Tag Archives: We Heart MN

Books

We Heart MN: Books About Snowshoeing!

In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

Since winter is upon us, we might as well enjoy it, right? So get your snowshoes ready to rock because we’re going out into the wilderness! Here are some books to explore or recommend to others interested in snowshoeing:

Canoe Country and Snowshoe Country by Florence Page Jaques
“A well-traveled New York sophisticate, Florence Page Jaques fell in love with northern Minnesota during her first trips to the region, and recounted those early travels in Canoe Country and Snowshoe Country. She writes of the excitement of traveling by foot, canoe, snowshoe, and dogsled.”

Winter Sign by Jim dale Huot-Vickery
“The locus of Jim dale Huot-Vickery’s life is a remote cabin in the northern wilderness of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters region. More often than not, it is winter here, a fierce, beautiful season that dominates all living things with its relentless cold grip. This is the inspiration for Winter Sign, the profound story of fifteen years of surviving the seven-month-long odyssey of winter in the far north.”

Alpacas in the Snow by Chris Morningforest
This book isn’t all about snowshoeing, but the alpacas enjoying various winter activities is pretty adorable!
“These funny alpacas love it when it snows. They slide and ski and snowshoe, having a wonderful time.”

Books

We Heart MN: Snowplows

In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

via GIPHY

It is November and wow, winter came quickly this year. We’ve already had plenty of occasions to see snowplows on the road, so here are some books if you or your young patrons or students are interested in learning more:

Small Walt by Elizabeth Verdick (shout out to an MN author!) “Small Walt and his driver, Gus, take on a blizzard! All the bigger snowplows doubt that Walt has what it takes to plow the roads in the storm, but Walt is determined to prove them wrong.”

Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton “In this enduring winter favorite from the Caldecott Medal winner Burton, Katy the snowplow finally gets her chance to shine when a blizzard blankets the city and everyone is relying on Katy to help dig out.”

Good Morning, Snowplow! by Deborah Bruss “As the rest of the town settles into bed, one man, his dog, and a trusty snowplow get ready for a night’s work.”

 

Books

We Heart MN: Bundt Cakes

In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

Minnesota has all sorts of great culinary traditions. According to this fun Buzzfeed article (listing reasons why Minnesotans are awesome, if you need reminding) that includes the bundt cake. They were “popularized by Minnesota businessman H. David Dalquist in the 1950s and 60s. The official bundt pan is exclusively produced by Dalquist’s company Nordic Ware, which is based in St. Louis Park.” So here are some bundt cake books to check out!

Everything Bundt the Truth by Karen C. Whalen “This first in the dinner club murder mystery series is similar to cozies written by authors Jessica Beck, Joanne Fluke, and Leslie Meier. If you like cozy mysteries, tight friendships, and gripping who-done-its, you’ll love Whalen’s Everything Bundt the Truth. Buy the book now to join the dinner club craze today.”

 

The Bundt Cake Master by Daniel Humphreys “If you have always wanted to learn how to make delicious bundt cake, then this is the perfect bundt cake cookbook for you.”

 

 

 

Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray “Ruth loves to bake cakes. When she is alone, she dreams up variations on recipes. When she meditates, she imagines herself in the warm, comforting center of a gigantic bundt cake. If there is a crisis, she bakes a cake; if there is a reason to celebrate, she bakes a cake. Ruth sees it as an outward manifestation of an inner need to nurture her family—which is a good thing, because all of a sudden that family is rapidly expanding.”

Books

We Heart MN: Spiders!

In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

Usually, in this post, we focus on cheery and delightful things that make our state fantastic. But on this week of Halloween, I thought it would be “fun” to find out more about some creepy-crawly creatures that call Minnesota home: spiders!
According to this article, there have been 19 unique species that have had confirmed sightings in Minnesota. If this interests you, check out this page from the U of M Extension to learn more about types of spiders in Minnesota.
So, if you’re in the mood for spiders this Halloween, here are some books to help:

Spiders of the North Woods by Larry Weber “Which spider spits venom and sticky threads? Why don’t Northerners need to fear the Black Widow? These answers and more are found in Spiders of the North Woods. The easy-to-follow format makes field identification of over 60 species simple and fun.”

 

Kafka’s Uncle and Other Strange Tales by Bruce Taylor “An alternate universe? A different dimension? The “id” of America? Meet Anslenot and his tormentor/confident, a giant tarantula, as they wander through a blasted, desecrated landscape of broken ideals and shattered hopes. ”

 

Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti by Gerald McDermott “Anansi the Spider is one of the great folk heroes of the world. He is a rogue, a mischief maker, and a wise, lovable creature who triumphs over larger foes. In this traditional Ashanti tale, Anansi sets out on a long, difficult journey. Threatened by Fish and Falcon, he is saved from terrible fates by his sons. But which of his sons should Anansi reward? Calling upon Nyame, the God of All Things, Anansi solves his predicament in a touching and highly resourceful fashion.”

Frank the Seven-Legged Spider by Michaele Razi “Frank loves being a spider, especially the part that involves having eight glorious legs. But one morning Frank wakes up missing a leg. One of his friends exclaims, “I barely recognize him!” Another friend asks, “Are you still a spider, Frank?” Is he still a spider? Frank doesn’t know. And so a quest ensues as Frank searches for his leg and the answer to his identity.”

And of course, you can’t go wrong with the classic Charlotte’s Web or Eric Carle’s The Very Busy Spider.

 

 

Books

We Heart MN: The Hodag

In this series, we’ll pick some of our favorite things about Minnesota and share some related book suggestions. (We’re open to your suggestions! Comment below or email us and tell us some of your favorite MN things!)

What on earth is a hodag, you may wonder? According to Merriam-Webster: “a mythical animal reported chiefly from Wisconsin and Minnesota, noted for its ugliness, lateral horns, and hooked tail, and reputed to be outstanding in both ferocity and melancholy.”
Maybe you’d like to learn more about this unique creature? If you’re a Harry Potter fan, JK Rowling has you covered. You can even visit a statue of a hodag over in Rhinelander, WI! Otherwise here are some other suggestions to try:

Hodag: A Happy the Hodag Book by Jill Kuczmarski “Are you a hodag!? Discover what it means to be a hodag in this illustrated rhyming story for the hodag in all of us. Full-color illustrated picture book for all ages starring Happy the Hodag, Buddy the Bulldog and nine new hodags.”

The Terrible Hodag by Caroline Arnold “The lumberjacks who worked all day in the north woods were careful to stay out of the forest at night because of the terrible beast called the Hodag. When one buddy stays out too long and meets the Hodag, everyone finds to their surprise that the Hodag is not so awful after all.”

The Hodag by Gary Lumpp “A group of filmmakers venture into the wilderness in search of proof that a cryptid known as the Hodag exists, unaware of a private plane crash in the area – or the domestic terrorists who want the cargo that was on board.”