Review by Mack Hassler “It is a poetry where the world becomes writing and language becomes the double of the world.” Octavio Paz I think Terri Martin is a clever and witty writer who comprehends the dynamic link of language to her world, not only as…
Review by Jon C. Stott Although Melville in Moby-Dick “Sailed the seven seas,” Whitman in Leaves of Grass embraced the entire United States, and Jack Kerouac in On the Road crisscrossed and re-crisscrossed the continent, many important American writers have explored their themes by setting their characters in specific locations….
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera What makes us “sane” or “insane”? That is the question poet Ellen Lord explores in her collection of poems, Relative Sanity. The opening poem, “Muse”, speaks of thoughts coming to us out of silence. Then there are memories of the poet’s childhood and her unbalanced…
Review by Sharon Brunner Nancy Besonen’s “Off the Hook Too!” book was thought-provoking, extremely humorous, and down to earth. She demonstrated the ability to connect so well with the Yooper culture. A true Yooper is someone who has lived all their lives in the scenic and rustic Upper Peninsula of…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera If you have not read Sharon Kennedy’s first two in this series, The SideRoad Kids, and The SideRoad Kids: A Summer of Discovery, it won’t matter since the final volume has plenty of backstory to pull you into these characters as adults. It has been…
Review by Mack Hassler “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” Matthew 4:19 Do the Right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.” Mark Twain, epigraph to Chapter 22 One of the things that interests me about all of literature, reaching back even to…
Review by Mack Hassler “It is a poetry where the world becomes writing and language becomes the double of the world.” Octavio Paz I will blend in this review of Make It Go In the Snow ideas and effects that I have come across in my general reading on surrealism…
Review by Mack Hassler Recently I flew from O’Hare in Chicago to a conference at Moline, Illinois, and got a good look at the empty prairie West of the Windy City—wide open and empty like the UP. Two very big cities full of mob violence and major crime are the…
Review by Sharon Brunner Tom Chambers delved into the history of Mackinac Island, Michigan from the 1940s to the present in his memoir “Memories of a Mackinac Island Native.” The island is located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan near the town of St. Ignace, Michigan. It served as a…
Reviewer by Sharon Brunner Author Robert Downes revealed in his book “Raw Deal: The Indians of the Midwest and the Theft of Native Lands” a vast amount of debauchery at the hands of the U.S. government, interlopers and greedy entrepreneurs. Downes mentioned the names of some of the tribes in…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera This wonderful adventure of a day at the beach, told through the letters of the alphabet, not only involves words beginning with each letter but exposes children to a lot of natural science and wonder about the world around them. It even includes bits of…
Reviewer: Sharon Brunner Marcie R. Rendon brings to life the voices of the Anishinaabe ancestors in “Anishinaabe Songs for a New Millennium.” She has made it her mission to let others know the Anishinaabe still exist, and their song can heard by those who listen. Rendon is a member of…
Review by Ellen Lord My old friend Charlie kept telling me about the poetry of Andrew Riutta. Now, Charlie isn’t a poet but he is featured in some of these poems…so I didn’t take him too seriously until I finally ordered Blessed. I usually take my time in reading a…
By Ellen Lord I met Ronnie Ferguson after a Yooper Poetry reading at the Peter White Library in Marquette, Michigan. His kindness and his humor were palpable. I sensed a little ‘darkness’….and knew I had to have his new chapbook. When I Was a Fire is a powder keg of…
Review by Mack Hassler Lisa Fosmo, a fine UP poet, who identifies herself as a lifelong resident here currently living with her family in Escanaba and owning a camp West of Ishpeming, attended her first UPPAA spring conference in May 2024, says she was impressed and is now a new…
Review by Victor R. Volkman “Chogan and the Vision Quest” is the fifth installment in as many years of this popular Middle-Grade reader. The series begins in the 14th century with “Chogan and the Gray Wolf” which is the first book. Buege sets the series in that era, which he…
Review by Deborah K. Frontiera Mouse Tail I: ISBN 978-1-61599-654-4, Modern History Press 2022, PB ret. $18.95, children’s picture book In this picture book for the four to eight-year-old crowd, author Summer Porter introduces us to a family of mice in a fun, fantasy ride to Mackinac Island. The mice…
Review by Mack Hassler Yooper Ale Trails: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a handsome publication by Classen and Stott from the publisher that is the imprint for so much directed at the UPPAA is a book filled with information, wonderful photos, and even a few “bookish” puzzles…
