I love visiting Lake Michigan any time of the year. But Michiganders will tell you – summer is especially special. I was born on the coast of this Great Lake. Perhaps that explains my obsession with lighthouses…and why I decided to feature four picture books on lighthouse history and culture, each with a different angle. So get ready! Or beware… If you don’t like lighthouses, you might have to head for the hills (as opposed to the high seas, where you might see a lighthouse).
SPORT: SHIP DOG OF THE GREAT LAKES
by Pamela Cameron and illustrator Renée Graef
⭐️A Michigan notable book by the Library of Michigan, and winner of the Michigan State History award among others
I find myself returning to this stunningly beautiful picture book again and again. Not only is the cover illustration gorgeous and inviting, but somehow Pamela Cameron and Renée Graef had me crying and then smiling within the first few pages. I was hooked from the start!
If you love lighthouses and ships and Lake Michigan – and dogs especially – you’ll love this heart-warming, timeless story of a puppy finding a home on a ship. Each carefully-researched scene actually happened. You’ll also learn about the different parts of a steamship and the various fog horn signals for warnings and greetings.
In 1914, sailors on the lighthouse tender ship – the Hyacinth – spotted a puppy drifting in the Milwaukee River and rescued it. It didn’t take long for the captain and crew to adopt him and name him Sport.
Sport, believed to be a Newfoundland-retriever mix, became a beloved ship dog on the Hyacinth. For 12 years, he helped the crew bring supplies to the lighthouse keeping families around Lake Michigan. He also did his part caring for buoys and lightships on the water. But there was fun, too. Sport even played baseball with the crew!
In time, Sport’s fame spread from the Hyacinth to the Great Lakes community. His loyalty, service, and love inspired many, and I’m so glad Pamela Cameron and Renée Graef brought this wonderful story to life to inspire a new generation. It reminds us that love, even from a dog (or perhaps, especially from a dog!), can transform a community in amazing ways.
STORM’S COMING!
by Margi Preus and illustrator David Geister
Margi Preus lives in Duluth, MN, along Lake Superior – the Great Lake famously called Gitche Gumee by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (though it’s probably more accurate to say Kitche-Gami – “Big Sea” or “Great Water” – in Ojibwe. Lake Michigan is Michi-Gami.) Margi not only knows about cold weather and high waves, she knows how to tell when a “storm’s coming” by noticing signs in the natural world. I love how she presents this time-tested folk wisdom in her book STORM’S COMING!. It reminds us to pay attention to the beauty and wonder surrounding us every day.
Sophie, featured on the book cover, is a young girl who lives with her family at Split Rock Lighthouse: https://www.mnhs.org/splitrock. She’s learned to read the signs of a coming storm by observing how bread dough rises quickly, or the way spiders weave their webs and gulls fly low over the water. She races to tell members of her family of the oncoming storm and ends up waiting out the storm with her father in the lighthouse.
The gorgeous paintings by David Geister give this historical, STEAM-inspired picture book an active vibrancy that propels the narrative from scene to scene.
MISS COLFAX’S LIGHT
by Aimée Bissonette and illustrator Eileen Ryan Ewen
There are two “Old Faithfuls” in the US. One is the famous geyser in Yellowstone National Park. The other was what mariners called the Michigan City, Indiana lighthouse as they navigated terrifying Lake Michigan storms. This lighthouse was also known as “Miss Colfax’s Light”. Harriet Colfax faithfully kept the Michigan City lighthouse lit for 43 years. She began the lighthouse keeper job in 1861, when she was 37 years old, and retired in 1904…when she turned 80!
This wonderful picture book highlights Miss Colfax’s story: when and why she took the job, what this difficult and dangerous job entailed, and how technology brought an end to the old lighthouse keeping ways. I love the theme of determination and resilience Aimee Bissonette weaves throughout the story, etching out scenes described in Miss Colfax’s logbook. The illustrations by Ellen Ryan Ewen powerfully capture the hazardous events Harriet Colfax encountered and the faithful determination that defined her life.
In October 1904, Miss Colfax told a reporter of the Chicago Tribune: “I love the lamps, the old lighthouse, and the work. They are the habit, the home, everything dear I have known for so long… I would rather die here than live elsewhere.”
HELLO LIGHTHOUSE!
written and illustrated by Sophie Blackall
I’m so glad Sophie Blackall is also obsessed with lighthouses. This book is exquisite.
Of course, the illustrations are stellar. That goes without saying… But I also fell in love with the poetic flow of her narrative. I still find myself randomly saying aloud: “From dawn to dusk, the lighthouse beams – Hello, hello, hello! Hello Lighthouse!”
The story begins with a man moving into a lighthouse, and while he awaits his wife’s arrival, he sends her bottle-messages. (This really happened! Many lighthouse keepers found it faster to send letters to the mainland with bottles riding the tide. Sophie includes a bunch of fun information in the back of the book.) Then the wife arrives, and soon a child, and they live as a lighthouse family until technology changes the world of lighthouse keepers and they must return to the mainland.
Throughout the book, Sophie’s illustration work explores many angles and aspects of the old lighthouse keeping life. It will keep you coming back to notice more and more details with each read.