Midwest Book Review on Mikel Classen’s True Tales: The Forgotten History of the U.P.

Review by Carolyn WIlhelm for MBR

Pioneer days conjure up romantic, sentimental ideas of simple living and being close to nature. However, the truth also included lawless, rugged, difficult times. Native Americans and those from Europe mined, traveled, worked, logged, and sailed Lake Superior’s frontier wilderness amid uncivilized criminals, kidnappers, and slavers. Laws were few, enforcement was scarce, violent events were often, and shipwrecks were many. Wonderful life-saving deeds of kindness and compassion are also recorded on these pages as opportunities to be a hero were many.

Consider mining. Yes, rarely paired with pioneers such as Laura Ingalls Wilder, yet it is part of history at the same time. And Lake Superior! So few people understand how cold it is year-round (about 40 degrees) or how many shipwrecks (about 350) have taken place in the deepest waters of the Great Lakes. Before modern mariner tools, sailors had a strenuous, grueling life when pirates were plundering boats. Surviving crashes in winter required ingenuity and persistence unless a body became an icicle. And slavers trafficked women to stockades, as detailed in the book.

Classen does history an excellent service by revealing the truth. Sometimes we think humanity has advanced little. An attitude quickly challenged in these pages. Readers will feel gratitude for all they have today after finishing these tales.


True Tales: The Forgotten History of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Mikel B. Classen
Modern History Press
https://www.modernhistorypress.com
B09WJMKV12, $5.95 Kindle
9781615996353, $29.95 HC, $18.95 PB, 162 pp.

Carolyn Wilhelm, Reviewer
Wise Owl Factory LLC

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Beachcombers [PB]

SKU 978-1-61599-707-7
$17.95
A Clementine the Rescue Dog Adventure
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-61599-707-7
Brand: Loving Healing Press
Binding: Paperback
Audiobook: Audible.com, iTunes
Edition: 1st
Author: Kyle Torke
Illustrator: Barbara Torke
Pages: 48
Publication Date: 11/01/2022

Join Clementine and all her friends for a rollicking adventure along the coastline! Help build sandcastles and play in the surf, or admire starfish and seagulls while also learning about how to care for the oceans and the environment. After a wonderful day spent in the sand and waves, enjoy a picnic under the stars and fall asleep dreaming about all the fun you had. Let Clementine be your guide on her greatest adventure so far-to the beach!

What a beautiful, diverse world we inherited, a planet simply bursting with innumerable wonders to enchant and delight us. At the core, Beachcombers is a children's book about gratitude and the need to both contribute in practical ways to an environment we should protect and to imagine the fullness of our origins, so we can shape an equally bountiful future. The story names birds, fish, fauna and other animals as a way to weave a tapestry of specific creatures whose ecosystems need care, and the sounds and rhythms of their pronunciations when spoken aloud will entertain and mesmerize young readers. The children, and their dog, lead us and teach us: we should enjoy the mysterious and fanciful world all around us, but we should also act as caretakers for our environment. After we work and play, we are inspired to indulge our imaginations and learn to dream. After a full day, we rest in our dreams of the future.

"As seen through the eyes of adolescent children, Beachcombers is an enchanting story of responsibility and captures the impact humans have on our environment. Clementine and the young people teach us that we have the ability to change the world for the better--one piece of plastic, and one friendship, at a time." --Javier Rivera, GearUp advisor and educator

Book #3 of the Clementine the Rescue Dog Series. Be sure to read Ice Breaking (book #1) and Hiking the Grand Mesa (book #2)

Audiobooks available at iTunes and Audible.com

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