There are always surprises here.

You never know what you will find on a treasure island of previously owned books. This is only one day's tiny sample.

Newly Arrived: THE SOUL OF SLEEPING BEAR

 

This beautiful new book of photographs of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore has text to match the images' beauty. The covered bridge on the book cover invites you in! 

Both text and photography are by Mark Lindsay, and books in the shop now are signed by Mark. Perfect for Fathers Day, coming up next month. 

Something New All the Time

 

Besides a bunch of new Michigen-themed board books, we also have two new picture books for children. One of them, as you can see, is set on Mackinac Island. Both are engagingly illustrated. 

While National Poetry Month (April) may be over, every month is poetry month at Dog Ears Books. When Anne-Marie Oomen stopped by recently, she signed her two mermaid books for me, and just today Teresa Scollon's new book of poems arrived. 

And that's only the tip of the new book iceberg. As for used books, you know there's always something "new" in those big departments. This week it's World War II that received so many new additions that I had to rearrange the whole section.

Winter Reading Suggestions -- Indigenous

 

Although the total numbers of titles published is smaller, there is as much variety in Native American books as there is in the book world at large. Today we’ll peek at a few offerings in the new book section of my store (used books, our original mission in 1993, still predominate Dog Ears Books inventory), titles that are definitely on my must-read list for 2024.

 

From National Book Award winner Ned Blackhawk (Western Shoshone) comes The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History (Yale University Press, 2023). Blackhawk offers a synthesis of Native and non-Native histories of our country, from early Spanish explorers in the 1600s to the late 20^th century. The first 445 pages are text, followed by extensive notes and the all-important (to any book of history) index of names and subjects. 

 

History is not only for adults, however, and Traci Sorell (Cherokee) and Frané Lessac, illustrator, creators of the 2018 We Are Grateful, subsequently put Native American history into an attractive children's picture book, We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know (Charlesbridge, 2021), with twelve young people giving presentations to other students and their parents at Indigenous People’s Day. Each two-page spread highlights an important concept in a history that is still ongoing, emphasized by the repeated “We are still here!” at the end of every topic. The book is designed for children 7-10 of age, but many parents and teachers will learn from it, also.

 

A 50th anniversary edition of God Is Red: A Native View of Religion (Fulcrum Publishing, 2023; orig. pub. Putnam, 1973), by Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux), with introduction by Philip J. Deloria, includes critical essays by Philip J. Deloria, Suzan Shown Harjo, Daniel Wildcat, and David E. Wilkins. The author was named by Time magazine as one of the greatest religious thinkers of the 20^th century. Why was I not introduced to this book when studying religion at the university level, why did I continue to be ignorant of its existence for so long after? If you need further motivation to read the book, here is an interview with Philip Deloria by Foreword magazine reviewer Kristen Rabe.

 

Survival Food: North Woods Stories by a Menominee Cook (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2023) is a second memoir from Thomas Pecore Weso (Menominee), whose first was Good Seeds: A Menominee Indian Food Memoir. The book comprises essays that combine memory and food, from those hunted, fished, and gathered to commodity foods distributed by the government – all of it “survival food.” Wild rice, maple syrup, and twice-baked cheesy potatoes are all here. And stories!

 

From memoir to poetry, we come to Living Nations, Living Words: An Anthology of First People’s Poetry (Norton, 2021), collected and introduced by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation, also known as Creek). Harjo was the 23^rd U.S. Poet Laureate and gathered the contemporary Native voices in this book together in the form of a map. Open this book anywhere. I’m not kidding. 

 

A novel for young people, Eagle Drums (Roaring Brook Press, 2023), is by Nasugraq Rainey Hopson (Inupiaq). Angeline Boulley (and you read her Firekeeper’s Daughter, didn’t you?) says that Hopson, who also illustrated her story, “has accomplished something truly monumental” with this book. I’m happy to report that she also says it is for “readers of all ages,” although the target audience is middle grades. More than a young man’s vision quest, Eagle Drums is a retelling of a creation myth. Kidnapped by golden eagles, the protagonist must learn lessons (where his two older brothers failed) in making drums, singing and dancing and writing his own songs, building large sod gathering halls, and bringing small, isolated groups together to form a community and a people.

 

*****

 

I will stop here today with these six titles, only because I have a lot of reading to catch up on, only adding only a quick reminder that Bonnie Jo Campbell’s long-anticipated new novel, The Waters, is also now on sale at Dog Ears Books. 

Time to Plan Ahead

 

Everyman's Library Children's Classics

Only Friday and Saturday this week, and then Wednesday through Saturday next week, because Saturday, October 29th, will be the last day of the 2022 Dog Ears Books season! We'll be back in May and celebrating 30 years of bookselling next summer, but please visit if you can before we close for the winter, especially if you're thinking ahead to holiday gifts. 

And thanks for a better 2022 season than I expected. It was difficult personally, in a lot of ways, but I was helped along with support from bookstore friends and customers -- two groups that certainly overlap! Thank you!

We always have a good time with Lynne Rae Perkins!

 

Lynne Rae at Dog Ears Books, August 2012

She has been here before, and now she's coming again, and I couldn't be more pleased. I hope you'll be able to join us on Saturday, October 1st, when Lynne Rae Perkins will be signing her new book for Dog Ears Books customers from 12 noon to 2 p.m. And this one is a mouse story! 

In the spirit of her squirrel book, Nuts to You!, this new one, Violet & Jobie in the Wild, takes a pair of house mice on a series of adventures, beginning when they are caught and transported to the wild. It wasn't a life they chose, but Violet and Jobie learn there is much more to the world than traps baited with cheese and peanut butter. 

Violet & Jobie in the Wild is an illustrated chapter book, perfect for middle-grade readers but too good not to share with the whole family!

Hardcover with dust jacket, $16.99

Stars and Chickadees

 

The director of the International Dark Sky Assocation, Dr. John Barentine, says of author Mary Stewart Adams that her “grasp of night sky lore is second to none.” Nevertheless, this book is one for the whole family. As the images above suggest, there are illustrations and rhymes for the young fry, along with plenty of textual detail for teens and adults. 

 

Now, late summer under dark northern Michigan skies, is a perfect time to pick up your copy of The Star Tales of Mother Goose (“For those who seek the secret language of the stars”), but it would also make a fantastic Christmas present for the whole family to share and enjoy

 

The Star Tales of Mother Goose

By Mary Stewart Adams

Illustrated by Patricia DeLisa

Hardcover, 97pp.

$29.95

And speaking of Christmas, Bill O. Smith from Traverse City has a new book out, Chickadees in December, another collaboration with Traverse City artist Charlie Murphy. Fun! And if a child has an opportunity to open one single book before Christmas, let this be the one. When you read it, you’ll understand why.

 

Chickadees in December

By Bill O. Smith

Illustrated by Charles R. Murphy

Hardcover, $19.35

You Have Waited Long Enough!

 

Wait no longer! It is here at last! I'm talking about a new Sheriff Ray Elkins mystery (or thriller, as the book's cover calls it) from Aaron Stander. Destination Wedding sounds very Leelanau, doesn't it? Or should I say Cedar County?

But that isn't all. Lynne Rae Perkins, our Leelanau Newbery author, has a new book out this season, too, and adventures in The Museum of Everything await you!

New books from two Michigan poets also arrived in today's UPS delivery (It felt like Christmas): Fleda Brown's Flying Through a Hole in the Storm and Thomas Lynch's Bone Rosary. 

I regularly watch a site called "American Indians in Children's Literature" and was excited to find there recently two new books for young people featuring Ojibwe culture, a YA novel by Angeline Boulley, Fire Keeper's Daughter, and an illustrated story for younger readers, Josie Dances, written by Denise Lajimodiere and illustrated by Angela Erdrich.

And finally -- for today, that is; more new books will be arriving weekly, and there are always exciting new-to-you, previously owned books, also -- you certainly don't think I could resist a book about a bookseller, do you? The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance is written by Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome. It is illustrated, and the typeface is nice and large and clear. Books, history, Italy -- it's all here in one highly readable volume.

Have you been waiting for Dog Ears Books to open? My first customers of the season today, Friday, May 21, were surprised and delighted to find me here, thinking they would have to wait until after Memorial Day. But no, I had ordered new books, and I wanted to ease into the season before summer crowds arrived. 

See you soon here in Northport -- your best excuse (unless you live here) for a beautiful drive!

Objects Persist

 

Lodged into the west wall of St. Carthage’s Cathedral in Linsmore are carved stone fragments, relics of the original monastery and school built on the site in the 9^th century. The carvings were unearthed at a much later date….

 

Inspired in part by these fragments, and essentially concerned with objects, this exhibition nonetheless has its origins in images – specifically two photographic projects, one by Gerard Byrne and the other by Wolfgang Tillmans. …Byrne’s photographs are documents of the traces of the past in the present and evidence of just how much the present (and the future) will look much like the past due to the persistence of the objects within it.

 

-      Katrina Brown and Kitty Anderson

 

The Persistence of Objects was published by Lismore Castle Arts on the occasion of the exhibition ‘The Persistence of Objects,’ 20 June – 31 August 2015. My copy is #349 of a limited edition of 500, clothbound, tight and bright, with minor cover soil on rear board (see below).

Among the New Books

 

Little Bird is a small crow with a big heart. This timeless story of friendship and belonging is by Newbery Medalist Cynthia Voigt, with illustrations by Newbery Medalist Lynne Rae Perkins. Hardcover, $16.99

For somewhat younger readers (and, as always, the perennially young at heart), we have Imogene Comes Back! (hardcover, $17.99), by Caldecott Medal winner David Small of Kalamazoo, Michigan. The graphic novel version of George Orwell's Animal Farm (softcover, $14.99) should also suit audiences of many ages.

We were remiss in not restocking Trails of M-22 (softcover, $19.95) earlier in the season but are making up for lost time now, as are many hikers as the fall season comes on. 

And the final two new titles in stock come from the land of the Anishnabe. On the left below is  Contemporary Great Lakes Pow Wow Regalia, photographs (softcover in overwrapper, signed, $35), by Minnie Wabanimke, and to the right is The Crooked Tree Prints: Etchings of Native American Marker Trees (softcover, signed, $25) by Ladislav R. Hanka. 

These titles are but a tiny sampling of new treasures that await you at Dog Ears Books, our Northport, Michigan, shop open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. And don't forget, we have an ever-changing selection of used books of all kinds, also.

And the late November News Is ...

Little time remains in the 2019 Dog Ears Books season! Saturday, November 30, will be our last day of business until spring. With that in mind, you'll want to get yourselves through the bookstore door soon, because even if you don't exchange gifts with grownup friends and family, and even if you think you don't deserve much yourself but a lump of coal, surely you'll want to treat the little ones to colorful, page-turning joys of the season. But hey! As for that lump of coal? You do deserve something more than that, and we have treasures for big people, too!

I don't call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" (yuck! hate that phrase!), but we will be open all day on Friday, and if you want to avoid crowds, that may be the day for you to come to Northport, because on Saturday, November 30 (remember: the last day of the bookstore season!), the entire village will be in festival mode, including an arts and crafts sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Santa at the village hall from 4 to 5:30, and the lighting of the village tree at 6 p.m. Pending weather and confirmation, there may also be -- fingers crossed! -- horse-drawn carriage rides, 3-7 p.m., and strolling carolers in Victorian costume 4-5:30 p.m.

So you see, maintaining a Scrooge- or Grinch-like attitude is going to be mighty difficult. I myself could not have fought against holiday joy this morning even if I'd wanted to. My heartfelt pleasure came from watching a little one-year-old booklover almost take her first independent steps in my bookstore! 

I've read about marriage proposals and weddings in bookstores, but wouldn't a baby's first steps be the most special event possible? Lure that child with a colorful board book or story book, I say! It will make the whole family happy!

The Author Is Coming! The Author Is Coming (Again)!

Actually, Lynne Rae Perkins made a special trip up to Northport on Saturday, November 2, to sign a few copies of her new book for me, but she will come back for an official signing on Saturday, Nov. 16. Our official starting time for that event is 2 p.m., and we’ll see how long we can keep her here. I guarantee it will be until 3 p.m., at least.

Since she was here today (as I post this), I do have a few signed copies on hand already, for customers who can’t wait two weeks to get their new Perkins book. While here, Lynne also signed copies of her other books I had in stock, and I’ll restock those for the official mid-November signing. 

Lynne Rae Perkins is such a charming, delightful guest that she brightens the bookstore any day she walks in the door, so please join us if you can on November 16. You’ll have a good time, I promise! And we will probably have cookies, too.

Always a Treat -- Cake? In a New Book from Lynne Rae Perkins!

It’s a lot of work to bake a cake from scratch, but even more effort is involved in making amends for having misjudged someone. When Lucy realizes she has jumped to a wrong conclusion, though, she overcomes her natural feelings of foolishness by creating a beautiful gift. And, as generally happens in a story by Newbery winner Lynne Rae Perkins, adventure takes shape along the way. 

A perfect book to go under the Christmas tree — or to be read by the whole family after Thanksgiving dinner.

Wintercake

by Lynne Rae Perkins

Hardcover with dust jacket

$17.99

Dragons in the Sleeping Bear Dunes!

There’s a new legend in Sleeping Bear country, and the characters are not bears but dragons! According to one story-telling grandfather, dragons came to northern Michigan long before human beings were here. In fact, the dragons came to get away from human beings.

Suggested reading level for Dune Dragons is 7 years old and up to 12, but I’d say a 7-year-old reader would be rather precocious to take on this illustrated chapter book. There are always precocious readers, however, and children will often reach past what they can read easily, given an engaging story.

Dune Dragons seems to be taking the North by storm this season. Maybe adults are reading it, too?

Dune Dragons

by Gretchen Rose

With illustrations by Dianita Ceron

Indigo River Publishing, hardcover, 73pp

$19.95