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Newbery, Caldecott & Printz Award Winners

By MPL Staff on Jan 28, 2014 9:12 AM

Winners of the American Library Association's top awards for children's and YA books, videos and audios, were announced yesterday. Kate DiCamillo wins the Newbery Medal for Flora & Ulysses, her second Newbery win. Rescuing a squirrel after an accident involving a vacuum cleaner, comic-reading cynic Flora Belle Buckman is astonished when the squirrel, Ulysses, demonstrates astonishing powers of strength and flight after being revived. She earned…

East Library Public Art Project Update!

By elizabeth on Jan 25, 2014 2:46 PM

Please join us as the four finalists for the new East Library's exterior public art projectÂ present their proposals at a public meeting being held on Tuesday, February 4th at 5:30 p.m. in Centennial Hall's Loos Room, 733 N Eighth Street.Â Ray Chi, Susan Falkman, Catherine Lottes, and Colin Matthes submitted projects tasked with activating the space outside the library and engaging visitors while reflecting the ideas…

Happy National Pie Day!

By jennifer on Jan 17, 2014 10:02 AM

Photo by Dwight Burdette Take a break from any diet-related New Year's resolutions and celebrate National Pie Day. Milwaukee Public Library has many pie-related items to help spice up your celebration and sweeten your day. First things first: recipes. Some of you may have that special recipe that is handed down through the family from generation to generation. If you're not that lucky, or you would like…

This Day in History : Don Quixote First Published

By jennifer on Jan 14, 2014 7:31 PM

Don Quixote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza. By Gustave DorÃ©, 1863 Part one of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha (better known as Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was first published on January 16, 1605. Part two followed ten years later, and the novel as a whole went on to inspire countless other authors, artists and performers, as well having the honor…

Edith Wharton: Town and Country

By tim on Jan 13, 2014 4:00 PM

French Architecture in New York City Edith Wharton traveled widely in Europe from the time she was a child and was fluent in French and Italian. Her travel books about Italy and France display her thorough knowledge of the architecture of European cathedrals, abbeys, fortresses, and villas. Though she never gave up her American citizenship, she eventually settled in France, purchased two homes there, and was…

Learn a New Language with Pronunciator

By heather on Jan 10, 2014 10:53 AM

Did you make a New Year's resolution to expand your language skills? Try Pronunciator, the newest language learning electronic resource from Milwaukee Public Library! If you desire an intensive language learning guide Pronunciator may be just what you want. With 82 languages, including the less-common Pinyin Chinese, Romaji Japanese and Somali, Pronunciator offers additional options for language students who want to go more in-depth. Creating a…

Happy Birthday David Bowie

By tim on Jan 6, 2014 12:53 PM

Photo by the AVRO Take your protein pills and put your helmet on as David Bowie (musical mastermind, actor, record producer, and goblin king) mystifyingly celebrates his 67th birthday today. He's won an Emmy, a Grammy (and another Lifetime Achievement Grammy), 3 MTV Music Video Awards, a Saturn, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and just this past year inducted…

Happy Birthday, J. R. R. Tolkien!

By MPL Staff on Jan 3, 2014 10:27 AM

On January 3, 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State (now Free State Province in South Africa) to Arthur Reuel Tolkien and his wife, Mabel, nÃ©e Suffield. The image above shows the Tolkien family's 1892 Christmas card, sent by Mabel to her family in Birmingham, England on November 15, 1892. J. R. R. Tolkien became a major scholar of…