Review by Tyler R. Tichelaar New Book Inspires With Words, Poetry, Art, and Wisdom Chandra Ziegler’s new book Extraordinary Endurance: A Training Plan for the Marathon of Life is a unique book that gives the reader a look into the beauty of its author’s soul as she tries to juggle…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera Seasons of the Birch, a work of historical fiction begins in 1944 and ends in the present, although the emphasis is on the years 1944-1959. The main character, Ruth Amundson, is a petite, easily blown away, shorter than average young woman who has been working…
Reviewed by Tyler Tichelaar New Novel Captures Terrifying Carnival Ride of Native American Female Experience Chris Stark’s new novel Carnival Lights offers up a wild ride like no other in the history of Native American literature. Set in 1969, it plays fast and loose with time, continually juxtaposing the present…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera The Home Wind by Terri Martin is an engaging story of two boys, one white and one Native American, who must find their way through the difficulties of life on the road to becoming “men.” It is set during the 1870s in the logging camps…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera Niiji, A Collection of Poetry is a unique “own voices” work that highlights two poets whose styles are different yet blend in their approaches to the theme. Sally Brunk sets the tone early on with her poem, “Authority Figures”, in which she states: “The intellectuals…
Review by Deborah K Frontiera There are as many styles of poetry as there are poets. For readers, it is sometimes like choosing a flavor of tea: some readers like Earl Gray, others English Breakfast Tea, still others like any of a number of herbal teas. Troy Graham’s poetry in…
Review by Donna Winters If you like a fast-paced historical novel rife with issues that resonate today, you’ll enjoy Waterfall. Set in the 1920s with a myriad of conflicts woven into the story, I often thought how contemporary the mindset was of the main character, Trinity Baird. The youngest of…
A Native American Young Adult Crime Thriller Review by Tyler TIchelaar Angeline Boulley’s debut novel Firekeeper’s Daughter tells the first-person story of Daunis Fontaine, an eighteen-year-old from Sault Sainte Marie, who is part Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) and part-Caucasian. Her mother, daughter to one of the wealthiest families in the community, got…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera At first glance, one might find Luczak’s style of poetry more challenging to read than some because he uses no punctuation of any sort, not even an apostrophe. No capital letters either (though many poets skip capital letters). But then a reader may realize that…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera When we first meet the Klar family, Anna and Gustaf and their children Ellen, Elisabet, and Carl, we think that this may be the “head for America and grow rich” immigrant story. Far from it. In the same way that few high school athletes make…
Review by Victor R. Volkman Although I count myself a lifetime resident of Michigan, I confess that, for the better part of six decades, I had never heard the appellation “Sea Stacks” until this year, when I picked up the eponymous anthology of short stories by John (“J.L.”) Hagen. This…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera Even though this children’s picture book was originally published in 1946, this new edition of the original still has a great message for children today. Nils, a first generation American whose parents immigrated from Norway, receives a handmade pair of socks from his grandmother who…
U.P. Reader — Volume #5: Bringing Upper Michigan Literature to the World Mikel Classen and Deborah K Frontiera Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com 9781615995714, $17.95 paperback, $28.95 hardcover, 308 pages B09253976L, $5.95 Kindle The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is also known as Upper Michigan or the UP, with people native to…
Review by Deborah Frontiera As a long-time fan of folklore and cultural stories, and with a fair amount of Norwegian blood (ancestors from Norway and Viking genes via my Cornish family history as well), I was delighted to have a copy of this new translation of Norwegian folktales. Having read…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera Children rarely think about where anything comes from or how it is made. Most of them, if asked, will say, “From the store.” Where anything was before that is far from their minds. And yet, it is important that children know a thing or two…
Novel Full of Quirky Characters You Come to Care About Review by Tyler R. Tichelaar Leif Enger’s Virgil Wander is an intriguing novel that manages to rope the reader in without a lot of sensational hooks, but instead, real-life characters in real-life situations. Set in a small town in northern…
Review by Victor R. Volkman Brandon Walter Salo’s new memoir Poison Into Medicine is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. A self-confessed survivor of a doomsday cult, Salo has seen more trauma in his first 29 years on this earth than any of us would hope (not)…
Be sure to catch each review as they are released by going to www.UPBookReview.com and click on the “Subscribe” button on the right-hand pane. New reviews of UP books are released every 10 days. Poison Into Medicine: My Life in a Doomsday Cult by Brandon W. Salo — 4/1/2021 Virgil…
