Guess what Bat-fans...our hero, Batman, first put fear in the hearts of the notorious criminals of Gotham City 70 years ago today! Holy time flies Batman! If you are in need of a bat-fix until another movie comes out, check out the awesome graphic novels, movies, nonfiction encyclopedias, and cartoons we have here at the library. Hold on to your hats fellow bat-o-philes, the ride has been a wild one so far...what could be up the sleeve of Gotham's sleekest knight? Can't wait for the next 70 years to find out!

If you've got a yen for Celtic folk music with a populist bent (think Ewan MacColl, Mick Moloney or Tommy Makem), two new CDs by famed area musician Terry Murphy will help satisfy your craving. You'll find Freeborn Man and Terry Murphy in the Folk & Ethnic section.

With a voice that was described as “the most beautiful in the world," Andrea Bocelli collection presents many of the artist's most memorable vocal performances. Tuscany's most exciting and beloved export since Luciano Pavarotti is a phenomenon with an astonishing 30 million CDs sold, two World Music Awards, best-selling albums, and wildly popular sellout concerts on nearly every continent. Bocelli was a best-selling pop artist in Europe and after his exposure through the PBS special, his success in the U.S. skyrocketed. The PBS production was slated to run only once, but due to its popularity it ran three times.

The 53,000 sq. ft. expansion and restoration designed by Brad Claefil of Allied Works Architecture doubles the space available for exhibits and programs. One of the new exhibits is Expressions of Vienna: Master Drawings by Klimt and Schiele . See the University of Michigan site for a cool virtual tour.

Do you love to write and illustrate your own stories?  If you said yes
and you're in grade K-3, then you should check out the
Reading Rainbow Young Writers & Illustrators Contest, sponsered by Detroit Public Television.  The deadline to enter is Saturday March 28, 2009.  Good luck! 

Thanks to all who participated! We got many amazing entries and it was hard to pick a winner!

Tied for 3rd Place: "Shining Star" by Tiffany Tan and "August" by Madeline Viergutz
 

Welcome to Spring, everyone! One artist who embodies the feeling of floating on a springtime breeze in the sunshine, at least for me, is Claude Monet.  His impressionistic works capture the way subtle changes begin to take place with flowers blooming, light breezes blowing, and the days getting ever so slightly longer.

 Entry Deadline March 22, 6 pm.
• No more than two entries per participant. You may use any photograph, however it must be your own.
• There is only one way to enter your photograph:

Spring is in the air! Check out some of our great craft books, especially the ones highlighting spring. Get out the scissors, glue, glitter, and brightly colored paper to have fun making flowers, birds, and baby animals. Enjoy!

Are you are planning a ceilidh for St Patrick's Day? It is never to early to put together a playlist.

The new CD by The Derek Truck Band, Already Free, is a good example of how root forms of the blues have been transformed, yet preserved, by rock music.  Trucks has an excellent pedigree in Southern blues-rock, taking up Duane Allman's mantel as the best living slide guitarist and incorporating a range of world music influences into his playing.

This Matisse painting sold at Christies's auction on Feb. 23 for a record price for a work by a French artist.  The sale was of art from the estate of Yves Saint Laurent.  Our collection includes many works on Matisse including Matisse the Master by Hilary Spurling.  News of the auction appears in this New York Times article from Feb. 24.

Starting March 8th and ending May 31st, the DIA will be hosting paintings by the artist Norman Rockwell.  He spent his time painting scenes from the world around him, many of his paintings having a small town feel to them that was both welcoming and enduring.  His recognizable art lives on all around us and brings us back to a time when soda fountains were all the rage and kids really did do the darndest things. For a chance to see Mr.

The 1st of this 2-disc video set about Spanish Architect, Antonio Gaudi, (1852-1926), is accompanied by music and is almost entirely without narration.  The viewer experiences Gaudi's unique forms unencumbered by analytic information, so their beauty, fluidity and integration with nature are abstracted from their utility. The 2nd disc provides biographical information about Gaudi’s life and work.

February is the month for romance so why not brush up on your French language skills by using our International Language collection. Date night can be spent snuggling at home, practicing your "je t'aime" and watching a movie like Amelie or Jean de Florette.