Think of yourself as a search-engine master? Or do you just like a challenge? Check out Google’s “A Google a Day.” The search engine provides daily questions with answers that can be found using Google searches (but not by simply searching the questions’ text). Once you’ve found the answer, enter it in the box and see if you’re correct.
Google also offers hints and search tricks, and keeps a ticking clock going so you can see how quickly you can find the answer. And, as the name suggests, there is a new question each day.
In order to prevent players from finding spoilers with the answer on blogs where people post what they thought of that day’s question, Google uses a version of its search engine called “Deja Google,” which searches the internet as it was before the question was posted.
If internet searching doesn’t sound like fun to you or if you’re stumped by a tough question, remember you can always call up the library. We love finding answers! –Emily
Come see us at the Chelsea Spring Expo on Saturday, April 14th! The Chelsea District Library booth will have e-reader demonstrations, a youth summer reading preview and an opportunity to sign up for a library card and get in on all the fun. See you there!
Journalist Mike Wallace spent 5 decades as a reporter and interviewer, and the combination of his entertaining style with hardhitting questions resulted in fascinating journalism. His death at age 93 signals the end of a journalistic era. Click here for his obituary in the New York Times.
The story, by Ransom Riggs, follows Jacob, a 16-year-old kid who’s unsure how he feels about just about everything. One thing he does love, though, is his grandfather and the stories he shares. When Jacob was a child, he believed the tales of the monsters who went after his grandfather and the island where he found safety. As a teen, though, Jacob can see that the photographs of the islands other inhabitants have been doctored, and he suspects the monsters his grandfather speaks of are really the Nazis.
Things change, though, when Jacob’s grandfather suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances– Jacob begins to wonder whether or not there are aspects of truth in his grandfather’s stories. He talks his father into traveling with him to the island where his grandfather had found refuge so that he can investigate and determine the truth.
The pages of the Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children are strewn with the photographs Jacob’s grandfather shared. The images, which are actual antique photographs that Riggs gathered from collectors, help add to the story’s creepy ambiance.
I recommend the book for anyone interested in a twist on the typical adventure story. It’s a bit slow-going at first, but by page 100, the story picks up, and you can’t put it down. –Emily
This $6 savings also provides free access to the more than 500 events taking place in state parks throughout the summer.
Passes are valid for seven days from check-out and may be used for one day at any one of Michigan’s 98 state parks. Passes are valid for day-use only.
Free Hammock
Many participating parks will offer a free hammock to use during your time in the park, allowing you to fully enjoy a great book in Michigan’s great outdoors.
Filed under: Uncategorized — Chelsea Blog @ 10:14 am
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli
I loved Asterios Polyp. I loved the story, I loved the art, I loved the different styles used for different scenes and different states of mind, I loved the variety of fonts and speaking bubble shapes for the different characters, and speaking of the characters – I loved the characters.
I enjoyed the flashback/present day narrative thread, which added so much to the book’s complexity. I feel like this is just calling Asterios Polyp a graphic novel is an understatement. It’s also a visual masterpiece, it’s a coming-of-middle-age story, it’s a puzzle, it’s a love story. Basically, it’s much more than a novel.
This is a complex and beautiful book, so layered and detailed that it begs to be read again and again. I read it twice, starting it again only hours after I finished it. – Sara
Genealogists, family researchers and anyone with mild historical curiosity: listen up! The 1940 U.S. Census will be released online on April 2, 2012. This release will be the first time the National Archives is making the Census data available online.
In the words of an archivist from the National Archives, “This census is amazing.” The information gathered in the 1940 census is much deeper, and can easily be searched down to the enumeration district level – the areas assigned to each census taker. To identify the enumeration district where your relatatives lived, take a look at these district maps and other finding aids on the National Archives website.
When the 1940 Census is released on April 2, 2012, it will be made available at this web address: http://www.1940census.archives.gov/. Bookmark it now so you can get there easily when it becomes available. For more information, take a look at this brief video from the National Archives announcing the release. Happy searching! – Sara
Gardeners should take note – warmer weather conditions have changed the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map, which many depend on to know which plants will thrive in their garden and when to plant their vegetable gardens.
The USDA website has an interactive version of the map available to use the map’s details that are specific to your area.
It’s not too early to start planning your garden – and some books from the library can help you get started, no matter the size of your yard or the level of your expertise! – Sara
Looking for help preparing your taxes? Catholic Social Services is offering a free tax help by appointment at the Chelsea Senior Center on Thursday, March 22 from 1-4. Call Kay Heller 475-3625 to make an appointment.
If mobility is an issue, the CSS also makes home calls. To schedule one or to get more information about their tax services, call 734-712-3625.
Our e-book collection has been in high demand – especially since the holidays created many new e-reader owners! Because so many items are being checked out, it can be frustrating to search for an e-book that’s available to check out.
Here’s a couple things to remember: you can place e-book titles on hold. So when you spot the title you are interested in, place a hold and you’ll receive an email telling you when it is available for you to download. We share our downloadable collection with a group of other libraries in our network, so the holds lists can get long. However, the more holds there are, the more copies we buy, in order to keep up with demand. We can usually fill holds within 13 days.
If you’re looking for something to read right away, do an advanced search to narrow down your selections to just items available for immediate checkout.
When you click on “Advanced Search” you can narrow things down by subject, but also by format, so you can just browse Kindle books or just browse ePub books. Best of all, at the very bottom of the search form, you can choose to only search available titles.
I find when I’m ready to read something on my device, I’m a lot more satisfied with browsing through items I know I can download in a few clicks, rather than get on a waiting list. I hope this works for you – call us if you’ve got any questions! – Sara
