Feeling Anxious?

Tue, 09/12/2017 - 4:39pm by Lucy S

The following memoirs are all unflinchingly honest and personal accounts of those grappling with anxiety and panic disorders.

In My Age of Anxiety : Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind, Scott Stossel reports with candor on his constant and continued battles with severe anxiety in many forms. Accessible, readable, funny, forthright and extremely well researched, Stossel’s book offers alternating personal accounts with examinations of anxiety as seen in past and present science and philosophy. Daniel Smith also looks at how writers, scientists and other thinkers have considered anxiety while delving deeply into his own in Monkey Mind: A Memoir of Anxiety. Like Stossel, Smith allows readers a very close look at his daily fears, and like Stossel bravely tackles the subject with much humor.

Andrea Petersen was a student at the University of Michigan when she suffered her first panic attack. In On Edge: A Journey Through Anxiety, she recalls how she went from doctor to doctor, one misdiagnosis after another to realize that her physical pain was caused by debilitating anxiety. She was eventually diagnosed with several different anxiety disorders.

Petersen chronicles her anxiety on a very personal level, but also takes us through myriad treatments, both past and present, as well as the physiology and genetics of anxiety disorders.

These accounts of crippling anxiety mixed with studies of this common and misunderstood mental illness have the potential to offer considerable help to anyone suffering from anxiety or close to someone who is.

Waiting on the White Covered Book...

Sat, 09/09/2017 - 5:59pm by LibraryLiz

Sooo, this OTHER time at the library...there was that book you saw on a shelf, with a WHITE cover, that caught your eye - but, for whatever reason, you had to pass it by. Now, if you should find yourself whimpering for that long lost spark of interest, I may have the book for you! I've recently created a list of books that have, or have had, white covers - whether or not their most recent editions have that snowy hue, they did at some point! Plus, this list is welcome to all kinds of white covered books...

Whether it be a musty white of the novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, a white with multi-colored dots - like the self-help book The Bright Hour, or perhaps a stark-white of the Ypsi Reads choice book, $2.00 A Day, all white covers are welcome on this compilation list. But this list isn't just for the adults! There's also a wide age range available for the younger reader waiting on the white...

Be it from the Teen section like The Hate You Give, Everything, Everything, or maybe Red Queen this list has many pearly-covered pages that you might have left on the shelf for a later date. Even the youth may have left a book resting on it's display, such as The Book of Mistakes or The Very Busy Spider. This list also provides you with options from every genre in the library...

Maybe you were browsing through the thrillers and found Enemy of the State or Dragon Teeth by Jurrasic Park author Michael Crichton? Could you have been possibly perusing the Express Shelf and seen Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body on the shelf? What about the non-fiction readers, who may have browsed through the stacks seeing covers that advertised payment via internet or staying healthy as you age!

This list has ALL THE THINGS (or would like to have) and is growing each day! Please feel free to take a look, and make comments of other white-covered books you think others may be searching for, so the list can continue to grow. Just think: someone out there could be looking for a white book jacket that you've read before - maybe you have the answer they've been looking for as they search the numerous volumes we have here at AADL. Or perhaps you yourself have been searching, and the book is in this list already!!! Only one way to find out...

Five Must-Read Graphic Novels for Adults

Thu, 09/07/2017 - 4:10pm by -alex-

It's hard to deny that adult graphic novels, as a genre, have come into their own. Here are some of my personal favorites. Together, they capture much of the diverse array of creative and narrative possibilities being explored by contemporary artists and authors.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters (book one) -by Emil Ferris-
This title likely requires no introduction. First time writer Emil Ferris made big waves when this book was released earlier this year. With lush, intricate artwork, and with a haunting murder-mystery at its core, 'My Favorite Thing is Monsters' makes for a deeply compelling read. For more, check out this review from NPR's 'Fresh Air'.

California Dreamin': Cass Elliot before the Mamas & the Papas -by Pénélope Bagieu-
Few artists have received as much praise for their talent, or been as much of a target for body-shaming as 'Mama' Cass Elliot. 'California Dreamin'' gets behind the fame and the ugliness of the stories surrounding her death, and shows her as both a talented vocalist and as a human being. Click the link for a review from Paste.

The Torture Report: a graphic adaptation -by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón-
Drawing from the accounts detailed in the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report on torture conducted by agents of the US government, Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón bring the stark realities documented in the report to life in a way that mere words on a page never could. The brutality of these real-life events make 'The Torture Report' a tough read, but maybe that dose of reality makes it an essential read as well. Here's an exerpt at Slate, and a review from NPR.

The Museum Vaults -by Marc-Antoine Mathieu-
Mixing equal parts of fantasy and satire, 'The Museum Vaults' follows the adventures of an art expert as he delves ever deeper into an endless labyrinth underneath the Louvre in Paris. The illustrations are inventive, beautiful, and often downright eerie. Here's a review from The Guardian.

Lost Property -by Andy Poyiadgi-
While technically a part of our teen graphic novel collection, 'Lost Property' is a slim, stunningly beautiful work that will certainly speak to adults as well as it speaks to teens. When a man walks into a small shop, he is confronted with the realization that it is filled, exclusively, with every item he has ever owned and lost. Questions of why and how this has happened are quickly overridden by a more central one: what will he do with all the lost ephemera of his life, now that he's found it? Follow the link for a review from Broken Frontier.

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Wed, 09/06/2017 - 5:11pm by Lucy S

“Read Jesmyn Ward's Sing, Unburied, Sing and you’ll feel the immense weight of history—and the immense strength it takes to persevere in the face of it. This novel is a searing, urgent read for anyone who thinks the shadows of slavery and Jim Crow have passed, and anyone who assumes the ghosts of the past are easy to placate. It’s hard to imagine a more necessary book for this political era.”
—Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere

Jesmyn Ward returns with her first piece of full-length fiction since her National Book Award winner, Salvage the Bones (2011). Her new novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, has already been placed in some high company. Ward’s fictional Mississippi town of Bois Sauvage has been compared to William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County in As I Lay Dying, its haunting spirits likened to those in Toni Morrison’s Beloved. Sing, Unburied, Sing and its characters share a multi-generational memory and an understanding the of journey and toils of those who came before. Ghosts create a connection between the living, mourning with them.

Ward’s characters belong to three generations of a Mississippi family. Jojo and his little sister, Kayla, are being mostly raised by their grandparents. Their mother, Leonie, drifts in and out of the picture in a drug-induced haze, their father, Michael, is serving time in the Mississippi State Penitentiary, a prison farm known as Parchman. When Michael is released, Leonie brings Jojo and Kayla to pick him up. Their journey is not an easy one, their bodies crammed in a dirty, hot car, always hungry and thirsty, traveling dangerous terrain. Three narrative voices relay the details of the trip to Parchman and back; Jojo, Leonie, and Richie, a young boy whom Jojo’s grandfather had served time with in Parchman. Richie died when he was 15. That his voice not only shares in the telling of this story, but speaks to Jojo directly, shows how masterfully Ward can weave magical realism into her storytelling. These supernatural elements feel at home here, in the swampy, steamy, deep south of the Mississippi Gulf. Richie is not the only spirit who appears on these pages. Leonie is often visited by her deceased brother Given. Jojo hears not only from Richie, but is highly attuned to the sounds of the natural world, truly as if the earth’s song has been unburied for him. “Home ain’t always about a place...home is about the earth. Whether the earth open up to you. Whether it pull you so close the space between you and it melt and y’all one and it beats like your heart. Same time.”

Ward’s story retells the hardships of past racism in the south and outlines the brutality of it in the present day. She illuminates this country’s struggle with race relations, police brutality, mass incarceration, by using the voices of the past and the present in conversation. Though her characters, both living and dead, speak often of cruelty and inhumanity, Ward’s matter-of-fact tone and presentation, coupled with her use of magical realism, imbues her words with an inflection that is calm and lyrical. Sing, Unburied, Sing is a moving and important work.

Covert to Overt : The Under/Overground Art of Shepard Fairey

Wed, 09/06/2017 - 10:29am by manz

Covert to Overt is a beautiful full-sized art book that features Shepard Fairey’s post-Obama HOPE poster (2008) work and activities. It’s a wonderfully presented collection of posters, murals, and street art from this time period. If you’re a fan, or are curious about the man and his work, you must peruse this book.

In the book Fairey touches upon how his art isn’t so underground anymore, and yet he still holds those principles true in the work he does today.

“My friend and curator Pedro Alonzo once said that I’m too street for the corporate world and too corporate for the street world. Either way I hope I’m breaking someone’s rules.”

Summer Game 2017: MATHEMATICAL!

Tue, 09/05/2017 - 1:33pm by andrewjmac

Well, Summer Gamers, it's September. Summer is but a distant memory now, after having celebrated the working man and woman by eating a hot dog, cleaning out your kid's backpack from last year, and trying not to get drenched. The evenings have grown chilly and you are maybe even dressed in LAYERS. But still you feel the pull to your computer or your phone, still something calls to you from play.aadl.org--or is it all in your head? Yes, it is. Summer Game 2017 is done.



BUT, it's the first day of school, and the first day of school means the triumphant return of MATH! To celebrate the glory of math, we here at SGHQ have done a little bit of number crunching to see if this year's game compared favorably or un to games of previous years. SO HOW DID IT GO? Oh, it went a little something like THIS:



Players

7,225 players scored points in Summer Game 2017! That's a 16.8% increase over last year and yet another all-time high!



Badges

Players earned 99,479 Summer Game 2017 badges this summer, up 10.2% from last year! SGHQ created a total of 196 badges that were possible to earn, so that means that each badge was earned an average of 508 TIMES!! This year's top three badges were the Josie's Walker badge (2,276 earns), the Super Summer Reader badge (3,412 earns), and the Track TheRide badge--which a veritable bus-watching army of 3,825 players earned!!!



Codes

Players redeemed 533,724 codes in Summer Game 2017! That's an increase of 16.9% over last year, which was already up 30% from the year before! This year we gave you 1088 codes that could be redeemed, which means that each code was typed in an average of 490 times! So not to get too technical, but that's, like, A BUNCH. Nobody hunts down weird puns like you do!



Read/Watched/Listened

This year was once again the BIGGEST YEAR EVER for reading, watching, and listening to things (at least, as far as we have data to see that)! 24,251,910 pages/minutes were reported this summer, which, again, A BUNCH. That means that, on average, summer gamers spent 3,356 minutes over the course of the summer just kicking back and enjoying a good book/movie/show/podcast/album/WHATEVER. You each read Anna Karenina 4 times this summer! Or watched a single cat video 13,424 times! WE DON'T JUDGE!!



Points

And, as always, we'll end with a WHOPPER of a number, this year's total points earned, a truly ENORMOUS 187,025,833 POINTS!! That's a HUGE increase of 38% over last year!! That causes us to raise our collective SGHQ eyebrows more than a little and begin to ponder if we've done the right thing in CREATING THE MONSTER THAT IS THE COLLECTIVE YOU!!!



So after careful analysis and deep thought, we put all of these various measurements together and decided that this year's summer game was pretty good...WHO ARE WE KIDDING, THIS YEAR'S SUMMER GAME WAS STUPENDOUSLY TREMENDOUSLY IN-NO-WAY-HORRENDOUSLY AMAZING!!!



SO WHAT NOW?! We know you've been asking yourselves that question since midnight on September 1. You now have to begin the annual journey of self-discovery wherein you try to remember who you are without the summer game. We're doing the same thing...sort of. Or...WE'RE ALREADY TALKING ABOUT SUMMER GAME 2018 AND HOW TO MAKE IT EVEN MORE AMAZINGLY AWESOMER THAN THIS YEAR WAS!!! You've probably seen some vague hints in the comments that some changes are coming to summer game along with the NEW LIBRARY WEBSITE in 2018. It's a little early to reveal to you what those changes will be (mostly because we haven't really figured them out ourselves), but we can tell you for sure that YOUR SUMMER GAME WILL KEEP BEING YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT SUMMER!



How can we be so sure that the game will stay AMAZING? How do we know that any changes we make will be able to maintain the HIGH LEVELS OF AWESOME to which you've become accustomed? How could a changed game still be guaranteed to be INCREDIBLE?? Because we're ABSOLUTELY SURE that the GREATEST thing about Summer Game will never change, and that's YOU! We are constantly ASTOUNDED by you players and we're sure no matter what we do, you will still make the Summer Game GREAT! THANKS FOR MAKING THE SUMMER GAME A FUN THING TO MAKE EVERY YEAR!! AND THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls

Sat, 09/02/2017 - 2:36pm by ballybeg

Creatures of mystery, harbingers of death, symbols of wisdom and protection, owls have captured the imaginations of people from the earliest times. Both feared and revered, for their association with darkness and the night, they feature prominently in the folklore and art of all native cultures. You can see how they are immortalized in early art here.

I love these birds, and so does Paul Bannick. His new book, Owl: A Year in the Lives of North American Owls, is a hymn of praise to all nineteen species of owls which live in North America. Bannick is, first and foremost, a wildlife photographer, who strives to faithfully document natural moments with wild subjects, and his pictures are exquisite. Here are hundreds of the most magnificent images of owls: inquisitive nestlings, mature adults posing with haughty, knowing expressions, swooping and diving, hunting and feeding, he captures their natural grace and mystique in the most natural settings. From the large great grey owl to the tiny elf owl, from the common barn owl to the elusive burrowing owl, with different sizes, markings, and colors, there is a definitive owlish-ness to them all; a bird with a face. They live in every corner of our continent, have adapted to all habitats, and, though their habitats are threatened, they have survived. Enjoy the mystery and beauty of owls.

For stories, picture books, and folklore about owls these can be found in our collection.
For more information about owls in their natural habitats, we own these.

Amazing geography/travel books for kids!! The "This Is" series by M. Sesek.

Sat, 09/02/2017 - 9:34am by -alex-

The "This Is" series by M. Sasek are all-around great works of children's nonfiction. Originally written between 1959 and 1970, the titles span the globe.

Here are some of our personal favorites:

"This is Paris"
"This is London"
"This is San Francisco"
"This is Hong Kong"
"This is Edinburgh"

Informative and entertaining for kids, the series teaches about the sights, sounds, and cultural landmarks of a total of 17 "must-see" places. Adults will enjoy these books too - the illustrations are perfect examples of mid-20th century graphic design at it's best, it's boldest, and it's most colorful.

All of the books in this series have been recently updated and re-released. Feel free take a look!!

Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World

Tue, 08/29/2017 - 6:07pm by eapearce

Mitch Prinstein, the Director of Clinical Pyschology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, explains the science behind popularity—and why it can be so elusive for many—in his new book. Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World explains why whether or not we are “popular” as children plays such a huge role in our development. Whether or not we were popular in elementary school and high school has surprising effects on our careers, family life and friendships later on and, interestingly, it's difficult to change our “popularity level.” Prinstein explains that, although we can control to a certain extent whether we are popular or not, craving popularity and striving for it is part of our biology—it’s the way humans are wired.

Prinstein also delves into the difference between being popular because one is likable and being popular because one has high status. Both types of people are socially powerful, but the way others feel about them is vastly different. It’s interesting to read about the details and the science behind popularity, because it’s an issue that even the happiest among us struggle with from time to time. We can all relate to wanting to be well-liked and well-received, and Prinstein’s book offers useful advice for using and controlling those impulses.

Popular is a particularly interesting read today, as social media becomes ever more prevalent in our lives.

Badge Drop #11: Master Blaster

Fri, 08/25/2017 - 4:19pm by andrewjmac

Well, players, Summer Game 2017 is winding down, moving inexorably toward its inevitable end. It's sad, but we can take consolation in one thing: IT AIN'T OVER YET! And if it's FRIDAY and the GAME IS ON, that can only mean that tomorrow is Saturday...ALSO THAT THERE'S A BADGE DROP!



Since this is the FINAL BADGE DROP of Summer Game 2017, this is a very special drop, the biggest drop of the summer, the drop to end all drops: THE MASTER BADGE DROP! Every badge in this week's drop can only be obtained by earning other badges first, stacking them up, and seeing if they stack up high enough to turn into the MASTER BADGE for each series. If you've been keeping up with your badges all summer, chances are you just got a BUNCH OF NEW BADGES and BONUS POINTS just for your latest scoring event (Note: if you feel like you should have gotten a master badge and you don't see it showing up yet, try doing something to score some points (a tag, a review, a comment, anything) and it'll probably show up).



For those of your who haven't been keeping up with this year's badges, and we know who you are (seriously, we have a whole database behind this thing), we have GOOD NEWS! This year there are an unprecedented 6 DAYS after this Master Badge Drop before the end of the game! Nothing new is happening here, we didn't decide to just give you more days, it's just the way the Fridays fall (so if you've got a problem, take it up with Pope Gregory). But that means you have an extra 6 DAYS to try to get all of the master badges you can by completing as many series badges as you can. That means you've got to get on that catalog and get searching, turn on those Ann Arbor Stories podcasts and get listening, and head out to every library branch to get branch exploring and goblin gaming! You've got this!

What about AFTER you've earned all of those master badges? What else could you possibly do? How about taking a look in the Summer Game Shop and SPENDING SOME OF THOSE MONDO MASTER BADGE BONUS POINTS? What, you say you've already bought everything you are interested in? Have you gotten one of the GOLDEN BUNDLES? You haven't even heard of them? Guess you'll have to watch this space later today to learn about the INSANE and RARE items you can find as part of this year's exciting game end packages!



And after that? Once all of the points have been SPENT? HOW ABOUT A BIG HUGE PARTY WHERE YOU CAN HANG OUT WITH OTHER SUMMER GAMERS, GEEK OUT ABOUT YOUR FAV SUMMER ACTIVITY, and, oh yeah, EARN A WHOLE BUNCH MORE POINTS?!?!! This year's GAME OVER GALA happens next Thursday, August 31 from 6 to 8 pm at the Downtown Library! A special GALA-ONLY GAME, a photo booth, even COOKIES!



So let's finish Summer Game 2017 with a BANG and see just how many MASTERS there truly are out there! See you at the Gala!



AND THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Organizing Your Stuff!

Fri, 08/25/2017 - 3:44pm by PaulaG

Do you look around your home, and wonder where all of the clutter comes from? There have been books about whether or not your belongings bring you joy, and this is an important concept; many believe that streamlining your surroundings can also help bring order to other places in life. Let’s take a moment to look at organization in a more basic way, a way to be able to get through daily life, without being overwhelmed by the clutter.

AADL offers some alternatives to scouring the internet for popular organizational hacks. The complete book of home organization, gives you tips and tricks for organizing your home inside and out. In, Cut the clutter : a simple organization plan for a clean and tidy home, the author shares how to clean and de-clutter your home, and how to keep it that way. Here’s one for caregivers that need to de-clutter both adult and kid spaces, Secrets of an organized mom: from overflowing closets to the chaotic play areas : a room-by-room guide to decluttering and streamlining your home for a happier family.

Whichever method you choose, happy organizing!

PreK Bits - "G" is for Grandparents !

Wed, 08/23/2017 - 6:58pm by ryanikoglu

Ms. Rachel did stories about grandparents @ Malletts Creek Branch this week.

BUNNY MONEY ... Ruby and Max go to buy a birthday gift for grandmother.
“Peel The Banana” was our activity rhyme. We prepared "Fruit Salad" for the party. We peeled ... apples, oranges, bananas .... mmmm ... and then avacados for the guacamole dip!

"The Lonely Little Candle" is an original story the Librarians pass around. The grandpa knows what's missing ... the "Little Candle" for the party!
There is not a book to tell this story. You need to remember it (and make up the parts you can't remember). =-)

For more stories with GrandParents in them ... try these favorites:
The HELLO GOODBYE WINDOW … the window is at Grandpa and Grandma’s house.
TWO IS ENOUGH … to have family fun together.
GRANDPA’S GIRLS … love to visit his farm … and share memories.
HOW To TAKE YOUR GRANDMOTHER To The MUSEUM ... a guide book that can also relate to Grandfathers!
MR FRANK ... grandfather moves in with the family and he has a special talent!
The LINES ON NANA’S FACE … each set of wrinkles reminds a child of favorite things they have done together.
OUR GRANDPARENTS: A Global Album … a beautiful multi-cultural photo essay of grandparents with grandchildren around the world.
HOW To BABYSIT A GRANDPA ... lots of great suggestions here!
HOW To BABYSIT A GRANDMA ... and more suggestions here!
HERE COMES GRANDMA is a story of all the transportation Grandma uses to get to her Grandson
OR … choose stories from GrandMothers and GrandFathers In Picture Books.

If you are a SKYPE grandparent, you can pick a story from Ms Rachel's Favorite Books to Read to Babies and read it to your grandbaby ... near or far.

Contemporary Fiction by African Authors

Tue, 08/22/2017 - 5:52pm by oliviabee

With the continuous popularity of books such as Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, fiction about modern Africa is becoming ever more prominent. These novels are a great learning tool to connect readers with stories and experiences they may not necessarily be familiar with. Although these authors may seem hard to come across, the library has you covered with some great recommendations. Be sure to check out this list for more modern novels written by African authors! Here are 2 intriguing titles to get you started.

Named one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post is Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue. Jende, a struggling Cameroonian immigrant lives in Harlem with his wife and son. When he finds an opportunity working for the Lehman Brothers in New York, he is certain his luck has improved but soon learns that everything is not what it seems. With the 2008 financial crisis serving as a backdrop, read and find out how Jende learns what it takes to make it in America, all while keeping his family together. The novel is currently being featured as apart of Oprah's book club.

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta tells a unique story about Africa. Amid a perilous interstate civil war, a young Nigerian girl is sent to a neighboring village for safety. During her stay, she meets a refugee girl of a different ethnic background and quickly falls in love. Due to cultural norms, she faces negative stigmas placed on her and her new found love leaving her to make an important decision. Does she make the choice to dishonor her host family or to fall in love? This novel was featured on NPR's Best Books of 2015 list.

we are never meeting in real life: essays

Tue, 08/22/2017 - 10:57am by Nholtzman

Blogger, Samantha Irby, has written a compelling, and wickedly funny book of essays, we are never meeting in real life.

Irby's essays chronicle her life in a contemporary writing style that pays attention to form, but skirts scholarly essay convention, (fine by me, let's read essays that mean something and say it in an interesting way).

She writes about her childhood, her college years, and the years she spends working at a veterinarian office.

Irby has experienced hardships that are often difficult to write about without sounding morose. However, Irby's talent as a comedian and writer is apparent in her candid and hilarious accounts of events like adapting a cat that she, and everyone else, hates.

we are never meeting in real life: essays, has been lauded by authors like Roxane Gay and Lindy West, and has been reviewed by organizations like Kirkus.

Refuge: A Novel

Mon, 08/21/2017 - 4:24pm by Lucy S

At the beginning of Dina Nayeri’s expressive, well-crafted, second novel, Refuge, Dr. Bahman Hamidi sits outside a courtroom and watches the proceedings of the twelve divorce cases that proceed his. During this time, he reflects back on how he arrived at this point, the verge of ending his third marriage. He thinks of his first wife, and his son and daughter, who fled from Iran in 1987 to escape religious persecution after his wife converted to Christianity. Bahman is still plagued, in 2009, by the question of whether he did the right thing in letting them go, and in not joining them. He has only seen his family four times since they left. His daughter Niloo lives in Amsterdam with her husband, and it is her voice that narrates the alternating chapters of this book. We begin to understand her perspective on leaving Iran and her relationship to her father, on her vague memories of her early refugee years that instilled in her a “forever refugee feeling.” As the novel progresses, the story continues to jump back and forth between these decades and the points of view of Bahman and Niloo.

Refuge, rooted in the Arab Spring uprisings and the European migrant crisis, emphasises the ways in which being a refugee has marked Niloo for life. For example, when her debit card is declined while shopping for groceries in Amsterdam, due to bank error, she is shamed by the memory of her mother’s card being declined, of watching her mother put back all her food until she had only what she could pay for. “What Niloo feels is animal panic, the sensation of a world spitting her into another tier, one she has occupied before and that awaits her, that has missed her and knows she will be back.” This notion of having a foot in two worlds is a central theme in Nayeri’s book. One way Niloo manages this push and pull is to set up and live by a strict set of rules, going so far as to compose a list of written guidelines for marriage that she shares with her husband. Through this order, she strives to define and know herself, her exploration underscoring a merging of identities and cultures that may be crucial for many exiles. She meets a group Persian activists and asylum seekers, and finds herself beginning to investigate some of the choices she has made about her tightly structured life. Niloo is able to re-frame the complicated way in which she has seen her father, to realize that he has had his own struggles. The chapters that focus on Bahman provide us with a picture of a man whose life is complicated by his opium addiction, his politics, his ex-wives and his desire to see his grown children. Like Niloo, he is attempting to reconcile these disparate aspects of his reality.

The idea that one must look past the flaws of family members to seek some harmony lies at the heart of this father/daughter story. Refuge speaks to reinvention, finding new roots after being so uprooted, and to finding, perhaps embracing, the exiled parts of oneself.

Kid Bits - Going To School

Sun, 08/20/2017 - 4:06pm by ryanikoglu

School will START SOON! Time to get back into the school frame of mind.
Stories and Talking can smooth the way to a Happy start to the year.

Here are "Going To School" story Lists for PreK through Middle School.
Going To Preschool
Separation Anxiety - Grades PreK - 2
Social Skills - Grades PreK - 2
Going To School - Grades K-2
Going To School - grades 3-5
Going To School - Middle School
Safety Kids - Grades PreK - 6

Differing Abilities - Grades PreK -1
Differing Abilities - Grades 2-3
Differing Abilities - Grades 4-5
Differing Abilities - Middle School
ESL Experiences in Books for Kids - Grades K-5

Say Zoop! Or oh or ah.

Sat, 08/19/2017 - 3:48pm by manz

If you're a fan of Herve Tullet's book Press Here, and other interactive picture books, here's a new one for you! Author and illustrator Tullet's newest, Say Zoop!, invites the reader to press along with words that coincide with each spot. It ends up being a hilarious adventure of colors and sounds as you go from page to page pressing and saying silly sounds louder and softer as you go.

If this sounds great, check out more Press Here readalikes and interactive books that are similar! This style of interactive books are really great to read together with the little ones.

Badge Drop #10: *STARSTRUCK*

Fri, 08/18/2017 - 6:16pm by Sara W

Summer Game 2017 may have put STARS in your EYES, but stay tuned for some excitement from the STARS in the SKIES!



There's some AWESOME ASTRONOMY afoot on Monday, 8/21! The only thing that can eclipse the AWESOMENESS of the Summer Game is AN ACTUAL ECLIPSE!!! Join us at the Downtown Library on Monday, 8/21 from 1-3 pm for our SOLAR ECLIPSE VIEWING PARTY. There will be solar eclipse viewing glasses (the must-have accessory of the summer) available to share!



But BEFORE you look up, LOOK BELOW! Hey! BADGES!!!!

Now think of a number. NO, another number. Did you think of 13? Well, think of it now. THIRTEEN!!!!!! It's important because....



THAT'S HOW MANY DAYS OF SUMMER GAME REMAIN! Just 13 more days of CODE HUNTING and POINT GATHERING, SG hunter-gatherers! Gotta get out there and FORAGE for FUN while there's still FUN to FORAGE!



Time's a-tickin'! Collect those codes! Create those comments! Procure those points! BADGE THOSE BADGES!



As always, THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

The Dark Tower

Wed, 08/16/2017 - 6:31pm by PizzaPuppy

The Dark Tower series (one of author Stephen King's crowning achievements) tells the story of gunslinger Roland Deschain and his quest to find and protect the fabled Dark Tower, said to be the link between all universes. Roland's world is a post-apocalyptic desolate wasteland where time no longer moves chronologically and reality is fraying. The eight book series combines elements of fantasy, science fiction, horror and classic Western into a brand new epic story. The movie adaptation of the Dark Tower series opened on August 4th to mixed reviews (to put it lightly). Even if fans were not quite satisfied with the adaptation, they have devoured the Dark Tower series since the beginning of its publication in the early 1980's. Now is the perfect time to catch up on this epic series!

The series consists of The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, The Wind Through the Keyhole, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower. These novels also have Book on CD (BOCD) counterparts, available here. King's collection of short stories entitled Everything's Eventual also includes Dark Tower related stories, specifically "The Little Sisters of Eluria" and "Everything's Eventual".

Drawing on the popularity of the novels, a series of prequel graphic novels was published after the novels were completed. The prequels begin with The Gunslinger Born and continue with The Long Road Home (available through MeLCat), Treachery (also only available through MeLCat), The Fall of Gilead and Battle of Jericho Hill.

The first two novels themselves have also been adapted into graphic novels, all available through MeLCat. The Gunslinger series consists of The Gunslinger: The Journey Begins,
The Battle of Tull, The Way Station, The Man in Black, and Last Shots. The Little Sisters of Eluria was also adapted into comic book form. The comics continue with The Drawing of the Three series, consisting of The Prisoner, House of Cards, Lady of Shadows, Bitter Medicine, and The Sailor.

There have been several nonfiction works detailing the intricacies of the Dark Tower universe. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance, Revised and Updated is an encyclopedia of Dark Tower-related information, originally written by Robin Furth for Stephen King's exclusive personal use while he was still writing the series in order to prevent continuity errors. It was later published once King realized how valuable it would be to his "Constant Readers". There's also The Dark Tower Companion: A Guide to Stephen King's Epic Fantasy.

Additionally, there are many other Stephen King works that reference or are related to the Dark Tower series. A partial list includes Salem's Lot, Eyes of the Dragon, Bag of Bones, Black House, Insomnia, Desperation and its companion novel The Regulators, From a Buick 8, Cell, Rose Madder, Hearts in Atlantis, and The Stand.

The novel It also has ties to the Dark Tower series and has a widely anticipated movie adaptation coming out on September 8th. The trailer is available to watch here (if you dare!) and an interactive VR experience was released yesterday for the bravest of heart. You can also catch up with the 1990 made-for-TV movie, available here.

PreK Bits - "S" is for SLEEPYHEADS

Wed, 08/16/2017 - 4:28pm by ryanikoglu

This week Ms. Rachel presented stories that needed quiet so the sleepyheads can go to sleep.
The HINKY PINK ... A Hinky Pink came to live in the Tailor's house. She would not go to sleep until she had a perfect bed.
Ms. Betsy played guitar and Ms. Rachel led the action song "Wake Up You Sleepyheads”. Here is a youtube.com clip for demonstration.
OWL At HOME has several stories in the book. We heard about "Strange Bumps" in the night. They were "most unpleasant !".

For more books for and about SLEEPYHEADS try the following favorites:
The SQUEAKY DOOR had a Grandma putting her Grand-daughter to bed ... she needed quiet.
SLEEPYHEADS ... where every quiet creature lays their sleepy head.
QUIET BUNNY'S MANY COLORS ... find them in the garden.
The QUIET BOOK ... very thoughtful, lovely prose, and beautiful gentle illustrations.
SHH! WE HAVE A PLAN ... who needs to be quiet?
TIPTOE JOE ... tiptoe to be quiet.
HANK FINDS AN EGG ... on a quiet walk in the woods. What shall he do?
The FAMILY BEDTIME TREASURY: Tales For Sleepy Times and Sweet Dreams ... a treasure trove in one book!
BEDTIME FOR BEAR ... with a "small but effervescent" overnight guest. Delightful storytelling and illustrations!
Find a cozy space. Read a cozy book.
Good Night!
Sleep Tight.

Badge Drop #9: Copious Commentary!

Fri, 08/11/2017 - 6:13pm by mariah

WHOOOOOEEEEEE, Summer Gamers! Now that we're DEEP into SG Season, things are getting INTENSE!



This week we've got badges that will send you to the HIGHEST HEIGHTS — flying with noted night bombers, rooting out records in the final frontier, and even shimmying up a (bean)stalk for EPIC ADVENTURE!



But OF COURSE, that's not all! We wouldn't leave you hanging ALL THE WAY UP THERE, so we've balanced all of that out by GETTING DOWN (in a DEEP GEOLOGICAL sense) with one badge that is TOTALLY THE PITS!

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! We reassured you last week that WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! But we really really DO, and often your fellow gamers and library users do TOO (ESPECIALLY when you might be helping your fellow gamers DECIPHER TRICKY BUSINESS and earn MORE BADGES)!



So UP THAT CHATTER! Ramp up the remarks! Hit REPLY to add your voice to this thread, or the MANY, MANY others all about Summer Game and all the BEST STUFF happening at YOUR LIBRARY, and you will be richly rewarded with the COMMENT MASTER badges!



And... speaking of REWARDS... STAY TUNED for a shop drop later tonight!



As always, THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

PreK Bits - "E" is for elegant ELEPHANTS

Wed, 08/09/2017 - 5:59pm by ryanikoglu

Ms. Rachel celebrated ELEPHANTS in Storytime @ Malletts Creek.
ELMER is a favorite classic tale of individual differences.
For action and song we played "Paddling Down the River" ... a fast and slow song. You can here an authentic version of this early American folksong on the CD UP IN The BATTEN HOUSE with Mark Tamsula. The CD includes many more authentic American folksongs too!
SITTING IN MY BOX ... a tale of peace and chaos ... including one elephant.

If you love Elephants try these favorites:
ELLA ... a story of Ella the circus elephant by Bill Peet.
ELEPHANT'S STORY ... an elephant memoir.
17 KINGS And 42 ELEPHANTS ... a rhyming tale with superb batik illustrations of a southeast Asian Royal procession.
HOW The ELEPHANT GOT HIS TRUNK ... a re-telling of the how-it-came-to-be story by Rudyard Kipling.
ELLA TAKES The CAKE ... and more stories of Ella by Carmela D'Amico.

And don't forget the non-fiction real information books for young kids on this fun animal !

Mission No-Longer-Impossible: New Picture Books for Kids!

Tue, 08/08/2017 - 12:30pm by krayla

There's a situation here! A MAJOR situation! You're going to an unspecified location at some random time and there will be KIDS, both BIG and SMALL! What is there to say? What is there to do? Never fear, brave humans. You are about to enjoy the company of the world's most interesting and ENERGETIC beings. That means you need some of AADL's NEWEST, most EXEMPLARY EXAMPLES of picture books!

Lemony Snicket, author of the bestselling Series of Unfortunate Events, brings you Goldfish Ghost with illustrations by Lisa Brown! This adorably sinister book introduces a spectacular spectre who happens to be a fish. He travels the town in his ghostly way looking for a friend. DOES HE MEET ONE? Read this book to find out!

SPLISH! SMASH! SQUISH! SPLAT! by Jon Burgerman keeps the MISCHIEF MANAGED and the MESS CONTAINED! Turn each page to add another goofy element to the creature's face. The large bright illustrations are great for entertaining one playful person or an entirely peppy party!

Elephant and Piggie author Mo Willems brings you ANOTHER (yes, another) funny book, titled Welcome: A Guide for New Arrivals! This hilarious handbook gives kids a preview of what's to come in life, from SUPER COOL CATS to SAD SOGGY TOAST, and has a lot of adult appeal!

See? You can do this. You too can entertain YOUNGSTERS at HEART. The biggest hurdle is getting some great books, and then you're good to go!*

*Kind of. There are other things like games, jokes, being the funniest person in the room, and basically knowing all facts about the universe, but that all comes later. Good luck!

PreK Bits - "P" is for PRINCESS and PRINCE

Mon, 08/07/2017 - 5:01pm by ryanikoglu

Ms. Rachel told Prince and Princess Stories this week.
The PRINCESS And The PEA by Rachel Isadora is a classic folktale re-set in Africa.
"Cinderella Dressed In Yellow" is a traditional jump rope rhyme. We had plenty verses with more colors to clap with the rhythm.
KLIPPITY KLOP is an action and participation story by Ed Emberley. It is out-of-print and AADL copies are gone. You can borrow a copy through MelCat. It is a story about Prince Krispin and his horse Dumpling going on an adventure.

For more stories of Princes and Princesses try these titles:
DARING PRINCE DASHING ... a twisted fairy tale.
The PRINCE WHO WAS JUST HIMSELF
The PAPER BAG PRINCESS
The PRINCESS And The FROGS
The PRINCE'S BEDTIME
The PRINCE And The PORKER
PRINCESS LILA BUILDS A TOWER
The SEVEN PRINCESSES
WOULD YOU RATHER BE A PRINCESS Or A DRAGON ?
The FROG PRINCE

Saints for All Occasions: the best of the best in Irish-Catholic family sagas

Sat, 08/05/2017 - 10:09am by eapearce

J. Courtney Sullivan, author of Maine, Commencement and The Engagements, again returns to Boston (where at least a portion of all of her books take place) in her latest family saga, Saints for All Occasions. A master of depicting tight-knight Irish-American families full of secrets, Sullivan possesses the rare ability to tell stories that span decades without losing the reader in time. Saints for All Occasions technically begins twice: first in 2009 when Nora Rafferty’s oldest son Patrick dies in a car crash and again in 1957 when Nora and her sister Theresa make the voyage from Ireland to America to join Nora’s fiancé, Charlie, in Boston.

What transpires between 1957 and 2009 seems at first simple: Theresa gets pregnant out of wedlock—at the time a particularly terrible fate for a young Irish Catholic girl—and goes reluctantly to a nunnery for the duration of her pregnancy and to have the baby. She doesn’t want to give her child up, but is forced to by the nuns. Nora—recently married to Charlie—agrees to take the boy in and raise him as her own. The effects of this choice drive the rest of the story, which introduces us to Nora’s other three children and to the path that Theresa followed after her pregnancy. Anyone who is familiar with Boston, with Irish-Catholic families, or with both will connect immediately to the portrait of the Raffertys that Sullivan paints in Saints for All Occasions. Her characters and their choices are believable and well-formed, and she travels between time periods deftly, revealing the secrets of the story to readers at the exact right moments.

Saints for All Occasions is a wonderful read to sneak in on your summer reading list.

Dying: A Memoir

Sat, 08/05/2017 - 9:47am by Lucy S

At the age of 50, Cory Taylor was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma. She wrote Dying: a Memoir 10 years later, in an energetic rush of creativity, right before her death, when the melanoma had spread to her brain. This perceptive output, at such a time, is astounding, and as readers we are its lucky recipients.

“Despite the ubiquity of death, it seems strange that there are so few opportunities to discuss dying,” says Taylor as she works to establish a conversation around death. “Death is a taboo subject, absurdly so. It is tidied away in hospitals, out of public view, the secret purview of health professionals who are generally unwilling to talk about what really goes on at the bedsides of a nation.” Taylor strives to change this, in part by taking control of the dialogue around her own death, and by taking control of her death itself. She begins the book by telling us that she has just purchased her own euthanasia drugs. She doesn’t know that she’ll use them, but it comforts her to know that she can dictate her end. She doesn’t try to convince us that dying isn’t hard, or sad, but nor does she shy away from the fact that it is unavoidable. “No, there is nothing good about dying. It is sad beyond belief. But it is part of life, and there is no escaping it. Once you grasp that fact, good things can result.” When addressing the fear that she admits to feeling, she adds, “I haven't died before, so I sometimes get a bad case of beginner’s nerves, but they soon pass.”

Taylor moves away from the topic of death for one section of this slim volume to highlight some memories from her interesting childhood spent in Australia and Fiji. This exploration highlights an understanding of her parents, their relationship to each other, and to her, that perhaps she was recognizing in an end-of-life reflection. But even in looking back at her life experiences, Taylor does not fall prey to sentimentality, nor is she mired with regret. “I don't have a bucket list because it comforts me to remember the things I have done, rather than hanker after the things I haven't done. Whatever they are, I figure they weren't for me, and that gives me a sense of contentment, a sort of ballast as I set out on my very last trip.”

Taylor writes beautifully, and it is sad to think we won’t get more from her, but we are fortunate to have this.

Add this to the ranks of When Breath Becomes Air, Being Mortal, and The Bright Hour, the books we read to try to gain insight on and understanding of the inevitable end we all face. Cory Taylor eloquently bestows both to us.

“And that is what I’m doing now, in this, my final book: I am making a shape for my death, so that I, and others, can see it clearly.”

Celebrating the Life of Poet, Seamus Heaney

Fri, 08/04/2017 - 8:24pm by Nholtzman

In the month of August I am always reminded of the poet, Seamus Heaney, who died fours years ago on August 30th. He was a prolific writer; he left behind many poems and a translation of the epic tale, Beowulf.

Every August, I celebrate his life by rereading my favorite book of poems, North. Heaney grew up on a farm in Northern Ireland. His book of poems, North, begins with two poems about the farm he grew up on called Mossbawn. The first few lines of the poem are: "There was a sunlit absence./ The helmeted pump in the yard/ heated its iron,/ water honeyed..."

North has two parts. The first half of the poems deal with Greek mythology and Heaney's "Bog people." The second section of the collection speaks of the political climate and the conflicts in Northern Ireland during the 1970's and before.

If you are looking to delve deeper into Heaney's work, please do! AADL has volumes of Heaney's poetry calling your name...

Selected Poems, 1966-1987

Human Chain

The Burial at Thebes

The Spirit Level

Badge Drop #8: Let's Review!!!

Fri, 08/04/2017 - 6:00pm by nicole

PHEW! Summer 2017 has been CRAZY GOOD so far! Full of long days, warm nights, and that odd, rarely-seen kind of weather that consists entirely of HOT, SUMMER SUNSHINE!



Honestly, the SUPERIOR QUALITY of this summer has us a little bit blown away! Never before have we experienced a summer so EXHILARATING, so POIGNANT, so SWELTERING HOT and RIDDLED WITH CONSTRUCTION. We deliberated for days, thought long and hard about where we could go to release our MANIC SUMMER ENERGY in an orderly and wordy fashion. Now, FINALLY, we've figured out the PERFECT PLACE to unleash our TIRADE of POSITIVE COMMENTARY about how good, exhilarating, poignant, sweltering and riddled our summer has been so far: RIGHT HERE IN THE LIBRARY CATALOG!



Please, we know you're shocked, but for goodness sake, contain yourselves.

Unlike your postman, your bus-driver, your boss, or your pregnant friends, WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!!!



Did you just read a book that knocked your socks into the stratosphere and left you with a burning desire to tell the world about your SPACE-BOUND SOCKS? Find that book in the catalog and WRITE A REVIEW! Is there a terrible movie that UNJUSTLY STOLE 120 minutes of your summer? DEMAND THEM BACK with some CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM! Got a really awesome story about how your DOG once did a ROUNDHOUSE KICK like CHUCK NORRIS? Save that GLORIOUS GEM for your postman, because IT'S NOT ACTUALLY A REVIEW and will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to help you earn those prestigious REVIEW MASTER BADGES!



If you find yourself OPINION-LESS, not to worry! This week's drop is bringing you plenty more SHINING NEW BADGES for you to LAY JUDGEMENT upon!



Thanks for telling us what you think and THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

Baby Bits - Books and Music for fun with Babies

Tue, 08/01/2017 - 5:39pm by ryanikoglu

People ask where we find our songs that we use in programs. Here you can View All Public Lists on the AADL website.

Here are some lists created especially for enjoyment between Babies and Caregivers.
Ms Rachel's Favorite CDs for Preschool Songs and Music
The CD artists and titles on this list have been personal favorites for many years.
Choose something to calm you ... something to rev you up ... something with a different beat ... and something great for background sound during play.

Ms Rachel's Favorite Books to Read to Babies
The artists and authors on this list have also been special favorites.
Choose something to talk about ... choose something to laugh about ... choose something of interest ... choose something to make you feel good.

Three Books By Three Sisters: Re-Reading the Classics

Mon, 07/31/2017 - 8:16pm by ballybeg

It is hard to imagine a family with more talent and tragedy woven through all its members than the Brontes. After I saw the new, most excellent film about the Bronte sisters, To Walk Invisible, I became curious to know more about their lives and to set about reading (and re-reading) their books, to explore further the depth of their genius, and how it was nurtured in near isolation on the moors of Yorkshire.

We have many biographies of the three sisters, but I found these three books especially interesting and approachable:
The Bronte Sisters: The Brief Lives of Charlotte, Emily and Anne
The Bronte Cabinet: Three Lives in Nine Objects
The Brontes at Haworth

Charlotte most famously wrote Jane Eyre which is a book you can return to again and again, for the atmospheric setting, the twisty plot, and the parade of complex characters. Jane is one of most enduring and beloved heroines in literature. There have been over 50 film versions of the book, so far, and a new one comes about every 5-6 years. Real fans of this book have strong opinions about which one captures the essence of plain Jane and the tortured Rochester. This BBC version leaves very little out of the original, and this one, from Masterpiece, is also very true to the feeling of the book. But for the real experience read it! The book is better than any film version I have seen, and that runs to somewhere around 10 of them (my favorite is the 1996 Charlotte Gainsbourg version). I bet you read this in high school or college and loved it. It might be time to revisit Jane.

Anne wrote two novels, the better-known one being, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is still not as famous as Charlotte and Emily’s books. I am reading it now, and I find this relative obscurity unfortunate because it is excellent, with all the requisite moody, atmospheric settings and the strong, mysterious heroine. It explores the themes of domestic violence, alcoholism, child abuse, and the independence of women, even married women, in such a shocking way that it was considered scandalous when it was published. It is considered one of the first feminist novels. The film version of this book is outstanding.

Emily wrote quite a lot of captivating poetry, but she only published one novel, the enigmatic Wuthering Heights. Here is a sample review, which appeared in Graham’s Lady Magazine, when it first came out: "How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery. It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors." Emily died believing the book was a failure. Little did she know the perennial fascination and loyalty the ill-fated relationship between Heathcliff and Cathy, and all the films based on it, would inspire.