Misguided: A Mackinac Island Novel by Dave McVeigh and Jim Bolone

Review by Sharon Brunner

Book cover featuring a silhouetted figure of a man in colonial attire holding a rifle, looking into the distance. The title "MISGUIDED: A Mackinac Island Novel" is prominently displayed. Author names Dave McVeigh and Jim Bolone are at the bottom.Dave McVeigh and Jim Bolone’s “Misguided: A Mackinac Island Novel” revealed a lot of plot twists, adventure, and humor. The main character, Jack McGuinn, steamrolled his way into serving as the youngest tour guide at the historic Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island. He joins three other mismatched characters as tour guides. History falls out of favor for one of the guides and in an effort to save face they perform popular comedy excursions of the fort’s history. The director of the fort strove to seek the necessary funding to run the fort and successive research activities. Their hilarious performances entice possible donors. The group of misfits finds themselves in a predicament when they try to locate Father Marquette’s chalice in an effort to save part of the island’s important history. The truth behind one of the members is alarmingly brought to the forefront but the show must go on.

The story is on Mackinac Island, located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan near the town of St. Ignace, Michigan. The island served as a meeting place for the indigenous years ago, battles were fought on the island and now it is a popular tourist destination. People live on the island year-round, and children attend a quaint little school with approximately 84 students (grades Kindergarten to 12th grade). Numbers can vary from year to year. Cars are not allowed on the island, and you will see lots of horse-drawn carriages and bicycles. The smell of fudge permeates the air in the town proper. The story takes place in 1984. It may have been the year the authors spent time on the island. McVeigh graduated from the University of Michigan, was Michigan born and raised and spent 23 summers on Mackinac Island. On the island, he hauled luggage in the basket of his bike. Bolone grew up in Detroit’s east side, graduated from Wayne State University and worked on Mackinac Island for nine summers of which eight he was a dock porter and one of the years he was a tour guide at Fort Mackinac. Jack, the main character, dreamed of being a dock porter on Mackinac Island.

I liked how Rollie, one of the tour guides, saved the day by changing the script to help Shively because of the one-shot Shively associated with his great, great, great, great grandfather. His legacy involved giving up Fort Mackinac to the British after only hearing one shot. It was a well-known part of the history of the island and brought embarrassment to his family. It was very creative how their skit was changed to retell the history of the fort in a humorous fashion. Skits were performed to share the history of the fort and island in front of the tourists who visited the fort. Dr. Trumbull was a nice addition to the plot of the story. He sought to have an accurate account of the history told to the fort’s visitors but went along with the charade when things became hysterically inaccurate during the performances. Bolone and McVeigh ingeniously introduced a Father Marquette chalice into the story that was sought after by a rich entrepreneur. Father Marquette was an important part of the history of Mackinac Island and St. Ignace. He served as a missionary who befriended and helped the Native Americans during the 1600s. A statue of Father Marquette is located on the grounds of the Ojibwe Museum in St. Ignace to honor him.

The movie that came to mind when I read the book was “Spy Kids,” a 2001 action comedy produced by Robert Rodriquez in which two kids become spies to save their parents from an evil mastermind. A multitude of books exist that are associated with the history of the island such as “Fort Mackinac: A History” by David Armour. “The Grand Hotel: Mackinac Island’s Crown Jewel” by Phil Porter is another example. Another interesting character introduced by Bolone and McVeigh was Feagler, a pizza business giant and rich entrepreneur, who began the building of a fort and large tourist attraction on Beaver Island near Charlevoix, Michigan. Feagler managed to obtain Father Marquette’s chalice. The authors sought to create a story that was portrayed in the book “King of Beaver Island” by Roger Van Noord in which James Strang was crowned king of the same island. The rich entrepreneur wanted to make the islanders look simple and backward. Jack and his peers felt they needed to save the town from corruption and save an artifact from getting into the wrong hands.

Some of the themes that appeared throughout the book were history; trials and tribulations of being a teenager and the importance of friends and family. The history of the island and the fort were described throughout the book, some false and some true. Tour guides were expected to be knowledgeable about the history of the island and the fort. About friendship, Jack lost one of his best friends because his friend’s parents were going through a difficult divorce. This was hard on Jack and he missed that friendship. Jack put a lot of effort into hanging onto his friendship with Myles, one of the tour guides, and did not want to believe Myles was a con artist. He was hurt when he learned the truth about Myles. Jack’s family was very concerned about his grandfather and searched for him. Jack placed importance on the things his father and grandfather said, he valued their opinions. Jack’s older sister played a major role in his life. The life of a teenager can be filled with doubt and confusion, Jack and his friends struggled with being teenagers. They really cared about what others thought about them, their appearance was important to them.

This book relates to my life in several ways. One of my first encounters concerning Mackinac Island was when I visited Fort Mackinac on multiple occasions to take elementary and high school students to the fort to serve as an educational experience through my position as an Education Manager for the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (Sault Tribe). I also ran a tutoring program at the island’s school. While working in the same position, I took three students from the island to a Youth in Government program.in Lansing. They were assisted with creating bills to present to a mock congress. In order to travel to the island, I rode a commercial boat during the warmer months and during the winter months I boarded a very small plane (4 to 6 passenger plane) to the island and was picked at the airport by someone driving a snowmobile. When I was in elementary school I traveled to the island with a friend, rode my bicycle around the island (9 miles) and swam at the Grand Hotel. Dating myself because now bikes must be rented when arriving on the island and swimming at the Grand Hotel would cost a small fortune. Lilac festivals on the island can be festive and I have enjoyed attending those events.

I recommend Misguided: A Mackinac Island Novel for its unique way of using humor to solve problems, because of its suspenseful situations, the plots twists and how things turned out for the benefit of the island community and many other people. The rich donor had a change of heart and decided to forego hurting others and being self-serving. He decided to help a multitude of people instead without seeking notoriety for his generous actions. It was entertaining to read about the four tour guides when they performed in front of the tourists by dancing and telling outrageous stories. Bolone and McVeigh need to be commended for their ingenuity concerning the characters they created and when they had the courage to break from expectations to protect one of their peers. The book was laced with endearing situations, gripping circumstances and real-life scenarios that depicted real-life trials and tribulations of teenagers and residences on Mackinac Island. The book depicted well what life may be like in a small community in which the townsfolk know each other very well.


Title: Misguided: A Mackinac Island Novel

Authors: Dave McVeigh and Jim Bolone

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