UPPAA

Book Club - The Last Huck with J. D. Austin
2025-06-12 00:00 - 20:00 (America/Detroit) | Zoom
Join us for UP Notable Book Club with host Evelyn Gathu and guest J.D. Austin as we discuss The Last Huck: A Novel

How to Hike the North Country Trail with Joan H. Young
2025-07-10 19:00 - 20:00
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 48th event features Joan H. Young, who became the first woman to hike the entire 4,400-mile North Country National Scenic Trail (NCT) in 2010. The NCT has now grown to over 4800 miles, and she hiked the whole trail again in 2023!
When: Thursday, July 10th, 2025 at 7 pm Eastern / 6 pm Central
Where: on the Zoom platform — please contact Evelyn Gathu in advance at egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org, or by phone at (906) 875-3344. We recommend you borrow a copy of these books from your local library or purchase them from your local bookseller in advance to get the most out of these events.
JOAN H. YOUNG has enjoyed the outdoors her entire life. Highlights of her outdoor adventures include Girl Scouting, which provided yearly training in camp skills, the opportunity to engage in a 10-day canoe trip, and numerous short backpacking excursions. She was selected to attend the 1965 Senior Scout Roundup in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, an international event to which 10,000 girls were invited. She rode a bicycle from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean in 1986 How to Hike the North Country Trail is a planning guide. She writes an award-winning outdoor column for the Ludington Daily News and Mason County Press. For the past 12 years, she has also written fiction, including short stories, mysteries, and mysteries for children.
Search Joan H. Young.

How to Hike the North Country Trail: not quite a Guide is intended to help hikers who desire to take a long hike on the North Country Trail (NCT) with planning. It covers the definition of National Scenic Trails and gives a history of the conditions under which the NCT was established. This history helps to explain why planning an NCT hike is more burdensome than for some other long trails. The bulk of the book is a geographical listing of legal places to camp and find lodging along the entire 4800-mile trail, including the type of campsite/lodging, amenities, fee/no fee, and manager/maintainer.
More information about the U.P. Notable Book list, U.P. Book Review, and UPPAA can be found on www.UPNotable.com

U.P. Notable with Carol Schultz and the Story of Journey the Great Horned Owl
2025-10-09 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
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 51st event features Carol Schultz, the author of several beautifully illustrated children’s books about animals, both fiction and non-fiction. The Story of Journey: The Great Horned Owl follows the amazing true-life story of how a little Great Horned Owl was rescued and became a beacon of learning and conservation for a whole generation of children in Upper Michigan. Special guest Phyllis Carlson, the wildlife rehabilitator who worked with Journey for two decades, will provide additional background.
When: Thursday, October 9, 2025 at 7 pm Eastern / 6 pm Central
Where: on the Zoom platform — please contact Evelyn Gathu in advance at egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org, or by phone at (906) 875-3344. We recommend you borrow a copy of these books from your local library or purchase them from your local bookseller in advance to get the most out of these events.
CAROL L. SCHULTZ grew up in the beautiful Upper Peninsula, where she was the middle of 6 children in her family. In a neighborhood full of kids, there was always someone to spend time with outdoors. After marrying, raising children, and working outside of the home, she retired and found the time to write and paint (almost) as much as she would like to. She is a self-taught artist and author of children’s books. Her nature-inspired children’s books gave her the outlet to write and illustrate the wonderful area in which we live. The beauty of the Upper Peninsula and Northern Wisconsin, with its abundant wildlife, wooded areas, and multiple lakes and rivers, has always been an inspiration for her work. Winter is her time of year to create my artwork, with the summers spent outdoors as much as possible. It is her fondest hope that readers will enjoy her work and that it will inspire them to create their own.
“The Story of Journey, an informative picture book is great for the older end of the picture book range. It is great for kids who can listen to a little more detailed text and older elementary children who are already reading. The author did her research well and had input from an actual wildlife rehabilitator, which adds to the authority in the message. This reviewer was intrigued by the fact that baby owls roam the branches of the tree in which their nest is before they learn to fly. Relating this to a time frame—the fact that they are “branchers” in June and fly in July—helps readers understand how much longer owl parents work than some other types of birds.
The illustrations are also well researched for accuracy, adding as much to the information as the text. This reviewer especially liked the illustration of a rehabilitator’s gloved hand, and the straps used to secure a young owl while it is being held by a human. The pages about owl facts after Journey’s story were equally informative. Detailed illustrations and descriptions of an owl’s wings, talons, and hearing add much to any reader’s knowledge. Knowing hat owls can hear a mouse under the snow up to one-half mile away made this reviewer (who wears hearing aids) green with envy. We wish this author much luck and encourage schools, libraries, and parents to search for copies.”
— Deborah K. Frontiera, for UP Book Review
More information about the U.P. Notable Book list, U.P. Book Review, and UPPAA can be found on www.UPNotable.com

UP Notable Book Club with Larry Jorgensen and the History of Snowmobiles
2025-12-11 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
UP Notable Book Club presents a Q&A session about Make It Go In the Snow: People and Ideas in the History of Snowmobiles with Larry Jorgensen
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 53rd event features Larry Jorgensen, author of Make it Go in the Snow: People and Ideas in the History of Snowmobiles. Through the years, the challenge of powered transportation in the snow has been met with ideas from explorers, creative inventors and small companies, all with new ideas – often unique and sometimes successful. The name “snowmobile” was trademarked in 1917, but there were snow travel ideas before that date and certainly thousands more since. As a pioneer in the field, Larry brings us his unique perspective on people and their machines and some historic rides throughout the U.P. and even abroad.
When: Thursday, December 11, 2025 at 7 pm Eastern / 6 pm Central
Where: on the Zoom platform — please contact Evelyn Gathu in advance at egathu@crystalfallslibrary.org, or by phone at (906) 875-3344. We recommend you borrow a copy of these books from your local library or purchase them from your local bookseller in advance to get the most out of these events.
LARRY JORGENSEN first became addicted to the sport and business of snowmobiling after buying his first sled, an Arctic Cat, in 1967. He purchased that Cat from the first Arctic Cat dealer in Green Bay, a local shoe repair shop which had a total available inventory of two machines. Jorgensen was fortunate to become a riding member of the pioneer cross-country snowmobile group, the Peninsula Pathfinders of Upper Michigan. He participated in the club’s first three long-distance rides, including the 1970 trip across the giant Mackinac Bridge which connects lower Michigan to the Upper Peninsula. Although he owned the Arctic Cat, he had been convinced to ride an Eskimo snowmobileand it may have been the only time an Eskimo sled crossed the Big Mac.
“I will blend in this review of Make It Go In the Snow ideas and effects that I have come across in my general reading on surrealism among the modern French poets in order to capture the skill and overall effects in Jorgensen because I think his work is a fine addition to the detail and to the mood of talking about the culture of the UP. He does not tell his history in a systematic way with footnotes and large bibliography like an academic. Instead, he uses many old photographs and rather rambles through his story in a leisurely way like a Parisian flâneur or gentleman expert on the feature of being a Yooper man of the North. It reminds me of my own immersion when my wife and I began our discovery of the region; and even though it was usually summer
I was fascinated with the exploration of the Antarctic, of “Going South” across rough seas from New Zealand with the sad and heroic Captain Scott and his brave men and dogs. A news reporter for a TV station in Green Bay, Jorgensen first became addicted to the sport and business of snowmobiling when he bought his first sled, an Arctic Cat in 1967. Pictured at right is Admiral Byrd’s ill-fated Snow Cruiser trekking across the USA toward it’s launch from the east coast.” — Mack Hassler, UP 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 over 180 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.
# # #

UP Notable Books List 2026 Announced
2026-01-02 13:00
Tune in to UPPAA.org as we announce the UP Notable Books List on January 2, 2026
