Review by Jon C. Stott Sharon Brunner, a member of the Sault Ste Marie Tribe of Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians, has been a social worker, professor, educational consultant, and author – and wise woman (and still is). A student of her people’s history and culture, she has participated in such traditional…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Elin Anna Labba’s The Home of the Drowned offered a story about a multigenerational struggle for Sámi women when they fought to hold onto their way of life. They were forced to endure the horrible actions of a powerful hydropower company and government officials while their summer…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera Visiting Mackinac: 150 Years of Tourism at Michigan’s Fabled Straits by Frank Boles is not a history of the community but a chronicle of the visitors to the island from the 1830s through 1990. What began as a military outpost, a hub for the fur…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Out of the Darkness: Classic Short Fiction from Sweden offers a splendid view of refuge, psychological mysteries and explores what makes life meaningful. The stories take place in Sweden, and authors from the 1880s to the 1950s tell a variety of stories. Some of the authors were…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera This children’s picture book, Up North Across the Bridge, depicts a lovely memoir of many vacations in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The author states in her dedication that her mother “packed up five children, trekked up north and filled our summers with endless joy and adventures…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera Having reviewed Julie Buchholtz’s first book, Who Am I, some months back, I was happy to receive her latest, Mama’s Song. This lovely story helps young children understand the Seven Grandfather Teachings of the Anishinaabe people: wisdom, love, respect, courage, honesty, humility and truth. The…
Review by Mack Hassler “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve ofthem,whom he also designated apostles [special messengers]” Luke 6:12-13 I particularly like reading nonfiction storytelling…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera Addie the German Shepherd and her Historical Red Ball: My Little Yooper ABCs Book, a sweet alphabet book for three to five-year-olds, has what you’d look for in an alphabet book centered on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The author includes the state flower, tree, bird, and…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Nathan Shore’s “The New King” offers a view of an extremely dangerous and corrupt organization hidden under the guise of a benevolent religious cult. A couple of wealthy parents from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P) hired a disbarred lawyer to find their daughter. Hirsch found their…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Tim Mulherin’s “This Magnetic North: Candid Conversations on a Changing Northern Michigan” offers a view of a northern paradise in Michigan and how its residents have dealt with a vast array of adversity. The book took place in Grand Traverse, Leelanau Peninsula areas and Indianapolis. The author’s…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Deborah K. Frontiera’s book Douglass Houghton: Michigan’s Pioneer Geologist, Doctor and Teacher offers a portrayal of an academically high achiever and his discovery of potential resources of a brand new state. Michigan became a state in 1837. During Douglass’ earlier years, his parents, Judge Jacob and Lydia…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Jennifer Bonn’s book “What Kaitlyn Finds in the Lake” is a delightful story of a young girl who explores the lake area and finds various forms of nature. The main characters are Kaitlyn and her mother. Bonn is from Georgia. The lake in the book could be…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Helen Mitsios’ (Editor) “Out of the Blue: New Short Fiction from Iceland” offers a variety of the island’s personal realities concerning life, love, and family. Twenty Icelandic Authors wrote the stories, which are filled with mystery and culture. The stories took place in Iceland and other parts…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera Edd Tury has been writing short stories for many years, published in several different anthologies, but until now, not collected in one volume. The Boy Who Growled at Thunder has two sections, The Big Woods, and Urban Legends, each reflecting the setting of the stories…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera Lake Superior is a random, unpredictable lake, so it is not surprising that Lynn Domina’s poetry book Inland Sea has a random order. You can open it anywhere and read one or two, pondering and digesting them for a while before flipping to another page….
Review John Austin (1/15/2026) Stacy Windahl’s When the Season Ends succeeds with notable ease in immersing the reader in an ordinary life that takes an improbable detour. The characters make up a full and unpredictable menu of plausible ordinaries—but no stereotypes. All these characters’ existential crises get dangerously tangled with…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Deborah K. Frontiera’s Living on Sisu: The 1913 Union Copper Strike Tragedy offers a candid view of a violent strike against the mining companies in Houghton and Keweenaw counties of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.) Twelve-year-old Emma Niemi narrated the story about her family’s participation in the strike…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Patricia Killelea’s Solace: Poems from the Northwoods” offers a haunting and alluring view of life in the Northwoods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (U.P.). The U.P. was and still is considered an immense array of ruggedness and beauty. A black bear can be just around the…
