There’s nothing like tales of girls with gumption, to make us laugh and gasp and celebrate the female spirit. The Girl Scouts are cruising Ann Arbor’s cultural events this Saturday for their 100th birthday and we are a stop on the fun train. At 3 pm on March 2, all children in Kindergarten and up are invited to join us for stories about magical nesting dolls, jungle adventures and more with the Girl Scouts.

Saturday, March 2 | 1:00-3:30 PM | Downtown Library - 4th Floor Meeting Room

Looking for that first job? Get inspired by keynote speakers from Michigan Works and the AADL Human Resources Department. Then attend breakout sessions and pick up tips on completing applications, putting together a resume, and acing the interview.

Learn about creating your own job/business from the Business Side of Youth. Work alternatives? Teens from Youth Empowerment Project will talk about volunteering opportunities and how it can improve your chances of employment.

This program is for teens in grades 9-12.

If you are a parent with a child on the autism spectrum, here is an opportunity to explore the possibilities on Saturday, February 23 at 1:00 pm. Dr. Rick Solomon, from the Play Project, will be there to chat with parents and children. Kids will have an open space, or quiet space to play with construction toys, puppets and much more. Let the kids try out combinations of soothing scents with expert Michelle Krell Kydd, who recently interviewed
Temple Grandin about her sense of smell.

This is Not My Hat is a clever, gorgeous picture book, a 2013 Caldecott Medal book, and a must-read for anyone connected with children in preschool through first grade and beyond. Jon Klassen repeats the theme from his 2011 bestseller I Want My Hat Back and adds a smart twist. The story opens with the memorable lines "This hat is not mine. I just stole it," spoken by a brave little fish who has lifted a blue bowler hat from a big sleeping fish. Little fish swims quietly to a hiding place, not knowing -- but we know -- that the big fish is chasing him. When the two fish vanish into seaweed, the words stop, and big fish reemerges with the blue hat on his head. The story is simple and works beautifully.

A six-year-old Amazon reviewer echoes what many people, young and older, are saying about this gem of a book: "I liked the story and I liked the big fish. The bubbles create movement. The little fish was bad and the big fish was just a big fish. You don't steal from a big fish."

This is the first time we are hosting the Kerfuffles at the AADL and you are all invited to snap along, tap along, sing along to this jazzy A2/YPSI kid's band. We discovered Trent Collier strumming in the lovely Kerrytown garden one Farmer's Market Saturday morning and now we will get to hear Five Bananas and much more on Sunday, February 24 at 2 pm at Pittsfield!

Learn about and experience Kamishibai Storytelling with Masanari Nohara of the Ann Arbor Japan House this Sunday, February 10th, 1:00-2:00 PM at the Traverwood Branch.

Kamishibai originated in Japanese Buddhist Temples in the 12th century, where monks used emakimono, or picture scrolls, to convey stories with moral lessons. In the 1930's the gaito kamishibai (street kamishibai) storytellers first made the scene, riding their bicycles to Japanese towns and villages with their paper drama stages.

Kamishibai storytelling involves a set of illustrated boards inserted into a small stage that, in Japan, was usually mounted on a bicycle and taken out one by one as a story is told. This program is co-sponsored by Ann Arbor Japan House. Ann Arbor Japan House was established with the goal to create a place where people would have opportunities to increase their familiarity with various aspects of Japanese language and culture. The event is for youth (grade K and up), teens, and adults.

Not every idea that springs from a child’s imagination finds its way to reality. Helicopter skateboards and pet dinosaurs – the technology just isn’t there yet. But a story that debut author Jesse Klausmeier wrote when she was five, growing up in Madison, Wis., helped form the basis for her new picture book Open This Little Book. Readers are invited to open a series of colorful and progressively smaller “books,” which are nested inside each other like Russian matryoshka dolls, joining a growing cast of animals to discover what’s inside each one.

Like many children, Klausmeier was always trying to squeeze in one more book before bedtime. “I thought I was being very clever by taking a big book and stuffing smaller books into it,” she recalls. “My parents were both teachers, and they were very patient with letting me get away with that night after night.” With help from her grandmother, she devised a “cheat” bedtime book, which contained stories inside stories. Klausmeier says she gave up on the book after a few pages and forgot about it soon after, but the books-within-books idea stayed with her over the years, if subconsciously.

When Klausmeier got finished copies of her first published book one of the first things she did was to send one to her grandparents. “I’m really excited that my grandparents are still around to be able to see the book,” she says. “I wish I could go back in time and show five-year-old me, ‘Hey, this is real.’ ” While time travel is another one of those childhood fantasies that’s not yet reality, this author is ready to do the next best thing: share the book with today’s children and spread the message that the things they do and create at that age are important.

Are you in the market for a preschool? Are you looking for a good place to start your search? Then you should come to the Preschool Expo on January 27th! What is the Preschool Expo? It’s an event that brings representatives from many area preschools to one location, on one date. That way, it’s easy to gather information on preschools and talk with schools in order to find a good fit for your child! This free event is co-sponsored by the Ann Arbor District Library, Washtenaw Success by Six Great Start Collaborative, Child Care Network, and U-M Work/Life Resource Center. Come explore your options at the Preschool Expo!

Date: Sunday, January 27th
Time: 1:00 – 4:00p.m.
Place: Palmer Commons on the U-M Campus
100 Washtenaw Ave.
(Located at the intersection of Central and Medical Campuses)
Parking: Free parking available in the structure across the street from Palmer Commons

Every year at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting, librarians from across the continent gather for the most exciting event on the youth fiction calendar--the announcement of the ALA Youth Media Awards. These awards, from the venerable Newbery medal to the relatively new Stonewall Book Award, are awarded to what can only be termed the rockstars of the youth media world, and the enthusiasm surrounding the event carries out this comparison. Books nominated for these prizes are enshrined in their own sections of libraries, assigned in schools, and treasured by decades of readers, young and old. The 2013 winners were announced this morning in Seattle, Washington.

The 2013 Newbery Medal for the most outstanding children's literature of the year was awarded to Katherine Applegate for her book The One and Only Ivan.

The Caldecott Medal, celebrating its 75th year of honoring the best of the best of children's picture books, was awarded to Jon Klassen for This Is Not My Hat.

The Coretta Scott King Book Award for an outstanding publication that represents the African American experience was given to illustrator Bryan Collier for I, Too, Am America and author Andrea Davis Pinkney for Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America while The Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement recognized Demetria Tucker, librarian and youth media advocate, for her longstanding contributions.

The Pura Belpré Awards for works that best represent the Latino experience honored Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert for David Diaz's illustrations, and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz for text.

The Michael L. Printz Award for the best book written for young adults was awarded to Nick Lake for In Darkness.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award for a lifelong contribution to children's literature in the United States was awarded to Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia and many other beloved books, and The Margaret A. Edwards Award for contribution to teen literature went to Tamora Pierce for her quartets The Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small.

For a full list of winners and honorable mentions, visit the American Library Association's awards page or the ALA Youth Media Awards Facebook page, and be sure to check out our section of award winning children's books in the Downtown Library youth room.

The littlest ones will love this celebration of the most well known instrument in the orchestra, the violin. Join Barbara Sturgis-Everett, Principal Second Violinist in the A2SO, pianist Kathryn Goodson, and child movement specialist Gari Stein to dance, sing, listen and learn this Friday, January 25 at 9:30 and 10:30 am!