prepared by Julie Reimer, media specialist
at Turtle Lake Elementary in Shoreview, Minnesota

Antler, Bear, Canoe: a Northwoods Alphabet Year
written and illus. by Betsy Bowen

The author and illustrator of this alphabet book tells readers in the introduction: “This is a book of the things I see around me where I live, in the Northwoods of Minnesota.” Moving through the seasons, she uses woodblock prints and descriptive text to communicate observations about the activities and sights found in Minnesota’s Northwoods.

M is for Minnesota
written by Dori Hillestad Butler, illus. by Janice Lee Porter

This alphabet book is about the places, creatures, history, things, and people that make up Minnesota’s heritage. Facts about each thing follow the initial sentence and provide interesting information about the topic. M is for Mississippi River, for example, which begins in Itasca State Park and runs north and east before heading south for 2,552 miles. Both basic and trivial facts give noteworthy information about Minnesota.

Prairie Train
written by Marsha Chall, illus. by John Thompson

A young girl boards the Great Northern line on Minnesota’s prairie and travels the St. Paul Union Depot where her grandma awaits. Along the route, she sees farms with product advertisements on the barns, eats an elegant dinner on board, makes a friend of the knitting woman across the seat, and joins in the songs about trains and engineers. Upon her arrival, far from home, she is now “Grandma’s girl, city queen.”

Up North at the Cabin
written by Marsha Chall, paintings by Steve Johnson

The narrator of this beautifully illustrated book takes readers on a journey to her cabin, a journey familiar to many Minnesotans. Her family passes log cabins and the walleve statue by Lake Mille Lacs before arriving at the cabin. Here, the young girl fishes with her grandfather, eats at the long table next to her grandmother, dives into the lake, canoes in the river, and experiences the wonders of the natural world and the history of this magical place.

Song of Sampo Lake
written by William Durbin

When his Finnish family starts a new life in Minnesota, Matti Ojala takes a lead role in helping his father clear the land for their house, working as a clerk in the general store in nearby Soudan, and teaching English to the Saari children in exchange for a pail of milk three days each week. The early days of the Soudan Mine are explained as various family members and friends work there.

The Shrouding Woman
written by Loretta Ellsworth

Set in the 1800s in southeastern Minnesota, this historical fiction novel tells the story of Evie, a young girl whose aunt becomes the caregiver for her and her sister after their mother dies. Aunt Flo is not the substitute mother Evie wanted, and worse yet, her profession as a shrouding woman, someone who prepares the dead for burial, is frightful. Eventually, Evie learns to accept her aunt’s quiet humor and dignity and accept her role.

Horns & Wrinkles
written by Joseph Helgerson

Claire, a resident of the town of Blue Wing, located on the Mississippi River in Minnesota, is the twelve-year-old heroine of this story. Strange things have occurred, and when magical happenings touch those she knows well, Claire succumbs to the adventurous solution to the problem. Ultimately, she must face the Rock Troll. All sorts of magical twists and perils await her.

Minn of the Mississippi
written by Holling Clancy Holling

Born at Lake Itasca, the Headwaters of the Mississippi River, the main character of this book begins a journey along that river. Named Minn (the Indian word for water) by a native boy, the snapping turtle is nursed to strength and eventually released to the water in the moonlight. She encounters all sorts of wildlife along the way, and the author carefully relates the history of the area as he tells her story.

Paddle-to-the-Sea
written and illustrated by Holling Clancy Holling

“Please put me back in water. I am Paddle-to-the-Sea.” The words carved along the bottom of a carefully-carved one-foot long canoe guarantee that the Paddle Person and his canoe will be placed back in the water on a series of jaunts through the waters of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Crafted by a young Indian boy, the canoe is released into Lake Nipigon, and it slowly travels through a marsh and along the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. Readers can follow the Paddle Person’s path on a map at the end of the book. This lushly illustrated story won a Caldecott Honor Medal in 1942.

Marven of the Great North Woods
written by Kathryn Lasky

When an influenza epidemic strikes the city of Duluth, Minnesota in 1918, Marven’s family makes the decision to send him away from the city to a logging camp near Bemidji. There, he keeps the books and interacts with the French lumberjacks. Though initially fearful of the jacks’ size and activities, he is befriended by Jean-Louis, the biggest jack, and comes to appreciate his situation out in the immense northwoods. When he returns to Duluth, Marven is amazed to find his family well and strong, but he takes a piece of the lumbercamp with him.

Betsy-Tacy
written by Maud Hart Lovelace, illus. by Lois Lenski

Set in Deep Valley (really Mankato), Minnesota, this book is the first of many about two friends who have known each other for so long and are so close that people know the two as one name. The girls find places that are just for them, like the bench on the hill where they ate supper together, or the piano box behind Betsy’s house that was used as a playhouse. When the girls leave one of Betsy’s mother’s calling cards at a new family’s house, they end up with another special friend named Tib. Their adventures continue in the other books of the series.

Honk the Moose
written by Phil Stong, illus. by Kurt Wiese

In Birora (actually Biwabik), Minnesota, a hungry moose wanders into town one day and stops at the local stable for a meal. When someone comes to him, the moose says, “HAWWNK” and earns the name Honk from the boys who originally discovered him in the stable. Though the police, the mayor, and others try to figure out a way to get rid of him, those boys, Waino and Ivar, defend him.

Courage at Indian Deep
written by Jane Resh Thomas

Cass’s family moves from Minneapolis to the North Shore of Lake Superior. The adjustment is huge for Cass and involves new friends, a bully, and a diverse environment. Alone with his dog one autumn evening in the woods near his home during a blizzard, Cass discovers a sinking ship. He must muster all his courage to save the survivors alone.

Minn from Minnesota
written by Kathy-jo Wargin, illus. by Karen Busch Holman

Minn is a white-footed mouse that lives with Gerdie, a Swedish woman who loves to take care of needy animals, near Ely, Minnesota. After they go to a house-warming party for a raccoon named Paavo, Minn stays to enjoy the company of his animal friends and offends Rink the crow. Alas, he cannot fight Rink’s revenge and ends up far from home. Many animals come to Minn’s defense, and he journeys all around Minnesota in his effort to return home to Gerdie.

V is for Viking: a Minnesota Alphabet
written by Kathy-jo Wargin
illus. by Karen Latham and Rebecca Latham
(all three from Minnesota)

Told in rhyming verse, this alphabet book features a different piece of Minnesota’s culture and history for every letter. Side panels provide detailed information about the thing mentioned in the rhyme, and some letters feature two things. B, for example, is for Bundt pan and for Boundary Waters, and C is for two famous people from Minnesota: Charles Schulz the cartoonist and Charles Lindbergh the aviator. Readers can end the book experience by taking a “lake-ful of Minnesota facts” quiz.

On the Banks of Plum Creek
written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illus. by Garth Williams
(Wilder lived in Minnesota)

After leaving their little house on the Kansas prairie, the Ingalls family moves to a sod house by Plum Creek near Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Laura and her sister Mary explore the creek, walk to town for school, play with their brindle bulldog, Jack, and encounter all sorts of creatures in their daily life. A runaway cow makes a hole in their sod roof. Leeches attach themselves to their legs while wading in the creek. Clouds of grasshoppers attack their crops. The family remains steadfast in their dedication to each other and to making a living on the Minnesota prairie.

Dear Papa
written by Anne Ylvisaker

When Isabelle is given the assignment of writing a letter, she decides to write to her dad who had recently passed away. Living with relatives in Zumbrota, a small Minnesota town, she writes to her aunt and her siblings, searching for ways to reunite her family. When her mother remarries, her stepfather brings all the children to his home on Mississippi River Boulevard in the city where Isabelle’s adjustment to her new life is humorous and her words heartfelt.