

"I shall give to you, a special home upon my weathered back where rivers run beneath the sun in red and gold and black.



To rest upon the water blue, a land so new, a land so new."



This is spoken by the great painted turtle, Makinauk in the a new book retelling the tale of Mackinac Island's creation: The Legend of Mackinac Island written by Kathy-jo Wargin and illustrated by Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen.



For those unfamiliar with the legend, a brief synopsis of the tale is probably in order:



A wise, old turtle named Makinauk tells the other animals one day that the Great Spirit in the sky has told him it is time to create a new land. The creation is to be accomplished by putting a handful of the bottom of Lake Huron on the turtle's back. After several animals try, an unlikely candidate returns to the surface with the soil. Upon placing it on Makinauk's back, the turtle is transformed into a great island.



Kathy-jo Wargin

Kathy-jo was born and raised in northern Minnesota and is the author of numerous poems and stories for children. Recently she and her husband, photographer Ed Wargin and their son Jake traveled throughout Michigan completing a travel guide titled Scenic Driving Michigan.



Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen

Born in the Netherlands, Gijsbert studied at the Royal Academy of Arts and immigrated to the United States in 1976. In 1993, after 17 years as the Art director for Michigan Natural Resources Magazine, he ventured out on his own as an artist and educator. He and Robbyn give nature tours to students at their home, an old farm in Bath, Michigan.

The duo of Wargin and van Frankenhuyzen scored a surprise success last summer with Legend of the Sleeping Bear, the top selling Michigan children's book of 1998. Their second effort seems destined for a similar fate.



The book opens upon the brilliant blue waters which covered the world before man, before indeed there was any land. The reader is drawn into this magical time through rich prose and paintings which tell a classic tale of courage and creation which culminates in the changing of the world.



Sleeping Bear Press Home Page



Review of Legend of the Sleeping Bear