It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The Christmas music says so. The store is plugging along, thanks to your generous support. There are peppermint candies and candy canes and lots of festive touches, and my own personal crusade to get my own cards and packages out with a little time to sleep, eat and do laundry added in. It would be perfect if I didn’t find myself giving in to the fear of 2009. It would be perfect, if the situation that we Michigan folks find ourselves in didn’t look like doom and gloom all around.
But even so, I feel like the luckiest person on the retail block. I get to listen to parents and grandparents describe little kids to me: some they know well and some not as well-known. I get to describe books to these givers of gifts and try to find that exact thing they are requesting. I get to absorb the good-heartedness and a little bit of hometown pride that goes with the buy local mentality. And boy, does it ever help. It’s easy to forget that you have a place in the community.
And I get to watch little kids come in with eyes as big as saucers looking over the merchandise and getting excited about the coming holiday. I even got to be the storyteller on the American Legion train for Hometown Holiday. I apologize to the parents who had to help me with the lyrics of some carols, but I really had fun. I promise, I will never sing the Twelve Days of Christmas again without props or cue cards to help me.
In my own childhood, Christmas dinner generally ended with molded ice cream in Santa, reindeer, wreath and tree shapes, provided by Iglers Rexall Drugs in “downtown” Glendale Ohio. Iglers was a drugstore that frequented as a boy. He could describe their “nectar” concoction many decades after last tasting one. He was happy to continue the yummy tradition with ice cream molds. (I usually tried to get Santa, I confess.) Iglers is long-gone, of course. But I loved that little ending to every Christmas meal.
Whatever your family’s tradition is, I hope it makes your season memorable. You don’t need a fancy decorating scheme or a lavish tree. You might want to take this opportunity to make some new traditions. Maybe a bird friendly outdoor tree or a fireside story reading session with young ones. It doesn’t have to cost that much.
I have been amazed at the generosity of the community in providing Christmas items for families in trouble. Two groups I belong to were waitlisted for adopted families because so many have offered to help; we finally got information this week and pledged to fill a list of needs and wants. That’s why Michigan survives; the whole community works together. Even in the coldest, darkest night, we can be counted on. And that for me is the real meaning of Christmas. So thanks for supporting Cranesbill and happiest of Christmas, Hannukah, or Kwanzaa to you all.
December 13, 2008
November 12, 2008
Michigan Fiction: A Reading List for Kids of All Ages
Okay, let me start by saying that in my reading life I’ve specialized in reading about Michigan. I was obsessed with the beauty of the tip of the mitt and while I only got to be there for three months a year, it was where my heart lived year-round. Where Michigan books are concerned, I’m a bit obsessed.
My latest favorite is not exactly fiction, but instead a wonderful memoir written by local author Ray Schairer, who has just published Barefoot Boy: A Year in the Life of a 1930s Farm Boy. Mr. Schairer, who is known more in the area for his musical pursuits as a craftsman and practitioner of musical bones, has written a straightforward account of his upbringing on his family’s farm at Parker and Jackson Roads. Without too much self-consciousness, and with a light touch on tough times, gives us a clear picture of life in these parts seven decades ago, when agriculture was the main occupation and he could travel into Chelsea on a train. I should mention that Mr. Schairer will be in our store on Saturday, November 22 at 2 pm, and that his visit will be a rare opportunity for those lucky enough to be there to learn more about local history and for those who were not here to experience it, a view into the past. The book is suitable for young readers, and it could be a time machine for anyone who partakes in the telling of these memories of a world that has nearly disappeared in our day.
One of the wonderful things about our state is that it lends itself to historical storytelling, especially for kids. From the voyageurs to the lumbermen to the rural farming communities, there are narratives from unforgettable characters. Of course, Hemingway’s Nick Adams Stories are some of the earliest examples. But there have been many volumes published over the years that cover our state’s past. These are chapter books that make history palpable for grade schoolers, and could even become the basis of a future trip to the northern part of the state. A perfect example is Christopher Paul Curtis, whose Bud, Not Buddy, the story of a young aspiring jazz musician, garnered him national attention. Most of his other books are set in Flint. Curtis’s most recent effort, Elijah of Buxton, is already winning accolades, including a Newbery Honor Award and the 2008 Great Lakes Book Award. In fact all of Curtis's books are set in Flint, and his imaginative mind makes each one a terrific read.
Other wonderful kids books related to Michigan are not hard to find. The Adventures of Pachelot is a series of books written by Wendy Caszatt-Allen, with two entries: The Last Voyage of the Griffon and the recently published Fort Brokenheart, from Mackinaw Island Press. And speaking of the place, Kim Delmar Cory’s Home to Mackinac, which was published several years ago by the Mackinac State Historic Parks, is also a great yarn, in which the hero goes to Mackinac Island to find out about his missing father and learns much as he works for the army as a bugler.
Harder to find than these books are those by Gloria Whelan, including the Island series, set during the War of 1812, when the British occupy Mackinac Island, and the Oriole Series, set in the days in which land north of Detroit (near Pontiac) is settled. More recently, Whelan also has published two other Michigan titles for slightly younger readers, Mackinac Bridge: The Story of A Five Mile Poem and Friend on Freedom River, both from Sleeping Bear Press. Her 2007 young adult novel, Summer of the War, won a New York Public Library award.
Another fine series is not exactly set in Michigan, but Louise Erdrich’s fine series, based on family history and set on Madeline Island (the largest of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior) give readers an accurate representation of the lives of Native Americans in the nineteenth century; The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence bring Omakayas and her Ojibwa tribe’s way of life into sharp focus, not shying away from the problems brought to the far north by European settlers. Erdrich is one of my favorite writers of adult fiction, but this kind of writing is the way all kids should get to learn history in a totally perfect world.
Well, I still have to cover adult fiction, but for now I will leave you with the thought that no matter how tough our times may be, we tough Michiganders have always had a knack for survival. I hope that some of the above books will make excellent reading for your entire family. I’ll have to write a part two to cover the rest of my territory.
My latest favorite is not exactly fiction, but instead a wonderful memoir written by local author Ray Schairer, who has just published Barefoot Boy: A Year in the Life of a 1930s Farm Boy. Mr. Schairer, who is known more in the area for his musical pursuits as a craftsman and practitioner of musical bones, has written a straightforward account of his upbringing on his family’s farm at Parker and Jackson Roads. Without too much self-consciousness, and with a light touch on tough times, gives us a clear picture of life in these parts seven decades ago, when agriculture was the main occupation and he could travel into Chelsea on a train. I should mention that Mr. Schairer will be in our store on Saturday, November 22 at 2 pm, and that his visit will be a rare opportunity for those lucky enough to be there to learn more about local history and for those who were not here to experience it, a view into the past. The book is suitable for young readers, and it could be a time machine for anyone who partakes in the telling of these memories of a world that has nearly disappeared in our day.
One of the wonderful things about our state is that it lends itself to historical storytelling, especially for kids. From the voyageurs to the lumbermen to the rural farming communities, there are narratives from unforgettable characters. Of course, Hemingway’s Nick Adams Stories are some of the earliest examples. But there have been many volumes published over the years that cover our state’s past. These are chapter books that make history palpable for grade schoolers, and could even become the basis of a future trip to the northern part of the state. A perfect example is Christopher Paul Curtis, whose Bud, Not Buddy, the story of a young aspiring jazz musician, garnered him national attention. Most of his other books are set in Flint. Curtis’s most recent effort, Elijah of Buxton, is already winning accolades, including a Newbery Honor Award and the 2008 Great Lakes Book Award. In fact all of Curtis's books are set in Flint, and his imaginative mind makes each one a terrific read.
Other wonderful kids books related to Michigan are not hard to find. The Adventures of Pachelot is a series of books written by Wendy Caszatt-Allen, with two entries: The Last Voyage of the Griffon and the recently published Fort Brokenheart, from Mackinaw Island Press. And speaking of the place, Kim Delmar Cory’s Home to Mackinac, which was published several years ago by the Mackinac State Historic Parks, is also a great yarn, in which the hero goes to Mackinac Island to find out about his missing father and learns much as he works for the army as a bugler.
Harder to find than these books are those by Gloria Whelan, including the Island series, set during the War of 1812, when the British occupy Mackinac Island, and the Oriole Series, set in the days in which land north of Detroit (near Pontiac) is settled. More recently, Whelan also has published two other Michigan titles for slightly younger readers, Mackinac Bridge: The Story of A Five Mile Poem and Friend on Freedom River, both from Sleeping Bear Press. Her 2007 young adult novel, Summer of the War, won a New York Public Library award.
Another fine series is not exactly set in Michigan, but Louise Erdrich’s fine series, based on family history and set on Madeline Island (the largest of the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior) give readers an accurate representation of the lives of Native Americans in the nineteenth century; The Birchbark House and The Game of Silence bring Omakayas and her Ojibwa tribe’s way of life into sharp focus, not shying away from the problems brought to the far north by European settlers. Erdrich is one of my favorite writers of adult fiction, but this kind of writing is the way all kids should get to learn history in a totally perfect world.
Well, I still have to cover adult fiction, but for now I will leave you with the thought that no matter how tough our times may be, we tough Michiganders have always had a knack for survival. I hope that some of the above books will make excellent reading for your entire family. I’ll have to write a part two to cover the rest of my territory.
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