There has been a bit of confusion about the Teen Summer Reading Game.

The Teen Summer Reading Game offers a variety of activities that 6-12 graders can do in order to finish the game and be entered into the grand prize drawings. This list of activities is meant as a suggestion, to give teens ideas for completing the Summer Reading Game. Our hope is to make the game fun and flexible.

Teens, we want you to be able to enjoy the game whether reading "great novels", or rocking out to Guitar Hero (or both) is your idea of a good time.

So, can you play the game by reading 10 books? Sure you can.

Can you play the game by coming to 10 library programs? Sure you can.

Can you come up with the best combination for you? Of course.

Dairy Queen D. J. Schwenk hits her stride in her junior year of high school. She's playing linebacker for her high school football team, hanging out with Brian (the rival high school's quarterback), earning passing grades, and pulling her weight on her family's struggling dairy farm. But "a whole herd of trouble" is coming her way. First, D.J. and, by extension, Brian become the unwitting subjects of a People magazine article. Then D.J. suffers a shoulder injury that threatens her sports career, her gay best friend runs away with an older girlfriend, and D.J. notices that Brian isn't too keen on being seen with her in public.

This is not the kind of "Off Season" D.J. expects, but it’s one she’ll never forget. Check out author Catherine Gilbert Murdock and find out about her next book. After these first two books I, for one, will be looking for her next one!

With only a few craft supplies, put together tiny characters that look like fairies or superheroes.

Wednesday, July 2 | 4:00-6:00 pm at Pittsfield Branch | Grades 6-8 See you there.

Register now for Library Lego League! Visit any public service desk or call 327-4200 to reserve your spot on one of the four Lego building days: 7/24, 7/31, 8/7, or 8/14.

In teams of four, participants will spend all day, from 10-4 PM, building a robot out of Mindstorms NXT kits in the Downtown Library Multipurpose Room. Teams will face a challenge of the day, where they will have to program their robot to complete a certain task. The top three teams will win prizes, while everyone will leave with a participation ribbon. Pizza will be provided.

Join us at the library for a fun-filled day. Be sure to sign up because space is limited. Check out the L3 Blog to find fellow NXT enthusiasts. See you there!

To brush up on Mindstorms, check out these books: The unofficial LEGO Mindstorms NXT inventor's guide, Building robots with Lego Mindstorms : the ultimate tool for Mindstorms maniacs! and Creative projects with LEGO mindstorms.

Until June 28 you can drop off GENTLY USED shoes to any of Running Fits' seven southeast Michigan locations. The shoes will then be shipped to Soles4Souls, a nonprofit that distributes to more than 40 countries. Two UofM graduates started this used-shoe drive. Wearing shoes can help prevent hookworm, which is a parasite that enters through the foot. For more information visit www.runningfit or Soles4Souls.

Tuesdays, July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 and August 5 | 1:00-3:00 PM | MC | Grades 6-12

Register today for the COMIC BOOK ACADEMY. In this six-week workshop you will write and illustrate your own comic book, manga, or graphic novel. Jerzy Drozd, creator of The Front, Silver and the Periodic Forces, The Replacements and more will guide you through graphic storytelling, character design, writing the story, penciling the first draft, refining and completing the penciled pages, and inking (or finishing) the pages.

We’ll provide the art supplies, or feel free to bring your own. Register at any information desk or call 327-8301.

This year’s tornado season may be one for the record books. By June 10 at least 1,520 tornadoes had been reported. This, of course, was before the June 11th tornado that hit an Iowa Boy Scout camp killing four scouts.

To learn more about tornadoes and their impact read, F5: Devastation, Survival, and the Most Violent Tornado Outbreak of the Twentieth Century that tells of a 1974 tornado outbreak covering 13 states. Big Weather: Chasing Tornadoes in the Heart of America spotlight the people who chase tornadoes. View Tornado Intercept to see what happens when a meteorologist and an IMAX filmmaker drive into the heart of a tornado in a specially designed 8,000-pound vehicle of steel plating and bullet proof glass.

A year has passed, you've been planning and we can't wait to see what you come up with! We're happy to be hosting our 3rd annual Lego® Contest for preschoolers thru 12th grade. Prizes will be awarded in five age categories. Complete rules and guidelines can be found here. Even if you don't enter the contest we invite you to come and take a look on the evening of Wednesday, July 30 in the Downtown library multi-purpose room - it's a spectacular, but limited time only display. Last year we had over 100 entries! Doors open @ 7.

We invite fans of anime and manga, who also like to draw, or write comics, to enter our 2nd Annual Manga Drawing Contest. Entries are limited to those in grades K - 12. Prizes will be awarded in four age categories! Complete rules and guidelines can be found here. All artwork submitted will be on display in the Downtown Youth Department during the month of August.

If you're a fan of Speak or Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson and you like to make videos and movies this contest is for you. Laurie Halse Anderson is hosting a contest for a winning trailer for two of her books. Participants can enter a trailer for SPEAK or TWISTED from now until August 31st, 2008. First prize is an 8GB iPod Touch. The library of the winner will receive five signed copies of the book - that means AADL! For complete rules and info visit Laurie's Live Journal link. Good luck!

Fans of the manga and anime series Bleach will not want to miss the US premiere of Bleach the Movie: Memories of Nobody. The film will be shown just two evenings, Wednesday, June 11th and Thursday, June 12th, at 7:30. Showcase and Quality 16 are among those screening it and will show behind the scenes extras! Tickets are available through fathomevents.com.

Even if you aren't familiar with the series, who isn't intrigued by the tagline: "Can Ichigo and his fellow Soul Reapers save the two worlds from annihilation?"

Wow, student runners at Pioneer, Gabriel Richard, and Greenhills should be recognized for a great showing at the recent state Track & Field finals. The girls' teams from Pioneer and Gabriel Richard were 1st in State in their respective divisions. Whether you're a seasoned runner, or maybe thinking about giving it a try, these titles may help: Complete Book of Running, which covers tips on endurance, nutrition and injury prevention, or Getting Started for runners like me. Two websites for advice and information are Runner's World and Running Times.

Come and play one of the world's most popular games with players of all ages! Chess sets are provided.

Join us 1-4 p.m., Sunday, June 8, at the Pittsfield Branch.

Sasuke is an irresistable Japanese television event that happens twice a year. 100 competitors take on a brutal 4-stage obstacle course. In the 20 times the contest has been held, the course has only been completed twice. Sasuke now airs in the US as Ninja Warrior on G4, and for the past two Sasuke competitions, G4 has selected American contenders (via the American Ninja Challenge) to travel to Japan to appear on the show alongside the Japanese competitors. Both times, Ann Arbor has been represented in Japan; last fall, Ann Arbor native and Michigan State student Colin Bell appeared on the show, but failed on the Spider Jump of the first stage. This spring, Traverse City native and current Ann Arbor Resident Levi Meeuwenberg traveled to Japan and outlasted all the Japanese competitors to be the last man standing!

Levi is a freerunning (Parkour) expert; he's appeared in commercials, music videos, and toured with Madonna. His performance on Ninja Warrior was flat-out awesome and he is certain to be back in the fall to attempt the daunting course again. AADL is very proud to welcome Levi to the Downtown Library on Monday, June 9 at 7 PM to talk about his experiences as a freerunner, stunt double, and his trip to Japan. Levi is a class act and we're thrilled to bring him to you! Hope to see you there!

3-9 PM | Saturday, May 31 | Washington St. in front of NZ

The Neutral Zone, Ann Arbor’s Teen Center, is 10 years old! There will be live performances from My Dear Disco, followed by 3 on 3 basketball, a DJ challenge, art and music sales, games, food and more live music featuring Charlie Slick. At 7 p.m. outstanding teen accomplishments will be highlighted.

Don’t miss the fun!

Aaron Burch - Editor of the literary journal, "Hobart." His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in "Quick Fiction", "elimae", "Smokelong Quarterly" and other publications.

Nan Willard Cappo - Author of "Cheating Lessons" a YA suspense novel set in Michigan. "Cheating Lessons" received a starred review in "Horn Book," a Junior Library Guild selection, and was nominated for an Edgar award as Best Young Adult Mystery from the Mystery Writers of America. Nan grew up in Pennsylvania but has lived in Farmington, Michigan, for the past 20 years. She and her husband have three grown children. At various points she's worked as a waitress, speechwriter, computer sales rep, and college English teacher, and often draws on those experiences for her fiction. Currently she is a sales rep for National Geographic School Publishing and Heinemann. When she's not selling school books, she is working on her third novel, a murder mystery set in a southeast Michigan auto assembly plant.

Cassandra Carter - A 19-year-old honors graduate of Huron High School in Ann Arbor. Her debut novel, "Fast Life" was written was she was fifteen. Two years later, she signed a contract with Harlequin and was published in July 2007, just one month after receiving her diploma. Also a part of the brand new YA imprint, Kimani Tru, her newest work, "16 Isn't Always Sweet" was released on March 1, 2008. Cassandra resides in Ypsilanti, MI where she's been busy promoting both titles. She is also currently hard at work on her third novel, a sequel to "Fast Life."

Elizabeth Ellen - The author of "Before You She Was a Pit Bull" (Future Tense) and "Sixteen Miles Outside of Phoenix" (Rose Metal Press). She lives in Ann Arbor and is deputy editor of the literary journal "Hobart."

Kathe Koja - Kathe Koja has written award-winning novels and short fiction for adults and for young people. Some of her most recent books include "Buddha Boy", "Talk", and "Kissing the Bee". "Headlong" is forthcoming in fall 2008. She lives in Berkley with her husband, artist Rick Lieder, and their cats.

Alex Mindt - The author of the short story collection "Male of the Species." He has published stories in numerous magazines, including the "Missouri Review", and "Confrontation, the Literary Review". His plays have been produced in Seattle and Los Angeles, and he co-wrote, directed, and produced the feature film "Nowheresville". He has taught at Bennington College, University of California at San Diego, and Columbia University. He holds a BA from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University.

Nami Mun - Nami Mun's stories have been published in journals such as the 2007 Pushcart Prize Anthology, The Iowa Review, Evergreen Review, Witness, and Tin House, and was named by Tin House as an Emerging Voice of 2005. She received her MFA in 2007 from the University of Michigan and currently lectures in their English Department. Her novel, "Miles from Nowhere," is forthcoming in January 2009 from Penguin/Riverhead.

Amy Sumerton - Serves as assistant editor of "Orchid Literary Review." She plays cello in a local band called Canada. Amy currently makes a living as program director for 826michigan, a nonprofit writing center designed to help students ages 6-18 develop their writing skills.