According to an article from the Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle, the Hamilton-Wenham Library’s young adult section has been getting a major overhaul thanks to a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The overhaul is supposed to eventually include a mural:

The teens…also brainstormed and voted on a theme for the mural, which ended in a tie. This means the chosen painter will decide which to do; the choices are Dungeons and Dragons or Manga. Each side of the post will have a different character from either comic that represents Earth, air, fire and water…Or the artist could choose to combine the two ideas and create an abstract design that embraces Earth, air, fire and water.

Well, I know what I’D vote for. Although it wouldn’t be too hard to combine the two: have a mage, a dwarf, an elf, and a warrior drawn all manga-style, etc…

By the way, true to Japanese tradition, I think we should give the Hamilton-Wenham Library a nickname that uses one syllable from each word. Who wouldn’t go to a library called “HamHam”? ♥

According to the Rochester, NY Democrat and Chronicle (god, I love some of these newspaper names), their own Brighton Memorial Library is going to be offering classes in…manga-making!

Freelance artist Mary Beth Dolan is teaching a how-to-draw-manga class for teens from 1 to 2:30pm on Tuesday, April 15th at the library. (Er, aren’t teens usually at school that time of day?)

Free manga books will be given to each participant.

Oh. Well, forget school. Free manga!

I came across yet another article in which a librarian recommends manga as a way to get kids reading. But this particular one is kinda funny. In it, the librarian - a Ms. Robin Brenner - recommends a manga called Morito.

Now, I was kind of curious since I had never heard of a manga called Morito - especially since it was left up there with Fruits Basket, implying that it was pretty popular.

It wasn’t until towards the end of the article, when Morito was described as “the story of a ninja in training” that I realized that they probably meant Naruto.

I’m guessing that the reporter made the mess-up rather than the librarian, but I still thought it was kinda funny. Especially since morito could apparently mean “little Muslim” (el moro meaning the moor, or muslim, and -ito being a suffix that means little). ♥