The White House issued a presidential proclamation Monday morning, in which President Barack Obama declared the month of October to be National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and encouraged “interested groups to join in activities that will increase awareness of what Americans can do to prevent breast cancer.”

According to the CDC In the United States in 2008, 210,203 women were diagnosed with breast cancer, and 40,589 women died from the disease. Except for skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women. CDC supports breast cancer surveillance and research, and provides free or low-cost mammograms to underserved women.

A Book Club for our youngest independent readers!

Our first meeting for this book club will take place October 17, 2012 from 4:30 - 5:15 PM. This club is for independent readers and will feature a book discussion, activities and a light snack centered around the book, Flat Stanley: His Original Adventure by Jeff Brown.

Meet Stanley, an ordinary boy whose life changes when a large bulletin board falls on him during the night, flattening him to a thickness of a halfinch. But this doesn't stop him. His flattened size takes him on fantastic adventures where he travels to California via airmail, slips underneath doors, soars like a kite, and even finds a way to capture a pair of art thieves in the local museum!

This program is made possible by an early literacy grant from Target. Each participant will get a copy of the featured book during registration. This free program is limited to the first 25 participants. Sign up in person at the Youth Reference Desk and pick up your book during the week of September 24, 2012.

For more information, contact the Youth Services Reference Desk at 248-246-3725.

Six masterpieces from the DIA’s collection are coming to Royal Oak this summer. Beginning June 29th, high-quality reproductions of paintings from the Detroit Institute of Arts’ collection will find a temporary outdoor home in locations around downtown. Each high-quality reproduction will be in the original size on Lumacore Vinyl mounted in weather proof ornate wood. Programs, both announced in advance and spontaneous, will be held by the Royal Oak Commission for the Arts in conjunction with the DIA. Previous programs in other communities have included docent-led walking and biking tours, musical shows, and talks at local libraries. This year, Inside|Out will feature a high-tech treasure hunt in which players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, placed near the reproductions using GPS-enabled devices.

Adult Summer Reading registration begins Saturday, June 9 at 10:00 AM in the Friends Auditorium at the same time children and teens are signing up for summer reading.This year’s theme salutes the joys of what you can find Between the Covers. The focus will be books exploring all things pertaining to night, be it the power of dreams or the beauty of the stars in the sky. Our prize raffles will be back and there will be plenty of bookmarks with suggested reads tied to our theme.