and Read Across America at our Toast to The Truffula Trees craft program on Thursday, March 15 at 7 pm at the Downtown Library! Families with children of all ages are invited to make a ridiculous Truffula Hat out of recycled materials from our favorite treasure trove, the Scrap Box. A dramatic reading of The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss, will entertain creators as they color, cut and glue with pom poms, pipe cleaners, stickers and lots of colorful recycled junk!

Bill HarleyBack by popular demand, the stellar Bill Harley returns for a library sponsored event at The Ark this Sunday, March 11 at 2:00 pm. We are hosting this grammy award winning musician and storyteller for a free family show at The Ark for ages five and up. Now is your chance to catch one of the best, and if you have enjoyed Bill in the past, we know we will see you there again! When Bill came through town last year I invited all my friends to the grown-up evening performance and they loved it so much they are all returning this Sunday at 7:30 pm.

According to The Guardian Newspaper, a collection of fairytales gathered by historian Franz Xaver von Schönwerth and locked away in an archive in Regensburg for over 150 years, has come to light. These tales are part of a collection of myths, legends and fairytales, gathered by a local historian in the Bavarian region of Oberpfalz at about the same time as the Grimm brothers were collecting the fairytales that have since charmed adults and children around the world.

Last year, the Oberpfalz cultural curator Erika Eichenseer published a selection of fairytales from Von Schönwerth's collection, which is currently only available in German. But a Munich-based English translator, Dan Szabo, has already begun work on some of the stories ranging from a miserly farmer and a money-mill to a turnip princess. So perhaps one day we'll be able to read them in English.

Until then, you can discover many folk and fairytales not only from Germany, but around the world. The Downtown Library has a wonderful assortment in the Youth Department, and each of the Branches has a collection as well. The tales are conveniently arranged by geographical areas. There are also special sections for familiar tales that have many versions, like Cinderella, The Gingerbread Boy, and Rumpelstiltskin. All of the Hans Christian Andersen stories are together. Come travel the world by reading these timeless tales!

An old proverb says that if March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb. Although this year in Michigan, our "lion" is not very fierce, you can enjoy this book's March lion, who roars through a little boy's house, tracking in mud, sleet, and hail. He wreaks utter havoc, until the day when the soft breeze and new tree buds cause the lion to sneeze. Riding the wave of that sneeze, the lamb comes prancing in, ushering in all things spring. Pen, ink and watercolor illustrations truly bring the story to life.

For some crafts and fun activities related to March weather click here.

Congratulations to William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg for winning this year's Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. The 15 minute film is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation), Joyce and Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. Here's a gallery of pictures from the making of the film. To see the film itself, you'll need to download it on iTunes, but you can watch a preview here. William Joyce will be releasing the book in July of 2012, and we'll make it available here at the Library, when it is published.