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Blog Post

Badge Drop #8: Get Outside!

by andrewjmac

Alright, Summer Gamers, it's August! August means hot, sunny days just begging you to GET OUTSIDE! How can the AADL Summer Game help YOU to get outside? Surely this is a game all about sitting in front of a computer? NO!! It's Badge Drop #8, the get-out-of-your-houseinest badge drop in Summer Game history! What are you going to do when you are out and around town?

-Finally get all of those Operation: Park Explorer badges done, including the all-new County Farm Park badge!

-Visit all of the AADL locations to track down all of the codes and earn all of the BRANCH EXPLORER badges!

-Get around downtown Ann Arbor to find all of the TWIG TERRARIUMS at various businesses!

-Take your picture at any AADL location and show us on Instagram or Twitter to earn the AADL SHELFIES badge!

-Take a picture of AADL materials out in the world (maybe even you USING them) and show us on Instagram or Twitter to earn the AADL IN THE WILD badge!

-Beat down your friends' doors to make them sign-up for the Summer Game so you can get a 500 POINT REFERRAL BONUS and work towards your RECRUITMENT MASTER badges!


Oh, and did I mention that this is the BIGGEST BADGE DROP OF SUMMER GAME 2014? Let's get to it!


2014 Badge Drop #8
echo theme_summergame_badge(838,841,840,839,842,851,852,853,845,846,847,848,849,850,837,836,856,857,859,844,855,854,834,835,858,860);
?>




So what are you waiting for? The sun is shining. The birds are singing. The codes are waiting. GET OUTSIDE!! And...



THANKS FOR PLAYING!

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Blog Post

LEGO Contest

by aadl staff

Do you dream in LEGO? Are you always creating new masterpieces? Is the dreaded LEGO-meets-bare-foot a perfectly acceptable trade-off in your household because of all of the cool creations you can make? Then you must join us for the 9th Annual LEGO contest on Thursday, August 7. Start imagining and building now!

AADL's LEGO Contest is one of the most anxiously awaited programs of the summer, open to all ages. The contest is divided up into five categories: Preschool, Grades K-2, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12 & Adult. All contestants must submit an original creation made of their own LEGO, Duplo, Mega Blocks, or other stacking bricks. Full contest rules can be found here.

Need some inspiration, or do you just want to see some of the awesome creations engineered in the past? Here are some photos from last year.

Because of the popularity of this contest, it will be held at Kensington Court, 610 Hilton Dr. in Ann Arbor. Below is the order of events:

9 AM–3 PM: Drop off projects at Kensington Court
3 PM–6 PM: Doors closed for judging
6 PM: Doors open for public display of all projects
8–8:30 PM: Awards Ceremony with prizes in six categories: Preschool, Grades K-2, Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12 & Adult

All projects must go home with their creators that night!

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Blog Post

A Long Way From Chicago

by eapearce

There are so many fun kids’ books out there from recent years that sometimes we forget about the great older books that are still fantastic reads today! If you or your children are looking for something new to read, why not try something “old?” One of my personal favorite books, A Long Way From Chicago, was published in 1998 and won the 1999 Newbery Honor. Written by Richard Peck, the book is really a series of short stories, told from the perspective of a young boy who visits his wild grandmother with his sister during the summers of the Great Depression and early World War II. Joey and Mary Alice consider themselves worldly—they are from the big city after all!—and can’t imagine what the tiny Illinois town where their grandmother lives could have to offer.

They are quickly proven wrong when they help their grandma tresspass, catch the town sheriff in his underwear, aid their grandma in catching catfish illegally (in a stolen boat!), and see their first dead body. The vivid story-telling that Peck employs allows readers to share in the experiences that Mary Alice and Joey have, and to make memories along with them. The wonderful, heart-warming story that is A Long Way From Chicago has stuck with me since I first read the book as a child and I still recommend the book to readers of all ages. It is worth noting too that this book and its companion novel, A Year Down Yonder (winner of the 2001 Newbery Medal), are both wonderful to read aloud or listen to on audiobook. The AADL has copies of A Long Way From Chicago, A Year Down Yonder, and both on audiobook available!

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Blog Post

Chat: What Have Been Your Favorite 2014 Badges?

by andrewjmac

Hey Gamers, so you know how you guys are CRUSHING the Summer Game this year? Record numbers of players, of badges, of codes, of points, of EVERYTHINGS? Since you seem to be so enjoying the Summer Game so much, we thought this would be a good time to ask you a little about what you ARE liking so much!

The AADL Summer Game crew got to talking about badges and we were wondering what YOUR favorite badges have been this year. What did you like about them? Clever clues? Interesting things you learned? Great game codes?

What about your families? What about your friends? What badges are THEY loving this year? WHY?

Ready to sate our curiousity? GO!

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Blog Post

Super SEVENTH Badge Drop: Art, Angry Birds, & a Player Pick!

by mariah

WOWZA! You're still GOING GANGBUSTERS on the Summer Game! You've earned 33,138,070 POINTS, and 34,028 badges! Might we make it to 35,000 badges earned this year?! I think it's possible!



And your ranks are GROWING! What do I mean? Well, over the past week we passed the FOUR THOUSAND PLAYER milestone. WHOA. So, obviously, you're not only busy READING, LISTENING, WATCHING and PLAYING the game, but also SPREADING THE WORD about all the fun to be had! Thank you! And... WATCH OUT if you're feeling competitive on that leaderboard, 'cause we've got some NEW SUPER-ENTHUSIASTIC PLAYERS — and that means you'll have to work hard to stay one step ahead!



Speaking of steps - thanks for all the feedback on your wanderings and adventures with the PARK EXPLORER series. We've gotten SUCH positive response that we've also decided to expand it to some other REALLY FUN PLACES to explore that are free (or suggested-donation) around town. Check out the UMMA EXPLORER this week!



For those of you loving park exploration, don't worry, you'll have plenty more badges in the great outdoors, but it IS nice to have some options for rainy (or too-hot/in-need-of-AC) days too! And if you're looking for something a little more WILD-AND-ACTIVE, we've got just the ticket with LIFE-SIZED ANGRY BIRDS this Monday. Of course, there's a BIG badge for that one!


2014 Badge Drop #7
echo theme_summergame_badge(817,821,833,822,819,832,831,830,820,829,818,823,824,825,826,827,828);
?>



We're excited to be dropping a PLAYER PICK badge too! Veteran player KathyD helped put a little spin on Bunny Hop featuring hoppy critters who are NOT SO CUDDLY. Eeeks! But, rest assured, there are still plenty of WARM FUZZY badges, both in this drop, and yet to come! So keep at it, and...



THANKS FOR PLAYING!

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Blog Post

Special Badge Opportunity: 2500 points for Monday Night's Board Meeting!

by eli

PUBLIC, ENGAGE! We have a ONE-TIME Badge Opportunity for you tonight at the monthly meeting of the AADL Board of Trustees! They're elected by the public, and they work for you to set policy and strategy for your library! AND TONIGHT ONLY, July 21st at 7 PM, we have a special badge, PUBLIC COMMENT MASTER, that you can only earn by making a public comment to the Library Board during their meeting! There's a 500 point code for attending the meeting, a 1000 point code for commenting, and a 1000 point badge for doing both! That's 2500 POINTS and all you have to do is tell the Library Board what you think!

Arrive just before 7 PM tonight to the 4th floor meeting room at the Downtown Library and sign up to comment. If you miss that, there is another opportunity to comment at the end of the meeting. You'll find one code on the wall near the entrance, and the special commenting code on the podium! This is your chance, no matter how old you are, to tell the Library Board what you think... and GET POINTS IN THE PROCESS! It's as civically engaged as you can get, and it's a great chance to see how YOUR library is governed! Don't miss this opportunity! Hope to see you there, and as always,

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

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Blog Post

Thank Goodness It's Badge Drop!

by andrewjmac

Okay okay okay, time for Badge Drop #6! How could we possibly be at #6? Because #5 happened last week! And I'm freaking amazing at math, so I feel pretty sure this must be #6 (you should probably check me on that, I'm not really that great at math). But before we get to the badges, let's take a look at what you've done so far this Summer Game: you (this is the plural you, not you, personally) have gotten 29,117 badges, you've entered 160,421 codes, and you've earned 28,462,407 points! If that doesn't blow you away, here's a bonus stat for you: in all of Summer Game 2013, 12,043,920 points were earned. What does that mean? It means YOU'VE ALREADY MORE THAN DOUBLED THE POINTS YOU EARNED LAST YEAR!!! Take that, 2013 you! And there's so much left to do--like this week's badges, including a special 2500 point PUBLIC COMMENT MASTER badge, only available by making a public comment at the AADL Library Board Meeting at 7 PM on Monday July 21st at the Downtown Library!


2014 Badge Drop #6
echo theme_summergame_badge(806,807,808,809,810,804,813,812,801,811,816,805,814,802,803,800,815);
?>



But Badge Drop #6 means something else, something that will make you sit up and take notice, something that may shake you to your very core: this is the midway point of the Summer Game. This badge drop makes the game officially half over! "Say it ain't so!" you are all shouting at your computer screens where I luckily can't hear you. BUT...that also means we've got TWICE as many badges to earn as we've had so far, TWICE as many codes to get as we've gotten so far, and TWICE as many tagsreviewsratingscommentswhatevers to put on aadl.org than we have so far! So there's lots of great Summer Game to come! And if you're desparate for shop news, you'll find some mystery items posted today, not yet available for order but giving you a hint about shop items yet to come! Stay tuned, and as always....


THANKS FOR PLAYING!

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Blog Post

Summer Food and Fun: Cobblestone Farm Market

by annevm

If you’re looking for something fun and healthy to do this summer, check out Cobblestone Farm Market, open Tuesdays 4-7 pm. To see the events calendar, click here. The market is in Buhr Park, 2751 Packard Road, off Packard near where Packard meets Eisenhower.

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Blog Post

It's the FIFTH Badge Drop!

by mariah

WHEW! You SUMMER GAMERS ARE DEDICATED! Even with a holiday weekend, you kept on EARNING BADGES, coming out to SUPER-FUN EVENTS, and LOGGING PLENTY OF POINTS for reading, listening and watching. We're happy to keep the badge train a'rolling just to keep up with y'all!



This week kicks off the first five in our Contributor's Trophies series. For those who don't recall, this is the first opportunity you'll have to see just how you're stacking up in STARRING items that you love (or don't love)... Are YOU are SUPER star master, or SUPREME? The difference is just in the magnitude of your STAR-GIVING STREAK, so get in there and rate up a storm!


2014 Badge Drop #5
echo theme_summergame_badge(789,790,791,792,793,794,785,786,787,788,795,796,797,798,799);
?>




We're also happy to be dropping PLENTY of badges in various series that you've already been loving - from HOT DOGS to HORNED CONSTELLATIONS, from PICKLES to POP MUSIC, we've got FUN TO UNLEASH. So, have at it, get in there, and EARN THOSE BADGES, RACK UP THOSE POINTS, and save up for TOTALLY SWEET SUMMER GAME SHOP SWAG!



Ready, GO!



And as always...

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

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Blog Post

SHOPPERS ARE GO!!!! The 2014 Summer Game Shop is NOW OPEN!

by eli

The SUMMER GAME is the biggest game in town! And now, the 2014 SUMMER GAME SHOP is now open for you to spend your Summer Game Points on great AADL stuff! We've got Binoculars, Markers, Sunglasses, Pint Glasses, Bags, Frisbees, Gardening Pouches, and MUCH MORE! Check out this year's Opening Day Collection and come back every Friday for the rest of the summer for more! Contact us if you have any troubles or questions, Get started if you're not playing already, and have fun exploring your town and your library ALL SUMMER LONG! Have fun and THANKS FOR PLAYING!

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