Man on Wire is based on the book To Reach The Clouds: My high wire walk between the Twin Towers(2002) by Philippe Petit

One August 7th, 1974,@7:15 a.m. a young Frenchmen stepped out on the high wire and walked (Oh, he more or less danced!)across the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, 1350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan. It is about Petit’s 6-plus years of dreaming, 8 months of planning, and the actual spell-binding feat itself. Terrific and terrifying!!!

Based on the author's memoirs(1995), (And)When Did You Last See Your Father? is an unflinching exploration of a father/son relationship. Blake Morrison's memories of his childhood are interspersed with scenes in the present, as he struggles to come to terms with his father, and their history of conflict. With a star-studded cast - humorous and heartbreaking at the same time.

Monica Ali's novel Brick Lane (2003) is now a feature film. Nazneen is forced into an arranged marriage to an older man, exchanging her Bangladeshi village home for a block of flats in London’s East End. As she pines for her home and her sister, she struggles to do her duty by her husband until the day a hot-headed local man, bursts into her life. A truly contemporary story of love, cultural difference, and ultimately, the strength of the human spirit. A visual feast.

The film Elegy is based on The Dying Animal (2001), a brutal, short novel by Philip Roth. David Kepesh is an eminent 70-year-old cultural critic who's womanizing ways were ended by a devastating affair he had eight years before with voluptuous graduate student. Check out the New York Times review.

A Map of Home* by Ann Arbor author Randa Jarrar hits the bookstores today.

Critics are calling this fiction debut “sparkling”, “intimate, perceptive and very, very funny”. It’s the story of Nidali, an audacious Muslim girl (with a Greek-Egyptian mother and a Palestinian father) who grows up in Kuwait, Egypt and Texas.
As citizens of the world, this family weathered some harrowing experiences that were even funny and wacky at times, but it is Jarrar’s handling of adolescent angst - "stifling parental expectations, precarious friendships, sensuality and first love; and her exhilarating voice and flawless timing that make this a standout”.

You can find Randa Jarrar's profile in myspace. She will be at Shaman Drum on September 15th, at 7:30 p.m., one of only two Michigan stops on her fall book tour.

* = Starred reviews

School's back in session soon and you might not have as much time to read for fun, but maybe you can still listen to a story while you walk, drive, knit, etc.

In this newest time-bending installment of the Artemis Fowl series Artemis must face his own younger self in a battle to find a cure for his mother's sudden deadly illness.

This audiobook was read by Enn Reitel while the previous audiobooks were read by Nathaniel Parker, though I didn't notice a huge difference in the characters voices, which is good. However, the previous audiobooks had fun music at the beginning and end whereas this one doesn't, so I did miss that. It was only little intros and outros, but I'd come to think of it as the Artemis Fowl theme song, so it's kind of like a TV show without a theme song now.

Molly can’t stand perky Cassie Birchmeyer. When they are forced to collaborate on a school project, their bickering escalates into a food fight in the Sunshine Day School cafeteria. But because Sunshine Day isn’t your average high school, the girls’ punishment isn’t detention—it’s to work in the cafeteria as lunch ladies. Ugh! They’ll have to cook up a way to get along in order to get out of the kitchen.

Don't miss this fun read. Hot Lunch is the best thing to hit school lunch since Tater Tots.

This summer our 12-year-old son is crazy about The Five Ancestors series by martial artist Jeff Stone. The books are named for the animal Kung Fu styles of a young gang of orphaned warrior monks, including Tiger (Fu), Monkey (Malao), Snake (She), and Crane (Hok). Wikipedia has more about this series, which moves very fast and offers frighteningly high levels of fighting, action, and adventure. On BOCD Kiki Barrera is a wonderful reader. I told a youth librarian with expertise in 'tweens of our son’s enthusiasm, and she also recommends Archer’s Quest.

Did you enjoy the creativity, quirkiness, and sympathetic situations of people in Juno,
even though you hope teen pregnancy doesn't happen in your family?
The TEEN book Weetzie Bat, tells a similarly flavored story that is every bit as quirky, poignant, humanly resolved and wonderful.
It's a tasty "snack" of a read that still offers hope and satisfaction after ten years in publication.

After she flops at washing hair at her mother's beauty shop, Irene is forced to take a job babysitting. It's at the beach, where she takes the kids to swim, that she first observes lifeguard Starla, a beautiful drama queen on whom she gets a girl crush.

Soon Irene checks out Starla's blog, and quickly realizes that Starla has noticed her--and appointed her the Witness, the person who will observe her vengeance against D., the boyfriend who dumped her. The role includes Irene's watching Starla key D.'s car.

When Irene discovers that D. is interested in her she knows that the countdown to real life is over and her fate is in her hands. Read My Almost Epic Summer.

From anime, to comic strips, to printmaking, and making books, discover how stories are told through art and how you can create stories and books with your own art. This week the library will be featuring Caldecott Award Winning Books and a variety of guides on comics, illustration, and book design techniques. These can be found on the pillar directly to the right of the new books shelf. Come sharpen your pencils and your art skills! Are you the next Caldecott winner?

We've got Chinese, Double-Dutch and standard jump ropes ready to go for all levels of jump roping this Saturday, August 16, 1:00-4:00 pm at the Malletts Creek branch. Look for a section of the parking lot blocked off with orange cones. Come ready for a good time.

Check out the movie Jump In! or the Jump In! soundtrack or, if you're training for a fall sport, try the book Jump Rope Training which covers some great speed and quickness drills to get you ready for any sport. If you're still not inspired to jump, check out any of the Rope Masters videos on YouTube.

At the 2000 Sydney Olympics chess was included as a trial sport for display. However, both speed matches played ended in a draw and little has been said about it until Time magazine’s Meaghan Haire posted “Should Chess Be an Olympic Sport?” on August 5th.

Should the Olympic committee consider adding mental sports like chess, bridge, or Go? What about a combo of mental and physical like chess boxing?

Respond here or even better share your thoughts and play some chess this Sunday, August 17 at Pittsfield Branch. Join us 1-4 p.m. for Chesstastic!