UP Notable Book Club: the Crystal Falls Community District Library in partnership with the U.P. Publishers & Authors Association (UPPAA) has scheduled author events with winners of the UP Notable Book List. The 30th event is with Ann Dallman featuring Cady and the Birchbark Box — the 2nd installment in the Cady Whirlwind Thunder YA mystery series. The acclaim for Dallman’s series has grown as the books are released, garnering many state and regional awards along the way. The stories take place in a fictional U.P. town, loosely based on the Hannahville Potawatomi Indian Reservation west of Escanaba, where the 13-year-old Cady and her family are newly transplanted from Minnesota.
ANN DALLMAN has lifelong roots in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She started out as a newspaper reporter/photographer and later taught middle and high school English/Journalism/Reading, fifteen of those years on the Hannahville Indian Reservation in Wilson, MI. She holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism Education from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree from Viterbo University. A freelance writer, she is now writing her third Cady novel. Ann served as Writer in Residence at Wild Acres Retreat Center in North Carolina and was awarded scholarships to study writing with author Susan Power/Split Rock Arts Institute/Minneapolis, MN and to Highlights Foundations sessions in Honesdale, PA.
Her Middle Grade novel, Cady and the Bear Necklace, a U.P. Notable Book, received: Historical Society of Michigan State History Award, Midwest Book Award, New Mexico-Arizona Book Award and was a Next Generation Indie Book Award Finalist. The second book in the series, Cady and the Birchbark Box, is also a U.P. Notable Book and received the Historical Society of Michigan State History Award. It is published by Modern History Press of Ann Arbor, MI, available locally at Snowbound Books and on amazon, B&N, Walmart and target.com websites.
“Ann Dallman’s second novel Cady and the Birchbark Box depicts the sophistication of the Native American culture and the everyday life of a 13 year-old teenage girl. Cady’s character struggles with a move to another community, a crush on a young man and most importantly–a mystery behind a birchbark box. Cady demonstrates an endearing respect and admiration for her grandmother while being frustrated with not getting the answers from her that she needs: who was Abe and what was his connection to Lake Superior’s shipwreck past? The infamous story of the sinking of the Christmas Tree Ship in 1912 holds her attention as well.
Realistic family relationships color Cady’s world with a caring father, absent mother, new stepmother and baby brother. Cady manages her responsibilities at home, as a soccer player and a high school student while doggedly searching for the answers to a riddled past dug up from the grounds surrounding a vacant home. A particular noisy blue jay makes its presence known and keeps her on task. Cady’s crush is only rarely seen in this installment. She must work at calming her famous temper while she faces a life filled with stress. Nevertheless, she is often reminded about her gift of solving mysteries.” — Sharon Brunner, U.P. Book Review
More information about the U.P. Notable Book list, U.P. Book Review, and UPPAA can be found on www.UPNotable.com
About the Upper Peninsula Publishers and Authors Association (UPPAA)
Established in 1998 to support authors and publishers who live in or write about Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, UPPAA is a Michigan nonprofit association with more than 100 members, many of whose books are featured on the organization’s website at www.uppaa.org. UPPAA welcomes membership and participation from anyone with a UP connection who is interested in writing.
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