LOCAL AUTHOR -- NORTHPORT!

 

Jennifer Sager of Northport, MI

Jennifer Sager and her husband made Northport their retirement home, so it was not surprising that when Jennifer wrote a book, she and her best friend would make their first call on Dog Ears Books. "We don't know what we're doing," one of them told me. Jennifer even said, "I don't consider myself an author." But they told me about Jenny's book, Steph's Story, and when I looked it over and read a few pages, I told her, "You are the author of this book, even if you never write another!"

Jennifer's book is a very personal story. Her older sister, Stephanie, their parents' first child, was born with Down syndrome. The challenges Steph and her family face in trying to balance care for Steph with as much independence as possible change over the years, and some are occasionally heartbreaking, but love and devotion see them through, and the baby not expected to live past her second birthday reaches age 63, experiencing many triumphs in the course of her life. This is basically a happy, upbeat book.

Author Jenny Sager sees her sister's story as being helpful to other families where some kind of disability is an issue, and I'm sure that's true. It's always good to learn how others have dealt with situations we are facing ourselves. But my view is that Steph's Story is a book for anyone with a family, of whatever kind, and that is pretty much all of us, isn't it? Jenny is never preachy. The factual information she passes along about help for those with disabilities is woven into her memories in such a way that the story reads seamlessly from start to finish. 

She is a delightful person, too! 

So please join us at Dog Ears Books (in the David Grath gallery next door, actually) on Thursday afternoon, August 13, at 4 p.m. You will be glad you made the time for this event.

More complete biographical information on the author has come in now: 

Jennifer Sager is the author of Steph’s Story, an honest account of her family’s joys, challenges, and creative strategies for helping Steph, born with Down syndrome, to flourish. Although Steph died a few years ago, Jennifer continues to support friends in the Downs family community as they navigate changes in their needs and in the policies regulating benefits.

Over a span of 30 years, Jennifer earned degrees from multiple universities in general education and special education. She received licenses for both teaching and administration, has taught across all grade levels, and worked for a county-wide non-profit organization to develop educational programming for families. She has been a school principal, a supervisor for special education cooperative, and a district-level special education administrator; however, she may tell you that the most rewarding work of her life was as her sister’s legal guardian.

Jennifer assumed co-guardianship with her mother for her older sister, Stephanie, who lived with Down syndrome, and she and her family were instrumental in challenging the accepted “quality of life” standards for people with disabilities. Her family navigated support for Stephanie when she found a boyfriend. Steph was able to move to her own apartment with supported living on the Medicare waiver, and Jennifer worked with the supporting agencies to navigate changes in state and federal systems and to advocate for the couple’s continuing relationship.

For her entire life Jennifer has advocated support for all people with disabilities. She served on the ADEC  Board of Directors in Elkhart and the ARC of Indiana Board of Directors. Most importantly for educators, service providers, and policy makers, Jennifer also has an incredible gift of story-telling that allows her to engage listeners and to illustrate profound lessonswith anecdotes from her professional and personal life. She is a passionate advocate for those with disabilities and for their families. 

Jennifer can often be found in the peaceful woods of Michigan’s Leelanau peninsula with her husband, Jim.

What's Going On Here and Now

Michigan Notable author Carlos Fuentes

Friends of the Leelanau Township Library (the FOLTL group) will hold their last author event of the summer series on Tuesday, July 28, at 7 p.m. at the Willowbrook Inn on Mill Street. The author is Robert "Carlos" Fuentes, with his book The Vacation, telling the true story of coming north as a teenager to pick cherries one summer with his family. Carlos and I will have a conversation "onstage," after which he will take questions from the audience, and there will be an opportunity following the event for audience members to buy books and have them signed by the author. I'm really looking forward to it. Carlos is a very enthusiastic writer and human being, and I know we will all have a good time. 

At the beautiful Willowbrook Inn on Mill St.

Before long I'll schedule an August event here at my own place (in the adjacent gallery, that is) with Northport author Jennifer Sager. Her memoir--her first book!--is the story of her older sister, born with Down syndrome, but it is really a story of the whole family, and for the most part it is a happy story. Jenny still misses her sister, Steph, who died at age 63. "We had so much fun together!" she says, an indication for you of what I mean by a happy story. And since we all have families, this is a story for everyone, not only for families that include a member with disabilities. Once I started the book, all the other things I was reading had to wait until I reached the last page of Steph's Story.

Unput-downable family story!

Besides new books, just about every day there are old books newly arrived here at Dog Ears, so stop in often to see what's "new" in the shop.

Only one example of treasures that await!

Another!

Another! 

Weekend Spotlight: These are not books.

 

Magnets!

A couple people asked if I had magnets, so I am now stocking half a dozen designs by the same Montana artist from whom I order notecards. Everyone else seems to love her style as much as I do.

The other item on my weekend spotlight today is a newspaper in which all of the writing and illustration is done by kids--of all ages! If you're a kid or the parent of a writing or drawing kid, or if you're just interested to see what kids are creating and having published these days, stop in and pick up a copy or two.

Newspaper written by kids!

Weekend Spotlight: One New, One a Little Less So

📚📓📔📕📗📘📙📚

I’m shining the metaphorical bookshop spotlight today on one new book and one from 2008. Both this week are nonfiction.

The cover tells the story,
as you discover when reading the book.

The new book comes from a Northport author, Jennifer Sager, and tells the story of her older sister, Stephanie, born with Down syndrome and not expected to live more than two years. Steph’s parents, however, could not bring themselves to heed the doctor’s advice to institutionalize their first-born daughter (and “try again”) and instead kept her at home and had two more girls. Naturally, accommodations had to be made for the eldest. Yet this is basically the story of a happy family, with parents and sisters responding to and interacting with their slowest member with love and humor.

Of course, not all is smooth sailing. The parents’ eventual divorce is probably the rudest shock (and I guess that’s a partial spoiler, isn’t it?), but it isn’t the end of the story or even crisis precipitating tragedy. Life goes on for all of them.

One of Steph’s recurrent frustrations is her feeling that, because she is oldest, she should do everything first: go to school, have a boyfriend, get a job. Her mother feels sadness through the years over the many things Steph will never be able to do. But she does so much! I’ll leave you to discover all that by reading the book, which I predict will hold your interest, as it did mine, to the last page. Although Jennifer Sager includes in her sister’s story many details about the law and various organizations and groups involved with Americans with disabilities, these facts do not stand awkwardly apart from the narrative but are smoothly woven into it. 

I usually have from three to five books going at once, depending on whether I’m at work or at home, what room I’m in at home, or what time of day it is, but when I started Steph’s Story all the others had to wait. And I'm glad to announce that Jenny will give a book talk for me in August, so read the book now and come meet her then!

***

Traditional Boats of Ireland: History, Folklore and Construction is a dream book, whether or not you're Irish. 

Published in Cork 18 years ago, the volume was years in the making, and it shows. How often have you seen a book with four introductions, each written by a different person? We are introduced, in turn, to “Irish Vernacular Boats”; “Irish Fisheries”; “The Great Spring Mackerel Fishery”; and finally “Boats, Boatmen and the Oral Tradition,” these introductions followed by sections on different regions of the island nation, the entirety illustrated with photographs, plans, drawings of details, and maps. Place names are given in both Irish and English, as is only proper. To turn the pages is enough to fall in love.

See what I mean? 

Steph's Story, paper, 464pp, retails for $29.95.

Traditional Boats of Ireland, hardcover with dust jacket, 658pp with dust jacket and index, is priced at $75.

P.S. The shop will be closed Sunday and Monday, July 5-6, and on Tuesday, July 7, I'll be opening late--not until mid afternoon. After that, back to regular Tuesday-Saturday, 11-5 hours.

This week at Dog Ears Books

 

Last week was exciting in my bookshop, with a slide show by Robert Downes on Thursday afternoon. This Thursday (6/18) will be a little different, as I'll only be open from about 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Back on Friday, however, for the usual 11-5 day, and with some new books in stock for your summer fun reading. 

Everything happens in the summer, and we try to keep up!!!

New on the Shelves

 

New books are always showing up in Northport. Here are a few recent additions at Dog Ears Books.

And don't forget this coming Thursday, Bob Downes is giving a slide show on pre-European Native American history, 4 p.m., right here on Waukazoo Street. 

Traverse City Author to Present Slide Show on Native American History

Original Americans

Traverse City author Robert Downes, winner of a book-of-the-year award in 2025 for his Raw Deal: The Indians of the Midwest and the Theft of Native Lands, will give a slide presentation on Native history in the Americas prior to the advent of European explorers in the 1500s (the “lost century”). His fascination with indigenous culture and history began as a boy when he would find arrowheads in farm fields. 

Prize-winning history

Besides his prize-winning history, Downes is the author of three novels featuring Native American culture. His latest, The Sun Dog, fits as the second in his Native trilogy, which began with The Wolf and the Willow and wraps up with Windigo Moon. 

Historical fiction trilogy

Locals also know Bob for his cycling adventure books and as one of the original publishers of the popular Traverse City weekly, Northern Express. 

The author’s presentation will take place in the David Grath gallery, accessible from Dog Ears Books, 106 Waukazoo Street, and will begin at 4 p.m. So come take a culture break with us between your afternoon at the beach and your evening cocktails. There will be opportunity for questions and discussion following the presentation, as well as an opportunity to purchase books and have the author sign them.  

Author with his latest book,
which he will be happy to sign for you

Mid- to End-of-the-Month News (May) + Timely Reminder

 

Big news is that I have finally cleaned off and organized the big table! That meant also reorganizing the shelves of used Michigan books. So now the fiction is all on the table (hardcover on one side, softcover, children's, and poetry on the other), and the shelves are all nonfiction. 

The timely reminder is that I will be on a pre-holiday break next week. So the shop is open today and will be tomorrow (Friday and Saturday, May 15-16) and then closed until next Friday, May 22, when I'll have the shop open again.

May Schedule

In general, hours for May will be Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; however, the shop will be closed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, May 19, 20, 21 while I’m out of town, then open again Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. 

Bookseller Recommendation for Spring: A new Northwoods Mystery

 

 

Karen Casebeer’s third book, the latest in her Northwoods Mystery series, is a sure-fire winner. Set in northwest lower Michigan, with action stretching from the Platte River in the south to Cathead Bay in the north, and featuring various parts of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Wayfinding is a tight, cohesive story of a few months in the life of forensic detective Quinn Macarthy. 

On medical leave following a traumatic incident with career criminals, Quinn rents an A-frame cottage on Sleeping Bear Bay, planning to rest, hike with her dog, and take time to heal, but her plan is interrupted when her dog, Ruby, trained in search and rescue as well as drug detection, discovers a human hand in the dunes, uncovered by an overnight storm. Will Quinn be able to remain uninvolved as the mystery of the skeleton’s identity and cause of death are investigated? (What do you think?)

Wayfinding has several plot lines: the investigation following the finding of the skeleton; Quinn’s therapy sessions dealing with multiple past traumas; the gentle beginnings of a new romantic relationship; and quite a lot of recent developments in genealogical research. All are masterfully woven together by the author. Case never drops a single thread in her story, and eventually everything comes together in surprising ways not at all apparent beforehand. 

As with every good mystery series, it isn’t necessary to have read the preceding two books before diving right into this third novel. An added enticement for locals and annual visitors is that anyone familiar with Benzie, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau counties will recognize the territory and its landmarks, which is always fun. 

Poetry at an Indie!

 

What better way to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day (always the last Saturday in April--and April is National Poetry Month!) than with a Michigan poet as my bookstore guest? We will convene at noon and sit in a congenial circle, which worked so well for Fleda's last visit to Dog Ears Books that I'm doing it again. Please join us!

Mark Your Calendar: Saturday, April 25

 

Fleda Brown, former poet laureate of the state of Delaware, back home in Michigan now for several years, will give a reading of her new work in person in Northport on Indie Bookstore Day, Saturday, April 25! We will convene at noon, but anyone is welcome to come as early as my 11 a.m. bookshop opening to be sure of a good seat and/or to spend time browsing.

And here's another idea: A few months ago a group of women in my shop told me they had decided to make a switch from wine tasting to book shopping. They came north for a weekend to visit every bookshop in Traverse City and Leelanau County, each of them buying at least one book in each shop. Road trip with friends! What a great way to celebrate Indie Day!

Leelanau Indies: Photos by Karen Mulvahill

The last Saturday in April is always Indie Bookstore Day. For several years, I was away from my shop on that day, and the last couple of years I just didn't get on the ball soon enough to do anything special. This year, for once, I'm ahead of the curve--and pleased as punch, too, about my literary guest for the day.

Fleda Brown was my guest last May, also.

Beautiful Bargains

 

So gently used, they look and feel like new!

Closed This Friday

 

My life is taking me away from Northport on Friday. I plan to be back in the shop on Saturday for regular 11 to 3 winter hours.

Am I Crazy? Not Freezing Indoors (with John and Yoko)

 It's a cold, snowy, blowy January Friday, with below-zero temperatures that should creep up to 3 above later this afternoon. I layered up. My car started. My driveway was plowed yesterday. I made it to Northport and will be here until 3 p.m. and plan to be here on Saturday, also, 11-3. 

Latest used books to come to my shop feature a collection of books by and about John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Read them for nostalgia if you remember, for history if you're too young to know already. See my other blog for more rambling narrative.

Bookstore Winter Saturday

 

What will a winter Saturday in January bring to a village bookseller in Northern Michigan? Who might walk in the door, and what books might she sell? There is no way to forecast bookshop weather, but at 12:30 p.m. on January 17 I can already say I've had a wonderful day!

It was a balmy 28 degrees this morning at dog-walk time, and that was a good start. The first person through my shop door was a good friend from a third-generation township farm, and we always have a lot to talk about. More people, more good conversation, good books sold--including a copy of Liberty Hyde Bailey's Hortus. LHB is one of my Michigan heroes, so that made me happy, and the horticultural theme of the day continued when the new owners--or, as they put it, the parents of the "real" new owner--of Peninsula Perennials came shopping for books, and I reminded John that I'd been on Swede Road in the fall and talked to him about mountain ash. 

It's because of these coincidences that today's post begins with a new book I'm carrying, Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden, a reprint of the original 1917 edition, "a classic account of Hidatsa American Indian gardening techniques," and I'll have another interesting book on flora by next Saturday.

Winter Is Here

 

Winter hours have arrived. (Winter arrived earlier, but winter hours began with the new year.)

Wednesday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Thursday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Friday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Saturday, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

I will probably not be ordering new books every week, but when I do the order will go in on Monday so that books arrive by the end of the week (if in stock at the distributor's warehouse), which means Saturday is the last day to let me know in person that you want to order a book.

The shop has lots of new books on hand already, though, both fiction and nonfiction. For example, here are some memoirs and biographies to start off your 2026 reading.

 

Update, January 14: Today was a snow day for Northport School, but I made it to town easily. What will happen by the end of the day and overnight, however, is anyone's guess. Will I get here on Thursday? If possible, yes. If not possible, no! So call first, and if I'm here between the hours of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., I'll answer the phone.