How are you enjoying Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed? For me, the jarring part was adapting to the different assumptions of fantasy worldview outside pseudo-medieval west Europe or east Asia. Even when we read Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, the frame of reference was still Western even if the setting was pseudo-Indian.

We've had a lot of people blindly trying new books this week! Today will be the last day to check out a wrapped book, but everyone will have until May 31 to get the "Rate Your Date" forms turned in.

We checked on what you thought of your blind dates and so far -

11 were Amazing
14 were Total Disasters
18 were OK, and
29 were Better Than Expected!

So get those forms turned in by May 31 and you may be the winner of 12 wonderful noodle entrees from Noodles and Co., one each month for a year!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this program! We hope you enjoyed the new reading experiences as much as we enjoyed setting up these dates for you!

Join us June 11 at 6:30pm when we will discuss Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Books On Tap meets at Jimmy's Pub on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were in a desperate struggle for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eye-witness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

Tuesday night 17 people showed up at Jimmy's Pub for a lively discussion of Dog Stars by Peter Heller. While not everyone enjoyed the book as much as I did, people pointed out and discussed the parts of the book that spoke to them.

For more information about the book or the author visit www.peterheller.net.

Enjoy apocalytic fiction? Try some of these titles!

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Postman by David Brin
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Stand by Stephen King
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Feel free to post any of your own favorites!

Now in its 15th year, the award-winning Stories in the Garden has been a favorite collaborative program between the East Lansing Public Library and the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden at MSU.

The formula is simple, the results are fabulous: teens reading picture books to children + a beautiful and fun garden setting = a fun and rewarding experience for all.

Teen readers must attend special planning sessions held at the East Lansing Public Library where they will learn about reading to children, find reading partners, choose appropriate books and practice reading out loud.

If you are a teen entering grades 7-12 and are interested in volunteering for Stories in the Garden you can download the application here.

On May 11, the Books & Bagels group discussed Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead.

Did you know that the East Lansing Public Library is a prized example of mid-century modern architecture? Visit the MSU Museum to see ELPL and many more examples of East Lansing buildings that highlight this very popular form of architecture.  

Exhibit:

East Lansing Modern, 1940 - 1970
MSU Museum Ground Floor,  April 28 - August 18, 2013

Upcoming programs:

Tuesday, May 14, 5 p.m.

Film screening: “East Lansing: The City We Know,” 30-minute documentary on the history of the city; followed by exhibition tour

Saturday, June 9, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.

Workshop: “How to Research Your Home,” led by Whitney Miller, University Archivist at MSU and author of “East Lansing, Collegeville Revisited.”

Check out MSU Museum's website and Michigan Modern for more information about modern architecture in East Lansing and beyond.

Our book for April was The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. It is about a girl who can taste emotions and history in food. When she eats cake, she can tell how the baker felt and where the eggs came from and whether the cows were milked by hand. Our protagonist spends her life avoiding her potential and what makes her special. This is also a metaphor for the book, which carefully avoids its potential or making anything of its premise. This is a book about hiding from emotions and escaping from life. The writing is good but the story is poor.

As the school year ends, Baby Time and Story Time will shift from their regular weekly schedule to a special summer schedule!  We are excited to offer a fantastic programming line-up this summer which will be announced soon! Next week will be the last week of our regularly scheduled Baby Times and Story Times. 

Baby Time will take place on Monday, May 13th, 10:30-11 am.
The last date for Baby Time is Wednesday, May 15th, 10:30-11 am.

The last day for Story Time is Friday, May 17th, 10:30-11:15 am.

Join me for a fun Mother's Day Craft Program this Saturday, May 4th from 1-2 pm.  We will be decorating canvas tote bags with acrylic paints and fabric markers. Mom will always love a handmade gift.  I will have all you need, so just wear your painting clothes and bring your creativity!  Ages 4 and up.  FREE. Call to sign up.  517-351-2420.
 

Books & Bagels
Saturday, May 11
2-3 pm
Grades 4-6

The last meeting of the Books & Bagels book discussion group for the school year will take place at the time and date listed above.

Please join Mary Jo to discuss Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead. This title is also available as an eBook in Overdrive as well as print copies and CD audio copies through interlibrary loan in MeL. Please call us, 517-351-2420, ext 6845 if you need assistance getting a copy of Liar & Spy to read. Liar & Spy is a 2013 Finalist in the Children's Choice Book Awards (5th-6th grade).

I'm excited to announce that the activity for this meeting will be painting on canvas using pointillism style like artist Georges Seurat. If you read the book, you'll know why we'll use this style.

Please sign up at the children's desk or call 351-2420, ext 6855 and leave a message.

Thank you to Panera Bagels in Frandor for their continued suppport providing the group with yummy bagels and cream cheese!

Canceled: Tonight's (4/24) Book Friending Program at (SCENE) Metrospace. We plan to reschedule, new date to be announced soon. We apologize for the convenience.

Saturday, April 13th
2-3 pm
For children in grades 4-6

Join us for juice and bagels, discussion of the book Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, and a fun activity! This fantasy book is full of interesting content that provokes a wide range of responses in readers. Listen to a fascinating interview with Anne Ursu from NPR's 

Join us May 14 at 6:30pm when we will discuss The Dog Stars by Peter Heller. Books On Tap meets at Jimmy's Pub the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

Join us April 9 at 6:30pm when we will discuss Arc of Justice by Kevin Boyle. Books on Tap meets at Jimmy's Pub, located at 16804 Chadler Road.

An electrifying story of the sensational murder trial that divided a city and ignited the civil rights struggle.

In 1925, Detroit was a smoky swirl of jazz and speakeasies, assembly lines and fistfights. The advent of automobiles had brought workers from around the globe to compete for manufacturing jobs, and tensions often flared with the KKK in ascendance and violence rising. Ossian Sweet, a proud Negro doctor-grandson of a slave-had made the long climb from the ghetto to a home of his own in a previously all-white neighborhood. Yet just after his arrival, a mob gathered outside his house; suddenly, shots rang out: Sweet, or one of his defenders, had accidentally killed one of the whites threatening their lives and homes.

And so it began-a chain of events that brought America's greatest attorney, Clarence Darrow, into the fray and transformed Sweet into a controversial symbol of equality. Historian Kevin Boyle weaves the police investigation and courtroom drama of Sweet's murder trial into an unforgettable tapestry of narrative history that documents the volatile America of the 1920s and movingly re-creates the Sweet family's journey from slavery through the Great Migration to the middle class. Ossian Sweet's story, so richly and poignantly captured here, is an epic tale of one man trapped by the battles of his era's changing times.

Arc of Justice is the winner of the 2004 National Book Award for Nonfiction and a Michigan Notable Book for 2005.

Looking ahead:
May 14, The Dog Stars by Peter Heller