Michigan Notable Books

What Are Michigan Notable Books?

Edited from the Michigan Notable Books website by Christa Clare


Each year, the Michigan Notable Books list features 20 books published during the previous calendar year that are about, or set in, Michigan or the Great Lakes region, or are written by a native or resident of Michigan. Selections include nonfiction and fiction and typically have a wide appeal and cover an array of topics and issues close to the hearts of Michigan residents.

Michigan Notable Books (MNB) is a statewide program that began as part of the 1991 Michigan Week celebration, geared to pay tribute and draw attention to many people, places and things that make Michigan life unique. In that regard, the MNB program successfully features Michigan books and writers focusing on the literary talents found in the Great Lakes State.

Books featuring topics as varied as a physically-challenged kid from Flint who went on to win an Olympic Gold Medal and pitch a no-hitter for the New York Yankees, the 1968 Detroit Tigers, survival of the Kirtland's warbler, a biography of Michigan's first governor, northwest Michigan's Fishtown, the revival of Detroit, saving the Theodore Roethke house, Michigan's historic train stations, a memoir of a Detroit soul singer, a study of Michigan's amphibians and reptiles, Depression-era Flint, and an illustrated history of Detroit's historic places of worship are all part of this year's list.

Here are the 2013 Michigan Notable books:

American Poet: A Novel by Jeff Vande Zande (Bottom Dog Press)

The Amphibians and Reptiles of Michigan by J. Alan Holman (Wayne State University Press)

Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography by John Comazzi (Princeton Architectural Press)

Bear Has a Story to Tell by Phillip C. Stead, illustrated by Erin E. Stead (Roaring Brook Press)

The Boy Governor: Stevens T. Mason and the Birth of Michigan Politics by Don Faber (University of Michigan Press)

Canada by Richard Ford (Ecco)

Death Dance of a Butterfly by Melba Joyce Boyd (Past Tents Press)

Detroit City Is the Place to Be by Mark Binelli (Metropolitan Books)

Detroit's Historic Places of Worship compiled and edited by Marla O. Collum, Barbara E. Krueger and Dorothy Kostuch, photographs by Dirk Bakker with a forward by John Gallagher (Wayne State University Press)

Dust to Dust: A Memoir by Benjamin Busch (Ecco)

Fishtown: Leland Michigan's Historic Fishery by Laurie Sommers (Arbutus Press)

Imperfect by Jim Abbott/Tim Brown (Ballantine Books)

Ink Trails by Jack Dempsey and Dave Dempsey (Michigan State University Press)

The Kirtland's Warbler by William Rapai (University of Michigan Press)

Michigan's Historic Railroad Stations by Michael Hodges (Wayne State University Press)

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis (Wendy Lamb Books)

The Skeleton Box: A Starvation Lake Mystery by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone Books)

Summer of '68: The Season That Changed Baseball--and America--Forever by Tim Wendel (Da Capo Press)

A Woman Like Me by Bettye LaVette (Blue Rider Press)

The World of A Few Minutes Ago by Jack Driscol (Wayne State University Press).

What February 12, 2013 Means to the Clarke

by Bryan Whitledge and Lindsay Gabriel

Tuesday, February 12 marks two events that the Clarke would like to recognize - President Lincoln's 204th birthday and Paczki Day. Because the two events have not much in common, today's blog posting is a 2-for-1 deal.

First, in recognition of the birthday of our 16th President, we are sharing a greeting signed by President Lincoln and dated April 16, 1862. This autograph is one from a collection of every U. S. President's autographs, which is currently on loan at the Clarke Historical Library.

In addition to this item, the Clarke maintains information related to Abraham Lincoln's only speech on Michigan soil, which took place in Kalamazoo on August 27, 1856. Information ranges from microfilm of historical copies of the Kalamazoo Gazette to reprints of the speech published years after Lincoln's assassination.

The second event that we would like to pay homage to is Fat Tuesday and in Michigan, Fat Tuesday means paczkis. The Clarke has a wealth of resources devoted to both Polish culture in Michigan and Michigan cookbooks. Some of these resources cross and in their pages, one can find information about the paczki. Above is a page from Polish Heritage Cookery by Robert and Maria Strybel explaining paczkis.

For the uninitiated, a paczki is pronounced punch-kee. It is a deep-fried dough pastry filled with a sweet filling. Fat Tuesday is the traditional day to eat this calorie-laden treat, which comes from the Polish Catholic tradition of using up all of the food that would be otherwise forbidden during Lent (lard, butter, sugar, eggs, etc.). No matter one's cultural background, Paczki Day is looked forward to by many Michiganders.

Every day at the Clarke has some historical significance and February 12 of 2013 gives us a great excuse to share some of our favorite things with you.

New Rackham Book Added to the Library

by Frank Boles

The Clarke Library recently added to the Lucile Clarke Memorial Children’s Library a first edition of Two Old Ladies, Two Foolish Fairies and a Tom Cat, illustrated by Arthur Rackham and published in London in 1897.

"Go! Be a stray cat!"

Arthur Rackham is among the most famous illustrators to work with children’s books. In 2005, the Library made a major acquisition of over 100 Rackham illustrated volumes, creating one of the major Rackham collections in the United States. There are very few books illustrated by Rackham that are not already found in some form in the collection, but Two Old Ladies was one of the books we were missing. It was published in a relatively small press run in the years before Rackham became famous. Thus today it is a hard to find title. We were thrilled to be able to add it to the collection.

Arthur Rackham was born in 1867. Although he early on showed great talent as an artist, his father, who was a practical man, insisted that the boy learn a trade. Arthur eventually became a clerk at an insurance firm, but he was frequently bored and continued to take art lessons. In 1892, he resigned his clerkship to illustrate books. His first published work appeared in 1893. For the next decade he worked regularly, but relatively anonymously, with a reputation known mainly to people “inside the trade.”

A lavishly printed edition of Rip Van Winkle, illustrated by Rackham, proved his “breakthrough” book. The 1905 publication gave Rackham a public presence. In 1906, he secured his position with the public through the illustrations he created for Peter Pan in Kensington Garden. After these two books, Rackham’s name on a volume as the illustrator was enough to sell a book. Rackham remained active as an illustrator until his death in 1939. The last book Rackham illustrated, The Wind and the Willows, was published posthumously in 1940.

The Lucile Clarke Memorial Children’s Library was founded within the Clarke Library in 1971 by Dr. Norman Clarke, Sr., in memory of his deceased wife.

Presidency Exhibit closes this Weekend

The current exhibit in the Clarke Historical Library, “The Presidency” will close on Monday, January 28^th. If you have been putting off visiting to see the collection of political cartoons, presidential campaign biographies, and the wonderful collection of autographs signed by each of the 43 American presidents, which is on loan to the Library, this weekend will be your last chance.  Drop by weekdays from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm or this Saturday from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm.

The Entire Run of Central's Student Newspaper is On-line

by Bryan Whitledge

For several years now, the Clarke Historical Library has been working to digitize documents relevant to the study of Central Michigan University history. The Board of Trustee Minutes (1964-99), the entire run of Chippewa Yearbooks (1910-2003), and historical materials from the Student Government Association (2003-09) are just three examples of digital documents that are freely available to anyone in the world via the CMU Online Digital Object Repository (CONDOR) website. We are always adding to these great resources and currently, we are in the process of digitizing each and every Bulletin - undergraduate, graduate, Global Campus, and even the early Bulletins from Central Normal, as the University used to be known. As of this posting, Undergraduate Bulletins from 1986 to 2011 can be accessed via CONDOR.

Among all of these digital records is a major resource for studying Central's history - the CMU student newspaper. We are happy to announce that we have recently completed the digitization of the entire run of Central Michigan Life (and its previous incarnations - Central State Life and Central Normal Life). All of the issues from 1919 until 1999 are now available on the CM Life page of the CONDOR website. For over two years, our Preservation Microfilming unit, led by Kim Hagerty, has digitally scanned the microfilm of CM Life, cleaned up the images, used computer software that "reads" the text, attributed identifying information to the files, and finally uploaded the completed issues to CONDOR.

The result is a full searchable collection of 80 years of newspapers chronicling the major and minor events in Central's history. There are first hand accounts of the fire that burned the Old Main building and CMU's Division II National Championship in football, which led to the ascension to Division I status as well as campus reaction to national and World events, such as the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill (pp. 3,4) and the Kent State shootings.

This source now enables researchers far and wide to dig into CMU history from the comfort of their own computer. Whether it is CMU news, Mt. Pleasant News, or the local reaction to global news, the Clarke Historical Library and CONDOR are the home of the historical Central Michigan University student newspapers.