Blog Post
So Many Games, So Little Time
by Bertha
Congratulations to many local basketball teams, Pioneer, Huron, and Gabriel Richard boy's teams who have lead in their b-ball conferences, and for Gabriel Richard who is still in the game and will be heading to the Breslin Center on March 13!
On the heels of the high school season is the post-season play of colleges across the country.
While you're filling out your brackets and waiting for the next game, you may want to try Can I Keep My Jersey?, or Game of My Life remember J-Mac who rained down 3's; it's his story. Also, brand new Basketball Skills & Drills can give you a start for your next season.
Blog Post
Childrens Classics
by ErinDurrett
Recently, a patron asked me to put a hold on a book I haven't heard of in years. As soon as she asked for the title I thought "Hey I remember that book from when I was a kid." So I put a hold on it and a week later, "Surprise!" it was ready to be picked up. I've only read a couple chapters of Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell, but already I feel at home in the story. For those of you who have not read the book, it is a the tale of a young girl Karana, who loses her family and village and has to live on her own, surviving with the skills she's learned and off the resources of the island. This book has inspired me to read some of my other favorite childhood books that I also recommend: Zia, The Giver, Julie of the Wolves, Julie, The Call of the Wild and last but not least The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (which is actually being made into a movie) These are great reads for older kids and adults alike! I hope this inspires you to go back and reread some of your childhood favorites!
Blog Post
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
by annevm
Oh! A new Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle book is out, Happy Birthday Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle from Betty MacDonald, who died in 1958, and her daughter Anne MacDonald Canham, who apparently found an unpublished Mrs. PW story and notes among her mother's things. This release is particularly exciting for those of us who grew up hearing and reading Mrs. PW stories of modifying children’s behavior in highly imaginative, sometimes very creepy ways, such as The Radish Cure in Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. The new book is the first new Mrs. PW book in 50 years.
Blog Post
Aging with Attitude
by iralax
Friday, March 7, 6:00-9:00 pm is the opening reception for an art exhibit, Aging With Attitude, that challenges and and expands the perceptions of aging. It's at the Slusser Gallery, UM School of Art and Design, North Campus, and is sponsored by Blueprint for Aging. The show presents artists of all ages and media exploring our individual and collective responses to growing older, reflecting the diversity of aging as an experience, a concept, and a cultural phenomenon. It even includes local elementary school students exploring the theme "Me, When I am Old." The exhibit runs through March 28. Among AADL's large collection of art materials, is a fine volume on the idea of old age in world art entitled A History of Old Age, edited by Pat Thane.
Blog Post
Join the Ann Arbor Family Day Fun!
by StoryLaura
In conjunction with Ann Arbor Family Days, Pornrat Damrhung, Professor of Dramatic Arts at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and Charley Sullivan of the UM Center for Southeast Asian Studies, will lead simple Cambodian and Thai classical dance for the whole family. We will also be coloring dramatic masks. Keep an eye out for the Lunar New Year's Lion Dance! Follow the Lion as it dances along the sidewalk from AADL to the Main St. area.
Join the fun this Saturday, March 8 from 10-11 a.m.
Blog Post
A Newberry Honor
by Maxine
Holling Hoodhood (Yes. That's really his name) is a seventh grader who is in the unfortunate position of being the only Presbyterian among his Jewish and Catholic schoolmates and so must stay behind with his English teacher, Mrs. Baker while everyone goes off to religious school on Wednesday afternoons. And so begins the hilarious and touching second novel of Gary D. Schmidt titled The Wednesday Wars. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Holling is convinced that Mrs. Baker hates him and that her enforcing on him the study of Shakespeare is part of her vengeance. But of course, Mrs. Baker turns out to be Hollings' guardian angel. Hilarious episodes including one in which he plays Ariel in the community theater production of The Tempest balance the sombre realities of wartime. Schmidt whose other book, Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy was a Printz and Newberry Honor book has another winner here.
Blog Post
No Sheep/Knitty® Knit-in
by muffy
Knitters:
Here is your chance to meet Amy R. Singer - blogger, knitter, author and an all-around personality on Sunday, March 9th at the Downtown Library Multipurpose Room, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m. (The door opens at noon, hint! hint! and don't say we didn't warn you). And I am assuming you know about all those fabulous FREE patterns on her online magazine.
Amy will be talking, knitting and signing books. We may even have a preview of her next book with co-author, our Jillian Moreno. Amy's program is co-sponsored by Busy Hands.
So bring your projects and look forward to spending a cosy afternoon with 200 other knitting fiends--oops! I mean, friends.
Blog Post
Klezmer music at the Neutral Zone
by Sarah T
Ann Arbor's TeenCenter, The Neutral Zone, is kicking off their concert series, Weapons of Musical Diversity, with klezmer group, Shtreiml. The all-ages show will be Thursday, March 7th, at 7 pm.
A new take on traditional Eastern-European Jewish and Turkish folk music, the group will be performing free of charge at the Neutral Zone. If you like Shtreiml, check out the Klezmatics and The Klezmer Conservatory Band.
Blog Post
They're not really small potatoes
by Maxine
The duo of acclaimed Chicago-based husband-and-wife duo of Jacquie Manning and Rich Prezioso who call themselves Small Potatoes will be performing as part of the Greenwood Coffee House Series this Friday night, February 29 at the First Methodist Church at 1001 Green Rd. at 8 p.m. Small Potatoes call themselves "electo-maniacs," i.e. not pigeon-holing themselves into one genre of folk music but embracing many. Singing cowboy songs as well as country, blues, swing and some originals, they love what they do and have gained a loyal following both in Chicago, their hometown and at festivals and clubs nationwide. They've been opening acts for Susan Werber, Bill Staines, Tom Paxton and many others. Mike Regenstreif of Sing Out Magazine says: “Small Potatoes might well be one of the leading mainstays of the folk scene for many years to come.”
Blog Post
Poetry Bits - "I'm Sorry"
by ryanikoglu
This Is To Say: Poems For Apology And Forgiveness is a book full of "sorry" and "forgiveness" poems in haiku, pantoums, snippets, and rhymes. The idea began with a 4th grade group exercise to write a "Sorry" poem to mother....