Now @ MPL...

Now is the time to join the 2011 Milwaukee Bucks Library Reading Challenge! Students earn points towards great Bucks prizes by reading books, magazines, and newspapers!

The reading challenge gives students points for each page of a book, magazine, or newspaper they read. Newspapers and magazines have a 100-point limit, but there is no limit to the points you can score with books! Once a goal has been reached for a specific number of pages, students will receive a voucher for one free Bucks game ticket and the opportunity to purchase additional tickets at a discount.

All-Star Readers, those who score 500 points-for-pages, earn a free ticket to a Bucks home game and are invited to shoot a free throw on the Bucks Court after the game. Readers with 750 points-for-pages will have their names entered into a drawing for an official Milwaukee Bucks Autographed Basketball for each game!

For more information on the Milwaukee Bucks Library Reading Challenge call (414) 286-3520 or contact the Milwaukee Public Library at (414) 286-3011.

Wondering what to do with your kids who are tired of being stuck inside? How about have them enter the Doodle 4 Google contest? For the fourth year K-12 students can enter the contest where they can redesign Google's homepage logo and win a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for their school.

This year's theme is "What I'd like to do someday..." For full details check out Google's Doodle 4 Google contest page. Registration closes on March 2nd and entries must be postmarked by March 16th.

According to American legend, February 2nd is the day on which a groundhog's emergence from its winter hibernation will foretell whether Spring will be early or late. If the sun is shining and the groundhog sees its shadow, it will retreat to its den and we'll have six more weeks of Winter. If it's cloudy, the animal will stay out and Spring will be early. Well, last Wednesday, February 2, the Groundhog would have had a hard time even poking its head out of its den due to the monumental blizzard of 2011. However you want to interpret that, the vernal equinox will take place on March 20th, which is six weeks and four days after February 2nd.

In January the American Library Association announced the 2011 Youth Media Award winners. The awards recognize original and creative works in children's and young adult literature and media. Check out these outstanding titles at the Milwaukee Public Library today!

• John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature, Moon over Manifest written by Clare Vanderpool.

• Randolph Caldecott Medal for the most distinguished American picture book for children, A Sick Day for Amos McGee illustrated by Erin E. Stead.

• Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults, Ship Breaker written by Paolo Bacigalupi.

• Coretta Scott King Book Award recognizing an African American author of outstanding books for children and young adults, One Crazy Summer written by Rita Williams-Garcia.

• Coretta Scott King Book Award recognizing an African American illustrator of outstanding books for children and young adults, Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave illustrated by Bryan Collier.

• Pura Belpré Award honoring a Latino writer whose children's books best portray, affirm and celebrate the Latino cultural experience, The Dreamer written by Pam Muñoz Ryan.

Design in the 21st century is everywhere. We text, we tweet, we surf, and we read, yet do we consider the design of the words or their layout? In Treasures of Design, Art historian Chris Szczesny-Adams will present the history of design in print (from Gutenberg to the 20th century) through the library's rare materials including Original Leaves from Famous Books, The Voices of Friends Concerning John Plankinton, and
Alphonse Mucha's poster Sarah Bernhardt.

Art historian Chris Szczesny-Adams, Associate Professor at MIAD, received her doctorate from the University of Virginia, where she also attained a master's degree in architectural history and historic preservation. She has a master's degree in art
history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her interests include 19th and 20th century architecture, art, and material culture.

Treasures of Design is part of the Richard E. and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room Educational Series.

Join Chicago poet and teacher Orron Kenyetta for a discussion on the life and art of David Drake, better known as "Dave the Potter", an African-American slave who created beautiful pottery with inscriptions of couplets of his dreams and aspirations. He did so in defiance of the laws and customs of his time. Attendees are encouraged to write a brief poem or statement about themselves following the discussion.

This event is FREE and open to the public, but seating is limited. Please register at 414.286.3071. Attendees can choose between four dates and locations. They are as follows:

Zablocki Library, 3501 W. Oklahoma Ave.
Saturday, February 12 from 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Central Library, Rare Books Room, 2nd Floor
Saturday, February 19 - 2:00-4:00 p.m.

Capitol Library, 3969 N. 74th St.
Monday, February 21 - 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Center Street Library, 2727 W. Fond du Lac Ave.
Saturday, February 26 - 1:00-3:00 p.m.

Story times aren't just for kids anymore! Be transported to another time and place through live readings of engrossing short stories. In honor of Women's History Month, sit back and enjoy listening to stories by and about women in Women's Words: A Story Time for Adults. We'll begin with Susan Glaspell's A Jury of Her Peers. Bring a brown bag lunch or stop by M Cafe located inside the Bookseller!

Join us for a special teen club event at Tippecanoe library on Monday February 14 for an anti-Valentine's day party! If you're tired of sappy love songs and the endless parade of Valentine's themed commericals, come to the library and create a mix of non-romantic songs, decorate broken-hearted cookies and make anti-Valentines.

This event runs from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. For more information, call (414)286-3011.

Celebrate African American History Month this February with the Milwaukee Public Library. Each day of February we will feature information about important people, events and resources of African-American history on the library's website.

We are also celebrating African American History Month through displays at Central Library. These include a display case containing one of Milwaukee artist and storyteller Gerald Wallace's walking sticks in the Art, Music and Recreation Department, a Civil Rights Movement display in the Humanities Department, an African-American inventors display in the Business Department and displays with books focusing on African-American history and culture in the Children's Room and in the main hallway on the first floor.

Pictured here is Dr. Carter G. Woodson. He launched the annual celebration of African-American history.

Have you got a great idea that you'd love to patent? The first step will be to explore what's already been patented to make sure that you're the first to think of it. The Milwaukee Public Library is a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Depository. While librarians cannot do a patent search for you, these monthly programs will show you how to get started by using USPTO guidelines.

Date: February 28, 2011
Time: 1:30-2:30 pm
Location: Central Library Computer Training Lab

The Milwaukee Public Library wants to help you get smart about money! Stop by any Milwaukee Public Library for your very own Get Smart about Money kit. The kit includes a folder with a Money Smart Resource Guide that lists suggestions and agencies to assist you with personal finance topics. There is also a notebook and pen in each kit so you can keep track of your expenses and receipts.

Additional information and suggested websites and titles are available at the new Get Smart about Money @ MPL website.

This is all made possible by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation through Smart Investing @ your library®, a partnership with the American Library Association.

If you're over the age of 18 and enjoy reading comic books and graphic novels from publishers like Vertigo and Fantagraphics, come to a meeting of Not Just for Kids Anymore, The Washington Park Comic Book & Graphic Novel Book Club. Books that will be read in this group are the equivalent of "Rated R" movies and are not appropriate for children. Intended for mature readers (18+). This month's selection is The Walking Dead, Volume 1: Days Gone Bye by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore. Read the "continuing story of survival horror" that inspired the recent hit TV show on AMC. We will discuss Vol. 1, but feel free to read as much of the series as you can before the meeting. The MPL has several collections of this Eisner Award-winning comic.

Date: March 8, 2011
Time: 6:45 pm to 7:45 pm
Location: Washington Park Library

Today is National Chili Day. Why not celebrate with this recipe for Chili Con Carne from the March 20, 1968 edition of the Milwaukee Sentinel?

Chili Con Carne
4 pounds ground beef
2 pounds lean pork, ground
6 cups chopped onion
¼ cup diced celery
4 cans (1 pound each) tomatoes
2 cans (1 pound each) tomato puree
8 cans (1 pound each) kidney beans, undrained
½ cup chili powder
¼ cup salt

Brown meat in shallow pans in broiler. Pour off drippings into heavy kettle. Add onion and celery to drippings and cook five minutes. Add meat and remaining ingredients and cook, uncovered, over low heat about two hours, stirring frequently. Serve in bowls. Makes 25 servings, two cups each.

The World War II Battle of Iwo Jima was immortalized in what would become the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and has come to be considered one of the most recognizable images of the war. The picture, taken by Joe Rosenthal, actually depicts the second raising of the flag that day. Of the six men in the photo, three did not survive the battle. The last of the survivors to die was John Bradley, who passed away in his hometown of Antigo, Wisconsin in 1994.

Come to Central Library on March 5 to celebrate the 107th birthday of Theodor Geisel - more commonly known as Dr. Seuss! Join Browser the library lion and the Cat in the Hat for music, games and fun! Reel in a good time at the fish pond, meet REAL turtles and take part in silly stories.
Cookie hats will be available to decorate and eat, and have your face painted. Chris Fascione will provide live entertainment at 10:00 a.m. and noon, while Kidsplay will play at 11:00 a.m.
The fun begins at 10:00 a.m. and last until 1:00 p.m.

The celebration continues throughout the month at the neighborhood libraries!

Atkinson - featuring Fox and Branch
Wednesday, March 9, 6-6:45 p.m.

Bay View - featuring Kidsplay
Wednesday, March 9, 6:30-7:15 p.m.

Capitol - featuring Kidsplay
Monday, March 14, 6-6:45 p.m.

Center Street - featuring LaBak the Magician
Saturday, March 19, 2-2:45 p.m.

East - featuring LaBak the Magician
Monday, March 14, 6:30-7:15 p.m.

Forest Home - featuring LaBak the Magician
Tuesday, March 15, 6-6:45 p.m.

Martin Luther King - featuring LaBak the Magician
Wednesday, March 9, 6-6:45 p.m.

Mill Road - featuring Fox and Branch
Monday, March 7, 4-4:45 p.m.

Tippecanoe - featuring Kidsplay
Wednesday, March 16, 6:30-7:15 p.m.

Villard Avenue - featuring LaBak the Magician
Tuesday, March 8, 5:30-6:15 p.m.

Washington Park - featuring Kidsplay
Tuesday, March 8, 6-6:45 p.m.

Zablocki - featuring LaBak the Magician
Saturday, March 12, 1-1:45 p.m.

Today MPL begins a schedule of expanded hours at four neighborhood libraries. Those libraries are:

Bay View Library, 2566 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.
East Library, 1910 E. North Ave.
Washington Park Library, 2121 N. Sherman Blvd.
Zablocki Library, 3501 W. Oklahoma Ave.

The new hours for each of those locations is as follows.

Monday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Tues., Wed., Thurs.: 1:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Friday & Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday 1:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Zablocki ONLY (October - April)

The Rare Books Room is home to many older books - a few going back as far as the 15th century! In addition, the library also preserves contemporary books with local significance. In that spirit, the library owns a fairly complete collection of the Wisconsin Electric and Wisconsin Gas Company holiday cookbooks dating back to the 1930s - up to and including the WE Energies cookie cookbook for 2011. It is interesting to browse through them and see what recipes have survived over the years, as well as changes that were made to recipes during the World War II years when butter, milk and sugar were rationed. Anyone can view the collection to find a cherished recipe from the past or discover new delectable delights! Call the Art, Music & Recreation Department at 286-3071 or 286-3011 to make an appointment.

To search holdings in the Rare Books Room please click here.

Submitted by Patricia DeFrain Rare Books Librarian