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Tales from a Finnish Tupa    

These folk tales, taken from translations of the originals and originally published in 1936, are just what you’d expect from a people with a tradition of magic and lore. The tupa is a common cottage and these stories tell of common people using wit, luck, kindness and magic to better themselves and their situations.

The authors weave in Finnish words and provide a glossary and a pronunciation guide, but unless you have a scholarly or a cultural bent to learn specifics, the moral tales, not the research details, are the most pleasing part of this volume. For younger children, a good storyteller will retell these stories in simpler versions. Anyone intrigued by folktales … with or without children in the audience … will likely enjoy and appreciate the rerelease of this volume.

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Quetico Into the Wild 

Two books were released this year as part of the 100th anniversary of Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario (along with the century anniversary of Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota). This book by Gary and Joanie McGuffin, consummate photographers, authors and paddlers of our northern waters, not surprisingly concentrates on images of the park taken during multiple journeys. The small front portion with text records the McGuffins’ personal treks into the park while touching on historic and cultural aspects. The real stars of the book, though, are the photographs. Moody and magnificent, intimate and far view, these images speak the most eloquently of what has been gained by setting aside this special place as a gift to all people. (I especially loved the juxtaposition of the pictographs of a cow and calf moose beside an image of its live counterparts.) You don’t need to have visited Quetico to appreciate this book … but you’ll want to go after paging through it.

- Konnie LeMay

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Quetico Near to Nature’s Heart   

This second book honoring Quetico’s 100th year as a provincial park covers history (and prehistory) of the place up to the present, blending text, maps and a variety of photographic and painted images.

Jon Nelson also mixes his personal encounters in the park with stories about others who have done research or otherwise interacted with this “magical land,” as Jon calls it.

- Konnie LeMay

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Lester’s North Shore Adventure  

This locally produced coloring and activity book is an especially great item to pick up as you travel Minnesota’s North Shore with children. The story revolves around a trip up the shore with Lester the bear, on his way to visit his grandparents. He passes several familiar landmarks (that you can color) along with way. The end of the book features word puzzles, dot-to-dots, mazes and other activities related to the story and to the locations. 

- Konnie LeMay

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Harry’s Heavy Suitcase   

Produced by an Ely, Minnesota, publisher, Harry’s Heavy Suitcase has includes winsome northwoods images of winter outside, where little Harry has run away from home … all the way to the end of the walkway. However, because this book is meant as a learning tool rather than a pleasure reading book, the images are partially covered by the boxes carrying the words of Reader 1 (an adult) and Reader 2 (a child). The word placement might be jarring for some. The authors are educators and this read-together book is meant to motivate and help young readers. The reading level is above the beginners’ stage, but the addition of an adult reader means the storyline can use still more complicated words while drawing the younger reader along. A lesson plan can also be ordered from the publisher.

- Konnie LeMay

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Alfred Nobel, The Man Behind the Peace Prize    

This wonderfully told, brief biography of Alfred Nobel picks key points in the famed dynamite maker’s life that show the directions it took. The illustrations are compelling and detailed. (The “sketchbook” accents reflecting Nobel’s inventive thinking are particularly intriguing.) While this is not a northwoods book per se, Kathy-jo is a regional treasure of a writer and a prolific one to boot. This book is her second release during the year. This book deserves space on a child’s shelf.

- Konnie LeMay

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