In celebration of Canton's Acts of Culture Week, we are pleased to present photographer Rick Lieder as he shares his beautiful book, Step Gently Out. Lieder worked with award-winning poet, Helen Frost to create an amazing 'picture' of what we can find in our own backyards if we just step gently and keep our eyes and minds wide open. You will be stunned by what you see on Tuesday, May 1st at 7:00 PM. Everyone is welcome.

Look for these films based on popular books in your local theater in the coming months:

Anna Karenina: a novel in eight parts by Leo Tolstoy — Starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law. Release date: September 2012.

Chicken with plums by Marjane Satrapi — Starring Mathieu Amalric and Eduouard Baer. Release date: August 2012.

Easy money by Jens Lapidus — Starring Joel Kinnaman and Dragomir Mrsic. Release date: July 2012.

Thursday, April 26th is National Poem In Your Pocket Day. Poetry lovers celebrate by carrying their favorite poem with them and sharing it with friends, family, co-workers, or anyone who will listen. Check out our excellent poetry collection and jot down a poem to carry in your pocket.

Poetry speaks who I am editor, Elise Paschen

The trouble with poetry and other poems by Billy Collins

Still have jelly beans leftover from your Easter basket? Then share them with your friends in celebration of National Jelly Bean Day on April 22. Primarily made of sugar, jelly beans are the descendant of the Middle Eastern confection, Turkish Delight. William Schrafft, a Boston confectioner began selling jelly beans in 1861 but they really took off in 1905 when an advertisement appeared in the Chicago Daily News selling jelly beans in bulk packages. Jelly beans became an Easter staple in American Easter baskets in the 1930s.
[Photo by New Media, January 1, 1980. eLibrary]

We can all observe Earth Day this year by educating ourselves about the challenges that face our environment and what we can do about it. Try some of the titles suggested below to get started:

The age of stupid [videodisc] — Pete Postlethwaite stars as an archivist living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, who spends his days looking at old footage from the years leading up to 2015 - when a cataclysmic climate change took place.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted its new members for 2012 on April 14. Among the inductees are Guns n' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Donovan, Laura Nyro, Small Faces, Beastie Boys, The Crickets (of Buddy Holly fame), The Famous Flames (of James Brown fame) , The Blue Caps (of Gene Vincent fame), and The Miracles (of Smokey Robinson fame.)

The autobiography of Donovan: the hurdy gurdy man by Donovan Leitch

Buddy Holly: a biography by Ellis Amburn

Do you know anything about your family history?  For example, many families have  descendants that came to America through Ellis Island in New York. April 17 is "Ellis Island Family History Day." More immigrants were processed on this day in 1907, than any other day in history. The statue of liberty was the first glimpse of America for millions of immigrants. Ellis island has a unique and interesting history as America's immigration station with a lot of family history to offer.

To wrap up our Earth Week celebrations, CPL will present a screening of the original, 1972, animated version of Dr Seuss's The Lorax. Join us on Friday, April 27 at 4:00 PM to watch the story of the greedy, truffula tree-chopping Once-lers and the brave little Lorax who speaks up for the vanishing forest. When the film is over patrons are invited to create their own truffula tree vista to brighten up their home. This program is open to families and kids of all ages.

This post is part of our Earth Day 2012 celebration.

April 15, 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the luxury liner RMS Titanic. The largest ship afloat in the world at the time — and widely believed to be "unsinkable" — the Titanic left Southampton, England on her maiden voyage to New York City on April 10. Four days later, the ship collided with an iceberg late in the evening of April 14, and sank in the Atlantic Ocean at approximately 2:20 in the morning of the 15th.

For the past few years, the Canton Public Library has held a donation drive to commemorate Memorial Day by helping service men and women. Once again we will be collecting donations, this year for the VA Hospital of Ann Arbor , but there are many other rewarding ways to observe Memorial Day, including:

• Visiting cemeteries and placing flags or flowers on the graves of our fallen heroes
• Visiting war memorials
• Flying the U.S. Flag at half-staff until noon
• Participating in a National Moment of Remembrance at 3:00 PM to pause and reflect upon the true meaning of the day
• Attending a parade
• Watching a patriotic movie or reading a patriotic book

Check out websites like [White House] Joining Forces, where you can actually send a message of thanks to a military family and get other ideas for showing appreciation. Also, be sure to visit the library's displays on Memorial Day and the history behind some of our military traditions.

Before we celebrate Memorial Day, let's commemorate. Please help CPL as we collect items to be donated to the VA Hospital of Ann Arbor for distribution to homeless veterans. Donations will be appreciatively accepted beginning Thursday, May 10 through Thursday, May 31 at the Reception Desk.
Suggested donations include:

• Rolls of Lifesavers (or other hard candy)
• Rice Krispies bars (or granola bars, etc.)
• Plastic utensils (knives, forks, spoons)
• Napkins
• Ritz snack mix (or other trail mix)
• Easy-open cans of tuna, chicken or other meats

Other general requests include $5-10 gift cards to Wendy's or McDonald's; cans of coffee (regular or decaf); prepaid telephone calling cards; new crossword puzzles and word search books.

Who has time for family dinners anymore? We all do, according to author Miriam Weinstein in The Surprising Power of Family Meals. The benefits of eating a meal together are astounding, considering you don't have to sign-up, register, or pay for them outside of your grocery budget. Family meals are available, modest and valuable to your family. At a meal children can learn manners, family values, and good conversation. It's a great time for families to slow down and re-group.

Testing can be tough! Come to the library on Saturday April 14, from 1:00-2:30 PM and let the experts from Sylvan Learning Center give you some strategies and tips on math and reading to help boost your confidence on your next test. Appropriate for older middle school and high school students.

Louder Than A Bomb is a documentary film about passion, competition, teamwork, and trust. It's about the joy of being young and the pain of growing up. It's about speaking out, making noise and finding your voice.

It also just so happens to be about poetry.

Every year, more than six hundred teenagers from over sixty Chicago schools gather for the world's largest youth poetry slam, a competition known as "Louder Than a Bomb". Rather than emphasize individual poets, the kids work collaboratively with their peers. Come to CPL on Saturday, April 21, 1:00-3:00 PM to view this multi-award winning documentary that follows four teams from Chicago as they prepare for and compete in the competition. This is not "high school poetry" as we think of it. This is language as a joyful release, irrepressibly talented teenagers obsessed with making words dance.
***This film is unrated and does contain mature language.***

Meet and learn about some of Michigan's animals that wake up when you go to bed! The Organization for Bat Conservation will present their program: Animal Adaptations: Bats! Owls! Flying Foxes!. Discover the fascinating features and adaptations of a variety of Michigan's native nocturnal creatures. In this program, learn what adaptations are, how they are formed and why animals develop these amazing tools for survival. Live animals will be present! Join us on Sunday, April 22nd from 2:00-3:00 PM to kick off our Earth Week celebrations.

This post is part of our Earth Day 2012 celebration.

Looking for the best of the best in new comics? Well, the nominees for the 2012 Eisner Award have been announced. The list includes such fantastic titles as Daredevil, iZombie, Unwritten, Habibi, and Bubbles & Gandola, to name a few. All of these are excellent, maybe even classics in the making, so do yourself a favor and check them out. Who knows which ones will win...

We're celebrating Earth Day all week (April 22-27) and want you to join us! See the write up in the Canton Observer. There will be events for adults, teens, tweens and children, including:

• Bats! Owls! Flying Foxes! — Sunday, April 22, 2:00-3:00 PM
• Living Green in Southeast Michigan — Monday, April 23, 7:00-8:30 PM
• Composting and Healthy Lawns — canceled
• Vegetarian Eating for Everyone — Wednesday, April 25, 7:00-8:30 PM
• Attracting Backyard Wildlife — Thursday, April 26, 7:00-8:00 PM
• The Lorax (original 1972 animated version) — Friday, April 27, 4:00-5:15 PM

The Harry Potter books are now available in eBook format! You can check them out using your library card. Click the links below and then log in with your library card to see what's available or to place a hold.

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Masterpiece Mystery returns on May 6, 2012. Kicking off the new season will be Sherlock! Season 2 starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes. David Suchet returns as Hercule Poirot. It is the final season for Agatha Christie's Hercules Poirot. Zen, Inspector Lewis, Case Histories, and Inspector Morse are all returning.

Inspector Morse [videodisc]: The dead of Jericho by A Zenith Production for Central Independent Television

Sherlock. Season one [videodisc] by BBC

If The Shoemaker's Wife by Trigiani, Gossip by Gutcheon, Raylan by Leonard, Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, or any of the Harry Potter series by Rowling suit your fancy, you will be delighted to know that they are now available on our eBook site. ;Log in with your CPL card number before you search. This ensures that you are accessing our entire eBook collection where these new titles reside. You can also place holds for these titles.