What a rare opportunity for anyone who has small children in the family or teachers and caregivers who work with small children. Jim Gill is coming to Ann Arbor to give a workshop and a family concert.
The workshop will be at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 16, 2013 at the Downtown Library. The concert will follow at 7:00 p.m. At the workshop he will talk about how music plays such an important part in children's development. You will learn a lot but you'll also be entertained.
A Jim Gill family concert is fun for the whole family.
Don't miss these great events that are a part of our Children's Book Week celebration.

Ever wanted to find out the price/earnings ratio of a stock? Find growth or income mutual funds for your retirement account? Read a concise synopsis of the quarterly performance of various industry sectors?

Learn to use the Morningstar Investment database, a service provided by the Ann Arbor District Library. Morningstar is a respected and reliable source of independent investment analysis for all levels of fund and stock investors, ranging from inexperienced beginners to sophisticated experts.

Join us Tuesday, May 14th at 7pm in the Downtown Training Center located on the 3rd floor. We'll go over the basics of looking up a stock or mutual fund, create screens to find specific categories of stocks or mutual funds, and take a look at Morningstar's portfolio planning tools.

No registration necessary.

Nothing says " I love you, Mom!" like cards and flowers made by their children's hands.
Come to the Main Library on Saturday, May 11, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. and we'll help
you do that. We'll be making cards and giant tissue paper flowers.
This is for children preschool - Grade 5 but everyone is welcome.
All supplies will be provided.

For materials on this May holiday, click here.

21 Years celebrating teen writers, with this year's contest bringing in 335 submissions, is a lot to celebrate. The Awards Ceremony, where Finalists are honored and winners are announced will take place on May 11, Saturday, from 2 - 3:30pm at the downtown library. Speaking to the teens and their families is award winning A. S. King whose book, Ask the Passengers just won the 2012 L.A. Times Book Prize.

One of my favorites is Everybody Sees the Ants, which was an Andre Norton Award finalist, a Cybils finalist, and a 2012 YALSA Top Ten book for young adults. Her 2010 YA novel, Please Ignore Vera Dietz was a 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book, an Edgar Award Nominee, a Kirkus Reviews Best Book for Teens 2010, a Junior Library Guild selection and a YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults pick. Her interests are varied with experiences in farming, photography, and teaching adult literary, to name a few.
Reality Boy is due in Fall 2013 as well as two anthologies.

All finalists have been notified and the top three winners will receive $250 for 1st, $150 for 2nd Place, and $100 for 3rd Place in three grade categories. All finalists will receive certificates honoring their achievements. Stories were judged by an impressive team of authors for teens.

We applaud all the teen writers for their creativity and talent!

Circle K Logo

Due to U of M exams and the break between semesters, there will be a break in sessions for about 2 weeks.

Homework Help will go on temporary hiatus after the Monday, April 22nd session. It will then restart on Wednesday, May 8th and last through Wednesday, June 12th. There will be no session on Monday, May 27th, as the Library will be closed for Memorial Day.

As a reminder, Circle K Homework Help sessions take place on Monday and Wednesday evenings from 4:00-8:00 pm, and on Sunday afternoons from 3:00-5:00 pm. All sessions are held in the Downtown Youth Story Corner.

AADL also provides access to Brainfuse, an online tutoring service. Live tutors are available from 2:00 -11:00 pm every day!

beautyIf you missed them last time please join us at the Ann Arbor District Library's downtown location for a repeat performance of their wonderful production of Sleeping Beauty.

PuppetART’s production of Sleeping Beauty is a puppet ballet. The story is told through the movement of the puppets and wonderful classical music that accompanies the show.

Sleeping Beauty is a very old tale and it has been told many times in many ways. PuppetART’s version includes some new and interesting details. We all know that Sleeping Beauty has been cursed by a wicked fairy and is forced to sleep until she is awakened by a kiss from a Prince. Most versions focus upon the Princess’s story but this production sheds light on the story of the Prince as well. We find out how he knows of the sleeping Princess and why he feels destined to rescue her. You can relax and enjoy the show because this story, as all fairy tales, promises a very happy ending.

For all materials Sleeping Beauty available at the Ann Arbor District Library follow this link: Sleeping Beauty

The Detroit based theater, was founded in 1998 by a group of puppeteers and artists trained in the former Soviet Union. All members of the PuppetART troupe are masters of puppetry art theater. PuppetART offers a repertoire of eight productions, including one created for adult audiences. Performances feature hand, rod, shadow, floor tabletop and string or marionette puppets. All events at PuppetART combine a theater performance, a tour of the museum and a workshop in the studio. A visit to their downtown theater is a treat not to be missed!!

See you there!!!

Friday, May 3 | 6:30-8:30 PM | Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room | Adults

This coming Friday, Cinema Night Special will present two vastly contrasting examples of storytelling through animation. The evening kicks off with a fanciful Oscar-winning short, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore -- created in a "hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals."

The 80-minute, critically accritically-acclaimed Czech film "Alois Nebel," (Best Animated Film, 2012 European Film Awards) draws from vastly different inspiration —classic film noir. Rendered in mesmerizing black-and-white rotoscope, this darker film traces the haunted memories and mysterious visions of a troubled Czechoslovakian train dispatcher, haunted by events in the Second World War.

Between films, local band Cash Harrison & The Terrible Decisions will perform a live set, and fresh popcorn will be served.

Enjoy this special evening of film and music!

March through early May, AADL has been presenting America's Music Project, celebrating and tracing the history of American popular music through film, discussion and free performances. Prior weeks have talked about Blues, Gospel, Jazz, Tin Pan Alley.

The week of April 22 is devoted to the history of Rock and Roll, and Saturday Looks Good to Me will perform Monday, April 22, at 7pm in the Multipurpose Room Downtown.

From its year-2000 birth as a home recording project to its prolific 2002-7 stretch of releases to its recent return to playing and recording, Saturday Looks Good To Me has consistently brought together the jubilant fun of Motown and Northern soul with an indie approach. Thomas and an evolving cast of musicians draw on a variety of past influences while remaining firmly rooted in the present.

No tickets or registration required, no admission fee.

The AADL is one of fifty sites nationwide to host the America’s Music series, a project of the Tribeca Film Institute in collaboration with the American Library Association, Tribeca Flashpoint, and the Society for American Music.

The AADL series is cosponsored by Kerrytown Concert House, UMS, WCBN 88.3 FM, and the Friends of the AADL. America’s Music has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.

Sunday, April 21 | 2-2:45pm | Downtown Multi-Purpose Room | K-5th Grades with an adult

It's National Library Week! Let's celebrate with a live performance!

Join us for a shadow puppet show with master puppeteer Patrick Elkins. Perhaps you saw him wandering and performing downtown a few weeks ago during FoolMoon?! The Ypsilanti-based Elkins will be performing a wonderful shadow puppet show geared towards kids in grades K-5. Adults welcome! See you there!