Rocky’s Lighthouse Adventure
A Lake Superior Tale
by Deborah Winchell,
illus. by Renée Andriani
Friesen Press
ISBN: 978-1-03-917795-6
$11.99 Softcover/$16.99 Hardcover (based on ordering direct from Friesen)
What’s a good pup to do … or what should he do? Those are the questions that worry Quiet Pup as he transitions from his mainland home to his new life on an isolated rock outcropping on Lake Superior that is home to Rock of Ages Lighthouse. The lighthouse, of course, is real and now part of Isle Royale National Park.
Deborah Winchell says she got the idea for her story while researching an article for Lake Superior Magazine, and we couldn’t be prouder that the tale came to her as she learned more about the life at the remote station. This telling blends two real-life events – the smuggling of a dog to the lighthouse to live and an earlier storm that swept a keeper into the Lake.
Both the author and illustrator have visited Isle Royale and have an obvious fondness for it.
So will Quiet Pup find a lightkeeping purpose and get a suitable name? The book is a great way to introduce an interest in Lake Superior history and heritage. The pleasing story and witty illustrations will keep young and old happily reading along … and maybe dreaming of their own visit to the Big Lake and one of its lighthouses. – Konnie LeMay
Oskar’s Voyage
by Laura Purdie Salas,
illus. by Kayla Harren
Minnesota Historical Society Press
ISBN: 978-1-68134-284-9
$17.95 Hardcover
Oh yes, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
When Oskar the chipmunk, who lived in a oak by the Duluth waterfront, stumbled onto a box full of tomatoes, leaping into them seemed the right thing to do. Then suddenly he’s pulled up into a freighter (with the other groceries) and off he goes from Duluth to Lake Erie and, luckily for Oskar, back again to the Twin Ports. The quick-paced tale (much like a scrambling chipmunk) is engaging, but the fun for future boatnerds also comes with the illustrations of the vessel and descriptions of Oskar’s explorations. The story will amuse small children, but the list of terms, a few boat facts and the graphic views of the Paul R. Tregurtha (the largest freighter on the lakes at 1,013 feet) will please pre-teens with an interest in boats – or even old “baby boatnerds” like myself. The best surprise in the story, though, is that the author herself got to ride on the Tregurtha. Laura, like Oskar, was one lucky chipmunk (though she recognized that more than her fictional character who just wants to get back to his tree). – KLM
The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry
by Anna Rose Johnson,
Holiday House
ISBN: 978-0-8234-5363-4
$18.99 Hardcover
This pre-teen novel introduces the reader to Selena Lucy Landry just after the death of her guardian sends Lucy on a journey to live with a family at an island lighthouse on Lake Superior.
Lucy had been orphaned after the death of her mother from an illness and the loss of her sailor father to a storm on the Big Lake. Because of that, she is afraid of being on the water, but her father left her a quest that she intends to fulfill – finding a ruby necklace connected to an 1886 shipwreck. The island lighthouse is near the site her father wanted to search – Mermaid’s Corner.
This delightfully written story follows Lucy’s adventures, including the ones within her playful imagination. She will overcome her fear of the water and with an Anishinaabe family will learn more about her own heritage. And does she find her father’s lost treasure? The story will tell. Anna Rose Johnson, a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, also wrote The Star That Always Stays, another book with an Ojibwe main character, but set on Lake Michigan. It was selected as an NPR Best Book of the Year. Anna’s work will be worth watching … and adding to your reading list. – KLM
Sweet Dreams
Poems and Paintings
for the Child Abed
by Rick Telander
and His Artist Friends,
Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-5107-7833-7
$19.99 Hardcover
The letter accompanying a copy of this book sent to us reveals that Rick has owned land and a cabin on Lake Superior for 50 years near Ontonagon, Michigan. He admits this collection of 42 poems is a departure from his usual work as a sports writer for such publications as the Chicago Sun-Times, Sports Illustrated and ESPN: the Magazine. He was even inducted into the National Sportswriters Hall of Fame.
This work, indeed, is a whole different genre, a book meant for children’s bedtime reading for a gentle nudge to, as Rick says, the Land of Nod. The lyrical variety of Rick’s poems – and their topics – is matched page for page by an amazing assembly of illustrations by 42 artists from four different countries. (At least one of a collie standing above a lamb in a storm I recognize from a wall in my childhood.)
Browsing through this book of poetic gems, I’m certain some were Big Lake, North Woods inspired, like “Solstice (December 21)”:
The violet sky,
The trees of black,
The ground of white
Reflecting back
The faintest, sweetest,
Softest tune
Of winter peace
Unto the moon.
Just as Rick envisions, this would be a go-to night-time read aloud for me, too. – KLM
Upper Peninsula Fun in the Sun
Hooray for Camp Days
by Johnny Storm,
illus. by Larry Ruppert
Mission Point Press
ISBN: 978-1-961302-27-3
$26.95 Hardcover
While it is fun to see the illustrations of well-known Upper Peninsula landmarks like the Portage Lake Lift Bridge or the Ranger III National Park Service vessel, this book also delivers a great subtle message of getting outside to do fun stuff. Swimming, fishing, water skiing, jet skis, ATVs and even a sauna – all the summer season offers in the U.P. captured in rhyme.
Johnny’s family camp was beside the Keweenaw waterway and so he comes to his love of outdoor activity from his lifelong U.P. experiences. A jaunty read for kids, this can also be a “wish book” to dream of the coming summer on a cold winter’s day. – KLM
How the Birds Got Their Songs
story by Travis Zimmerman,
illus. by Sam Zimmerman / Zhaawanoogiizhik
retold in Ojibwemowin by Marcus Ammesmaki / Aanikanootaagewin
Minnesota Historical
Society Press
ISBN: 978-1-68134-285-6
$17.95 Hardcover
We spoke about this book being on its way when we featured Sam Zimmerman in the April/May issue. His painting was also on the cover. Now with Christmas coming, we wanted to talk about the book and recommend it for nature-curious children.
The text, written in both English and Ojibwemowin (the Ojibwe language) is a tightly told tale in the manner of the traditional “how” stories. In this case we find out how the tiny hermit thrush earned – by a bit of trickery – its most beautiful song and why the Creator gifted birds with their special voices.
Paired with his cousin Sam’s illustrations, Travis Zimmerman engagingly recreates the story passed on to him by his father. – KLM