You have made your commitment to Canton Township's 100 Days to Health. Biggest Loser Contestant, Buddy Shuh shares the triumph of losing 163 pounds while overcoming the grief of losing his baby daughter. Buddy's spiritual journey is told in his book, The Story of Bella. Buddy will be speaking as well as selling and signing copies on Thursday, January 17th at 7:00 PM.

Please join us on Monday, January 21st as we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King changed all of our lives during the 1960's civil rights movement. Share stories of his life with the following films:

• 12:00 Noon — Man of Peace in a Time of War
• 1:15 PM — King: Go Beyond the Dream to Discover the Man
• 3:00 PM — In Remembrance of Martin

Many investors are worried about how the recent Presidential election results will impact their portfolio. Financial expert and Observer & Eccentric columnist Rick Bloom will discuss ways to reach your financial goals by focusing on the proper investment strategies and not the rhetoric coming out of Washington, D.C.

Join us on Thursday, January 24th at 7:00 PM and learn to invest wisely.

Due to the popularity of our Thursday evening session, we have added another opportunity to attend this program:

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross [sound recording] by James Patterson

Twelve drummers drumming [sound recording]: a mystery by C.C.

1225 Christmas Tree Lane [sound recording] by Debbie Macomber

A fool's gold Christmas [sound recording] by Susan Mallery

An O'Brien family Christmas [sound recording] by Sherryl Woods

The Christmas wedding [sound recording] by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo

Not sure what to make for those holiday parties or cookie exchanges? Is your cookie jar empty? Do you have a sweet tooth that can only be sated by the very best in seasonal baked goods?

Have no fear! Canton Public Library is here to help with these top-notch cookbooks, specializing in putting some extra sweetness in your sugarplums: (Note: If you do end of baking a dozen or so extra delicious cookies, please join us on Saturday, December 8 at 2:00 PM, for our Family Holiday Cookie Competition, or share your recipe on CPL's recipe blog)

Curl up by the fire, sip some eggnog, and read a Christmas mystery novel. We have a variety of Christmas mysteries to help you ring in the holiday season.

Visions of sugar plums by Janet Evanovich — Christmas is right around the corner and bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is on a mission to track down Sandy Claws, a toymaker in trouble with the law. There is also a strange and handsome man in her kitchen. Can he help her find Sandy Claws and a Christmas tree before Christmas? Fans of the humorous Stephanie Plum series will enjoy this special Christmas treat.

The dogs of winter by Bobbie Pyron is an incredible, heart-pounding survival story based on fact.  Ivan is but one of 80,000 to 2 million homeless children forced to fend for himself in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Most of these abandoned children form packs and live in vacant buildings and/or underground train stations. What distinguishes four year old Ivan Mishukov is his decision to depend on a pack of feral street dogs instead of other children for his survival.  For two years they eek out an existence together, helping one another just as a family would.  Enduring the brutal Russian winters with temperatures often twenty below zero is almost beyond belief.  As Ivan is later quoted as saying, "I was better off with the dogs.

Practice speaking English in an informal setting with Community Literacy Council volunteers December Fridays from 9:30 to 11:00 AM in the Purple Room.

Join us on Friday December 28, for an all-day family movie extravaganza starting at 10:00 AM with a film for our youngest patrons and gradually getting more sophisticated, until the 3:00 PM showing of Snow White and the Huntsman.

• 10:00 AM — Ruby and Max: Every Bunny Loves Winter and Little Bear's Winter Games (G)
• 12:00 PM — Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (PG)
• 3:00 PM — Snow White and the Huntsman (PG-13)

You may bring pillows, snacks, even your own comfy lawn chairs if you like.

Practice speaking English in an informal setting with Community Literacy Council volunteers December 5 and 19 or the first and third Wednesdays from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the Purple Room.

Thank you for nominating Canton Public Library in the LEGO DUPLO Read! Play! Build! project. CPL received 419 nominations, landing us in the top 200 libraries. We just received a fabulous set of DUPLO blocks — including people, animals, house and vehicle parts — that you will soon see in our ABC Activity Times and Family Lego Days. We also received a special group format version of their Read and Build kits that we are excited to use in other programming. Thank you again for supporting your Canton Public Library!

Are you in 5th, 6th, or 7th grade and looking for ways to fulfill your community service requirement for school? Join us and work as our Tween Service Corps. You can earn one hour of your community service time and also have fun helping out in the Children's Department. Our next date will be Monday, December 17, 2012 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. We look forward to seeing you!

Interested in writing? Join other adults to share your work, get feedback and discuss the craft of writing. We will meet at 2:00 PM on:

• Saturday, December 8

An introduction to word processing. Learn basic Word skills including creating and formatting text, printing and saving. Prerequisite: Mouse and keyboarding skills. Join us on Saturday, December 15 at 10:00 AM.

The holidays are a time of eating and most familes have a favorite holiday cookie that they cannot wait to eat during this time of the year.  On Saturday, December 8, at 2:00 PM, we invite you to take part in our Family Holiday Cookie Competition. Bring in a dozen cookies (or more!) from one of your favorite recipes, four to share with our panel of judges to evaluate on both taste and presentation and the rest to share with the lucky attendees.  While you're at it, you may share your recipe on the Canton Public Library's recipe blog here.

Please join the Adult Cotemporary Book Group on Monday, December 17th at 7:00 PM in the Purple Room to discuss:

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë ; edited with an introduction and notes by Stevie Davies — An orphan girl's progress from the custody of cruel relatives to an oppressive boarding school culminates in a troubled career as a governess. Jane's first assignment at Thornfield, where the proud and cynical master harbors a scandalous secret, draws readers ever deeper into a compelling exploration of the mysteries of the human heart.

The Detroit Historical Museum will celebrate its  re-opening on Friday, November 23rd. The Museum will stay open for 55 1/2 hours,  offering free admission and special events.  There's plenty to see and do with the entire family, from walking the streets of 19th century Detroit, to mixing up some music at the new Kid Rock Music Lab.  Can't wait until Friday? There's lots of fun to be had on the Detroit Historical Society website right now.   

Are you a creative kid? This program is tailored to kids who are 7 to 10 years old. Let your creative side flow in our monthly program, Creatapillars. This exciting program will alternate between art themed and writing themed activities each month. For our December date, we will create festive noodle art. We will meet on Monday, December 3, 2012 from 7:00 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.  Registration will begin Monday, November 19, 2012. See you there!