At the Art Table: Poppies for Vets!

Thu, 10/23/2014 - 5:09pm by manz

For the next few weeks the art table will feature a chance to make Veterans Day cards featuring pretty poppies! We have all the supplies on hand. We have a spot to collect the cards you make and they’ll be delivered to the VA Hospital in Ann Arbor. Feel tree to make yourself a poppy to also take home and put on the fridge!

Why poppies for Veterans Day? This symbol of remembrance was inspired by the poem In Flander’s Fields by John McCrae. The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in WWI.

Want to learn more about Veterans Day? Here are a couple book to look at.

Chillers Author Johnathan Rand to visit AADL!

Mon, 10/20/2014 - 12:23pm by manz

Join us Sunday, October 26 from 2-3pm downtown for a visit from local author Johnathan Rand! Rand is the author of the popular children’s chapter book series Michigan Chillers and American Chillers, with titles such as Poltergeists Of Petoskey, Dinosaurs Destroy Detroit and Great Lakes Ghost Ship.

He will talk about how he became a writer and how reading and writing are necessary in life. Books will be will for sale and he’ll be signing books after the event! Come give him a high five and ask him why he writes the books he does.

If you head up north, I recommend a visit to Chillermania! in Indian River. It’s the world headquarters for Rand’s books and a spookyish book store chock full of Rand’s books! It’s a feast for the eyes. I walked in this past spring and had a ton of fun.

Failure IS An Option

Tue, 10/14/2014 - 3:35pm by aadl staff

Gary Shteyngart will be at the Downtown Library on Tuesday, October 21 at 7 pm talking about his wildly funny book Little Failure.

Tweet to @aadl your "little failure" using the hashtag #LittleFailure for your chance to win a Failure Is An Option t-shirt.

Winners will be chosen at random and must be present at the event to win.

Winter work arounds

Fri, 09/26/2014 - 11:21am by Sunny29

Michigan winters can be tough, especially when it comes to staying in shape. So why not develop a good at-home practice before we get snowed in?! Yoga is the perfect solution for combating the winter blues, keeping your energy levels up and extra pounds off the scale!

The AADL collection has options for everyone; monthly magazine selections, reading materials to develop and deepen your practice, and DVD’s for those looking to work on flexibility, strength or improve your sense of self. You can even experience yoga IN your library! Keep an eye on the events calendar for future programs, and be sure to join us next week at the Pittsfield branch for a children's yoga class!

Fairies in the Library!

Tue, 09/09/2014 - 12:58pm by eapearce

Wow! Have you seen the new display in the downtown youth department? It was created by FAIRIES! As many of you know, the fairies have a special house here at the downtown library. Lots of fairy-lovers come and leave little notes and gifts at this house for the fairies—which they love! To say thank you for all these beautiful presents, the fairies have displayed some of them next to the youth desk along with a special thank-you note!

Of course, fairies don’t just live at the library: there are fairies all over Ann Arbor! There is even an urban fairy village near the library and another fairy village in Nichols Arboretum. It’s clear that we in Ann Arbor love fairies… and that fairies love us! Are you interested in creating your own fairies? The library has lots of resources that might be of help to you. Try Drawing Faeries: A Believer’s Guide, How to Draw and Paint Fairies, or Forest Fairy Crafts: enchanting fairies and felt friends from simple supplies.

If you’d rather just read and learn more about fairies, of course there are tons of great fairy stories at the library too. We have The complete book of the flower fairies: poems and pictures, which has beautiful illustrations accompanied by memorable and detailed poems about fairy life. There’s also My Treasury of Fairies and Elves: a collection of 20 magical stories, the beautiful The Little People: stories of fairies, pixies and other small folk and The Hidden Folk: stories of fairies, gnomes, selkies and other hidden folk.

Are fairy movies your thing? There’s the classic Ferngully, in which fairies help to save a rainforest from being cut down, and the enchanting Fairy Tale: a True Story, which tells of how two little girls discover real fairies and get swept up in the ensuing controversy in post-World War I England.

Happy fairy-seeking!

Furry Friends at the Tot Table

Tue, 09/02/2014 - 2:08pm by StoryLaura

Check out all the furry forest friends at the tot table in the youth area of the Downtown Library. Possums dangle from the big tree and fawns curl up in their hidey hole. Raccoon chases squirrel through the log tunnel and watch out for those skunks! For real wildlife adventures make sure to visit Leslie Science Center or The Creature Conservancy or take a walk through Saginaw Forest while the beautiful weather holds!

Parent’s Corner: What’s New

Sun, 08/03/2014 - 12:46pm by manz

There are some new titles over on the Parent Shelf!

The Parent Shelf is located in the downtown youth area, and on this shelf you’ll find a variety of parent-child related books on a multitude of topics- including everything from language to potty training to safety to bullying. These books are available for checkout and can be found in the catalog when searching “parent shelf.”

Here are a few new titles to look for:

* Reading in the wild: The book whisperer's keys to cultivating lifelong reading habits

* Redefining girly: How parents can fight the stereotyping and sexualizing of girlhood, from birth to tween

* Parentology: Everything you wanted to know about the science of raising children but were too exhausted to ask

* Mothering & daughtering: Keeping your bond strong through the teen years

Pixie Parties!

Thu, 07/31/2014 - 12:21pm by Sunny29

The temperature might not be as warm as we'd like for this time of year, but magic is in the air! To get ready for AADL's Make-A-Wand Workshop at the Pittsfield branch, stop by the 4th Annual Fairy Festival at the Sunday Artisan Market in Kerrytown. If you need inspiration for your making, be sure to browse our collection featuring these sometimes mischievous, magical, winged creatures.

Twig Terrariums Presents: a Terrarium Building Workshop for Teens & Adults

Fri, 07/25/2014 - 2:51pm by erin

We're all excited about the hotly anticipated Twig Terrariums workshops this Sunday!

Please note that due to limited space and supplies as well as the detailed nature of the project we will be limiting the attendance to Teens in grades 6-12 and Adults. We rarely enforce our age limits for events, but this is a very special circumstance. However, this is just the beginning of the TWIG fun! As of Saturday, July 26 all summer game players will be able to check out the Twig Terrarium's display in the Downtown Library's Youth Department case, and the window at 826MI/Robot Repair & Supply. Starting, Tuesday, July 29 terrariums will also be at Literati Books, Rock, Paper, Scissors and Downtown Home & Garden. ! Keep your eyes peeled for the Twig Terrarium badges to be released next week and get ready to start your search! Literati Bookstore will be selling their book at the event and at their store and of course you can also check out a library copy.

There will be two workshops on Sunday: From 12:30-2:30 PM and from 3:30-5:30PM. If the first workshop fills up we will be handing out tickets for the second workshop.

This event was originally scheduled for the Downtown Library Multi-Purpose Room and has been relocated to the 4th floor of the Downtown Library.

Amazing Magazines!

Tue, 07/01/2014 - 9:58am by iralax

Whether you call them periodicals, zines or just plain magazines you will find some cool selections in the aadl magazine collection which, except for the current issue, can be put on hold with your library card and borrowed for two weeks. Titles like Michigan Riparian, Pointe, Bee Culture, Brick Journal, Treasures, Babybug, Cheng Ming, Scrapbooking & Beyond, G.I. jobs, or a multitude of popular glossies can be browsed at the library or at aadl.org. That’s also where you can click on Research and use the General Reference Center Gold database for magazines that we no longer carry. No matter what you call them, AADL has a magazine for everyone!