Today Michigan celebrates its 176th birthday! On January 26, 1837 Michigan became the 26th state in the union. How will you be celebrating?

To feel the local love, check out AADL's local creators lists, which include a list of movies made in Michigan, and books set in Michigan, among others. Or perhaps read up on Michigan history or plan a trip in this fine Mitten State.

Whether you’re a native or a transplant, it’s a great wintery day to be in the Great Lakes State.

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.

Saturday, January 26 | 10 - 11:30 am | 1 - 2:30 pm | Malletts Creek | Grades 1 - 3

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) presents a classic story followed by a related math session with hands-on activities and a variety of materials. This event is for Grades 1 - 3 accompanied by an adult. You're welcome to come to either the morning session from 10 - 11:30 am or the afternoon session from 1:00 - 2:30 pm. There is no registration for this event.

"A Quarter From The Tooth Fairy," by Caren Holtzman, is a story about a boy who buys things and then returns them. Each time he gets money back, he gets a different combination of coins totaling 25 cents. Learn about the value of different coins and adding money.

Also, check out these books on money and counting.

If you loved Vanessa Diffenbaugh's The Language of Flowers then you are likely to be pleased with Y: a novel by Marjorie Celona..

Here is the fabulous opener... "Y. That perfect letter. The wishbone, fork in the road, empty wineglass. The question we ask over and over. Why? . . . My life begins at the Y." As a new-born, Shannon was abandoned on the doorstep of the Vancouver Island YMCA, wrapped in a dirty gray sweatshirt, with a Swiss Army knife tucked between her feet. Abuse and neglect were routine in a series of foster homes that followed until Miranda, a no-nonsense single mother with a free-spirited daughter of her own, where Shannon found a sense of stability. However, the stubborn question of why her mother would abandon her was never far from her mind.

Interwoven with Shannon's story is that of her mother, Yula's. As past and present converge,Y tells an unforgettable story of identity, inheritance, and, ultimately, forgiveness.

"...(this) ravishingly beautiful novel offers a deeply affecting look at the choices we make and what it means to be a family". Enlivened by Shannon's self-deprecating humor, readers will embrace this " moving coming-of-age story full of fresh starts.. and of hope."

Debut novelist Majorie Celona (website) is a graduate of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Colgate University, and was recently writer-in-residence at Hawthornden Castle in Scotland. Born and raised on Vancouver Island, she now lives in Cincinnati.

Readalikes: Kaye Gibbon's Ellen Foster; White Oleander by Janet Fitch; and Night Road by Kristin Hannah.

Rose Martin, co-founder and director of Ann Arbor's Peace Neighborhood Center, died yesterday.

PNC was established in 1971 to provide a safe environment for residents of the diverse West Side to get together to solve problems. Co-operation between Peace Lutheran, Trinity Lutheran, and Zion Lutheran Churches made possible the Center at 1111 North Maple Road. Five years later, Ms. Martin became its Executive Director, a position she held for 30 years. Over the years she expanded its services to include working to end violence and drug abuse through educational and economic initiatives.

In 2001, Ann Arbor's Nonprofit Enterprise at Work awarded PNC its Prize for Excellence in Nonprofit Management.

A year later, Ms. Martin published her autobiography, One Rose Blooming: Hard-Earned Lessons about Kids, Race, and Life in America. Former Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon wrote of this book: "It grabbed my heart and forced me to evaluate myself. A fantastic book from a visionary community leader."

When she retired, Ms. Martin went right back to work. She opened Rose's Good Company whose clientele, according to RGC's mission statement is to "...serve individuals and families who have lost hope." The organization's focus is on the unemployed, the homeless, dependent children, ex-convicts and recovering addicts.

Ms. Martin, who was 70, died at a local restaurant of cardiac arrest.

Bipolar disorder affects more than 2% of the population, among them some of the most successful and creative individuals - Buzz Aldrin, Ludwig Von Beethoven, Vincent Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath, Edgar Allen Poe, and Robin Williams. It is a lifelong condition with no clinically proven cure, but the symptoms of which could be managed by a combination of education, medication, and psychotherapy. Some however, choose more extreme measures.

In Ashley Ream's Losing Clementine, no longer willing to live the bipolar life, renowned LA artist Clementine Pritchard plans to take her own life in 30 days (nothing messy, of course). She begins the countdown by disposing of her impressive pharmacy and worldly goods, the personal assistant and the shrink/lover. Between manically working on a series of new paintings and eating her way through her favorite ethnic take-outs, she meticulously sets her affairs in order. Foremost on her mind is finding a loving home for her cat and tracking down the father who abandoned the family years ago. As she comes face-to-face with the reasons why she can't go on, she unexpectedly finds a new connection to the world she desperately wants to leave.

"...(R)ich with detail, fully illustrating Clementine's world from her artwork to her love affair with food... the story is told with an unexpectedly fresh and humorous voice".

"This novel, spiked with dark humor is an entertaining and moody whirlwind".

Called a "tour-de-force first novel" Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See * by Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years.

The novel intricately weaves together three timelines: the story of Greyson's travels (Rome, Israel, Santiago, Thailand, Uganda); the progressive unraveling of his own father seen through Greyson's eyes as a child; and the intimacies and estrangements of his marriage. The entire narrative unfolds in the time it takes him to undergo twelve 30-second electroshock treatments in a New York psychiatric ward.

"A brilliant inside look at mental illness".

"A compelling read".

For fans of Maria Semple's Where'd You Go, Bernadette * *, Toni Jordan's Addition, and Leaving Van Gogh, a novel by Carol Wallace.

* = starred review
* * = starred reviews

Fans of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and especially fans of the audiobooks narrated by Jim Dale may be interested to learn about The Worst Witch audiobook by Jill Murphy.

Like the Harry Potter series, The Worst Witch takes place at a school for young witches (though no young wizards here), complete with broomstick lessons, potion tests and uniforms with house colors. At Miss Cackle's Academy, we meet Mildred Hubble, dubbed the worst witch at the school because of her talent for getting into trouble. What kind of trouble? How about turning a rude classmate into a pig! (She meant to turn her into a toad, you see.) It's a short but magical story -- and very funny too.

Oh, yes, and did I mention that it's narrated by Miriam Margoyles, whom you may remember as Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?

The audiobook series continues with The Worst Witch Strikes Again and The Worst Witch All at Sea.

Louise Erdrich's Chickadee has received the 2013 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, announced on January 16. This award was established in 1982 by Scott O'Dell to encourage writers to focus on historical fiction, and it is awarded annually to an author for a "meritorious book published in the previous year for children or young adults," according to the award website. To be eligible for the award, the book must be published by a U.S. publisher and set in the Americas.

Chickadee is the fourth installment in Erdrich's Birchbark House Series and takes place in the nineteenth century, chronicling the kidnapping of Chickadee, an eight-year-old Anishinabe (known today as Ojibwe) boy, and the adventures that follow as Chickadee tries to return home and his family leaves home to look for him.

Some previous Scott O'Dell Award winners in the library's collection:

Dead End in Norvelt

In the historic town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, twelve-year-old Jack Gantos spends the summer of 1962 grounded for various offenses until he is assigned to help an elderly neighbor with a most unusual chore involving the newly dead, molten wax, twisted promises, Girl Scout cookies, underage driving, lessons from history, typewriting, and countless bloody noses.

One Crazy Summer

In the summer of 1968, after traveling from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother they barely know, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters arrive to a cold welcome as they discover that their mother, a dedicated poet and printer, is resentful of the intrusion of their visit and wants them to attend a nearby Black Panther summer camp.

The Storm in the Barn (Graphic Novel)

In Kansas in the year 1937, eleven-year-old Jack Clark faces his share of ordinary challenges: local bullies, his father's failed expectations, a little sister with an eye for trouble. But he also has to deal with the effects of the Dust Bowl, including rising tensions in his small town and the spread of a shadowy illness. Certainly a case of "dust dementia" would explain who (or what) Jack has glimpsed in the Talbot's abandoned barn - a sinister figure with a face like rain. In a land where it never rains, it's hard to trust what you see with your own eyes, and harder still to take heart and be a hero when the time comes.

Click here for a complete list of previous O'Dell Award winners.

Join us on Sunday, January 20, 2013 at the Pittfield Branch at 2:00 p.m. for a cozy winter celebration. We'll have winter stories, songs by musician Sara Keller, a faux fireplace, hot chocolate and a fun craft.

We'll warm you up with this enjoyable family event. For children preschool through Grade 5 along with their grown-ups.

For some winter stories, click here.

Did you make a new year’s resolution to learn a new language? According to TIME, learning something new is the 3rd most broken resolution. With the help of AADL you never have to feel like it’s a lost cause! The Library has plenty of resources for you to learn languages, including Chinese, Spanish, French, German, and more (click on "language learning").

To look up some of those mysterious words in another language, the Library even has bilingual dictionaries to check out.

Want to get your kids involved? They can check out our online Muzzy Program (you need to log in to your library user account or use a library computer). They can use this free service to learn language lessons, watch videos, and play with vocabulary.