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Crossover Graphic Novels November Edition!

by gulickb

We've got a whole bunch of great crossover graphic novels for you this month and these ones are amazing!

First up this month we have Gryphon's Aren't So Great by James Sturm of Adventures in Cartooning fame. This story follows The Knight and his best friend Edward (who is his horse). Like all friendships this one is troubled by a gryphon (what your friendships don't have gryphon troubles? Must just be me). The Knight meets the Gryphon and starts riding him instead of Edward, and talking to Edward about how great Gryphon is. So just what will Edward do when Gryphon turns out to be more perilous than a pet? Read Gryphon's Aren't So Great and find out.

The second crossover graphic novel this month is Fable Comics which has a variety of artists but was edited together by Chris Duffy. These are not your normal every day fables. Nope these ones include ninja grapes (that may or may not be sour), ironic stepping on people, and leopards who really know how to rock! First Second, the published of this collection, really brought their A game to the table. The art is all great and the stories will make you chuckle, if not laugh out so loud that people wonder what's funny.

The third and final crossover is an adaptation of a wildly successful book series Warriors. Follow Ravanpaw, Tigerstar, Sasha, Graystripe, and Scourge amongst others as these graphic novels take you through new stories set in the world of Warriors. The art work in the books captures the feel of the novels, and its interesting to see what someone else imagines your favorite cats to look like! Those of you who are not already fans of the Warriors series (or who think you're too old for them) the stories in the novels are often captivating and any cat lover could enjoy the antics of these wonderful cats!

That's it for this month, but keep your eyes open for other great graphic novels that we blog about in the next month!

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Blog Post

New Steve Jenkins: How to Swallow a Pig!

by eapearce

Steve Jenkins has been using his amazing cut-paper art to illustrate his science and nature books for kids for over a decade now, and I still look forward to each new book that he creates. His most recent one is How to Swallow a Pig: step-by-step advice from the animal kingdom and it's one of his best yet. He uses animals with particularly unique habits: pythons who eat pigs, crows that use cars to crack nuts, and monkeys that use toxic millipedes to fend off lice and offers fun, step-by-step "instructions" for how these animals go about their amazing activities. And of course, the illustrations are as beautiful as ever. This book stands out to me as a particularly great one for classrooms--the detailed, fascinating facts about a diversity of animals would be a fun and complimentary addition to any lesson plan about animals and the natural world.

See more of Steve Jenkins' books on this list!

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Blog Post

A2GD Presents: The CivCity Game Jam!

by nicole

Big news, gamers! Starting on Friday, October 23 at 6:00PM, CivCity and the A2 Game Designers Meetup are teaming up to co-host a GAME JAM at Workantile in Ann Arbor (118 South Main Street, Ann Arbor, MI)! Unlike most game jams, there won't be a single winner that will get all the glory. Instead, every game will get a moment in the spotlight at a soon-to-be-announced AADL EVENT! We’re still working out the details, but at some point all games created at the jam will be displayed prominently at a LIBRARY-SPONSORED event and available for ANYONE to play!

This game jam is open to game development of all kinds, including but not limited to: VIDEO GAMES, BOARD GAMES, and CARD GAMES. Come solo or with a team! To better accommodate your busy schedules, this game jam is mostly remote, with a kickoff event on Friday and a presentation event on Sunday.

If showcasing your game to hundreds of library visitors isn’t enough incentive, there will also be a raffle that gives one team the chance to win a $100 CASH PRIZE!

For those of you screaming "Sign me up!" at your computer screens, you'll find more info on rules, deadlines, and how to get in on the action here! See you there!

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Halloween Costume Swap!

by evelyn

Join us for a new sustainability program this year! From now until October 2nd, drop off your gently used, clean Halloween costumes to any library branch. Costumes for all ages and sizes are appreciated, as well as accessories!

Then, on October 3rd, come to the Downtown branch from 2:30-4:30 to pick out a new costume for this year! This is a wonderful chance to save money, clear your closet, and pick out something snazzy for this year. We'll also be doing a kids' craft!

Get in the spooky mood by checking out our great collection of Halloween items!

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Blog Post

Crossover Graphic Novels: October Edition!

by gulickb

Another month, another three graphic novels perfect for comic lovers whether you are 5 or 500!

The first is a graphic novel based on the hit TV show Steven Universe and imaginatively named Steven Universe Volume 1. If you're not familiar with the TV show Steven Universe, it's about a boy named Steven who is half human/half Crystal Gem. The Crystal Gems are an advanced alien race with superpowers and extended lifespans. Steven and the Crystal Gems work hard to save Beach City and the Earth from gem monsters and other disasters. This comic is a great adaptation of the show and manages to capture the feel of the show while being its own unique entity. It's a must-read for any fans of the show and if you've never seen it, it'll give you a window into one of the current hot trends!

The second is another adaptation, though this time from newspaper comic strips to monthly comics. Peanuts is produced by KaBOOM, the same company behind the hit comic Lumberjanes. Peanuts is great, and you can tell that the team behind it really loved the original series by Charles Schultz. The humor is very similar and the characters are every bit as lovable as they were in the classic strip! Now with the new Peanuts movie coming out later this year, it's the perfect time to check out some great new strips with your favorite characters.

The third graphic novel is Space Dumplins. This book is seriously great, it has everything from the the excitement of space and the drama of family, to the joy of space whale poop harvesting. The book follows Violet Marlocke, daughter of a lumberjack (the people who harvest said space whale poop). When her dad goes missing and the government takes no action, Marlocke and her friends set off on a rescue adventure.

Enjoy!

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Blog Post

Dia De La Familia Latina

by Beth Manuel

Join us Sunday, October 4th, 2:30-5pm at the downtown AADL, as we partner with the U of M Comprehensive Cancer Center to bring you Dia de la Familia Latina. This informational program - which takes place during National Hispanic Heritage Month - will include health information and resources from local community agencies and organizations, and aims to raise awareness of cancer and other health issues among Latinos. Refreshments and other fun activities will be provided including crafts, face painting, and the talented Magician Cesar Domico to perform for all!

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Blog Post

Chuseok Dae, a Korean celebration!

by Sunny29

The University of Michigan's Nam Center for Korean Studies proudly brings you the 5th annual Chuseok Thanksgiving Celebration! This free event includes Korean food tasting, arts & crafts, a story time by AADL's own Miss Rachel, and two kimchi workshops presented by The Brinery.

Events will be held at the UM School of Social Work building, 1080 S. University.

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Blog Post

SHOP UPDATE: Final Stock NOW POSTED! Plus, What do YOU THINK?

by eli

OK, we've scraped the corners of SUMMER GAME SHOP ORDER FULFILLMENT CENTRAL, and come up with about 300 more thingys to post; the stock now listed in the Summer Game Shop is IT for 2015! Remember that your points don't expire, so any unspent points you have will still be available when the shop reopens in July 2016! Also, if you were waiting to order a second sketch messenger, thanks so much for waiting, now you can HAVE AT IT!

So, while TEAM SUMMER GAME takes a break to regroup, we want to hear from YOU! What were your FAVORITE and NOT AS FAVORITE events, activities, badges, shop items, WHATEVERS? Let us know RIGHT HERE any ideas you have to make SUMMER GAME 2016 even better! Rest assured we read every comment, so if you've got an idea, LET'S HAVE IT! Pour it all out WHILE IT'S STILL FRESH! Thanks to all of you for your support, feedback, enthusiasm, and most of all...

THANKS FOR PLAYING!

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Blog Post

Summer Game 2015: Take Five!

by andrewjmac

WE DID IT! Summer Game 2015 is all over and we all (as far as I know, though I haven't really looked into this much) survived! Now it's time for all of us to take a much deserved rest, trying to retrain our brains to not perk up anytime someone mentions "points" or "friend codes" or "badges". But before we take five, we should probably take a minute to reflect on how INCREDIBLE this year's Summer Game was. And we all know things aren't truly amazing without numbers, so let's have a think about:

An UNSTOPPABLE 5,442 players played!
An UNBEATABLE 75,968 badges earned!!
An UNBELIEVABLE 353,488 codes redeemed!!!
An UNPOSSIBLE 128,649,387 points earned!!!!

Those kinds of numbers are every kind of UN imaginable! So UNIMAGINABLE, I guess!!

While we're taking five, let's also talk about how this year's Summer Game was Summer Game 5! After 5 years of Summer Game, was it BIGGER THAN EVER? Since that 5 is a nice round number, let's compare this year to Summer Game 2011: 1.5x the number of players! 2.3x the number of badges! 4.5x the number of codes! 2.9x the number of points!

SO YEAH, BIGGER!!! But now we have to ask ourselves...can it be BIGGER YET? I'll answer for us all with a resounding, "Sure. I mean, probably. Probably yes." (Ahem, sorry, my internal caps lock might be a little worn out by this point in the summer.) I meant "TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY HECK YEAH! WE'RE COMING FOR YOU, 2016!"

BUT WHAT TO DO UNTIL THEN?! Well, how about you take another five:
-Download of the Day, a chance to learn about all of the great things AADL has for download, score points, and score even more points by solving a clue and finding the download a week early on the Lowdown of the Day
-Points-O-Matic, a chance to help us figure out which reviews are helpful and which are not with a click of your mouse and to help make our amazing old newspapers more searchable by entering text from hundred-year-old pages
-Streets Quest, a game that takes you to many of the historic streets panels around town and teaches you the history of the city around you
-Treasure Quest, the most mind-boggling of our games that the will have you decoding and deciphering your way through the catalog
-That's only four, huh? Weird. You'd think there'd be a fifth game that I'd mention here, what with the whole "take five" theme. I dunno, like a WHOLE NEW GAME or something. Huh.

For those of you with Summer Game points left, don't forget that the SUMMER GAME SHOP STAYS OPEN UNTIL MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14! Keep your eyes on play.aadl.org for news about the restocking of popular items! And don't worry if you don't get to spend all of your points, the Shop will re-open in 2016 with all-new items and your points will still be just as good for spending!

So after five years, it seems like everyone is STILL HAVING A GREAT TIME playing the Summer Game! And that's great news for us, because WE ARE STILL HAVING A GREAT TIME MAKING IT! And the players who are having fun are what makes the Summer Game worth making, so:

THANKS FOR MAKING ALL OF THIS WORTH IT!
THANKS FOR MAKING THE GAME A FAIR AND FUN EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYBODY!
THANKS FOR HELPING EACH OTHER OUT IN THE COMMENTS!
THANKS FOR ALL OF THE TAGS, REVIEWS, AND RATINGS YOU'VE ADDED!
and THANKS FOR BEING AWESOME!

but mostly

THANKS FOR PLAYING!!!

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Blog Post

SURPRISE! Two more NEW ITEMS as Summer Game 2015 DRAWS TO A CLOSE!

by eli

Wait! WHAT'S THIS?! Two COMPLETELY NEW items have hit the Summer Game Shop in the closing days... the Adorable new SNAZZY SWANKY WRITING SET and the Super-Useful POCKET POWER TOOL! And that's not all... we've also restocked the MUG & BEANS COMBO! So get in there and HAVE AT IT!

And for you hardcore superplayers, an announcement: after careful consideration, we've decided not to drop any other SUPER PACKAGES this year. While they are fun to make and fun to buy, they ultimately result in more prizes going to less people, and well, that's just not the LIBRARY WAY. So, we're going to regroup our quantities we were holding aside for possible packages, and RESTOCK SEVERAL ITEMS in the shop with additional, limited quantities AFTER THE GAME ENDS NEXT WEEK! So, stay tuned, play nice, make the most of the WANING GAME DAYS, and as always....

THANKS FOR PLAYING!