As the spring thaw begins in Wisconsin, the outdoors and our watery places beckon. For both kids and adults there is a strong urge to get outside and play. This urge also inspires narratives from writers on their own experiences exploring our world: on foot, in canoes, on bicycles, in their backyards, from their tents and sometimes from conversations with strangers they meet along the way.
Along Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail.
By Bart Smith. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2008.
Crossing the Driftless: A Canoe Trip through a Midwestern Landscape.
By Lynne Smith Diebel and illustrated by Robert Diebel. Madison, WI: Terrace Books, an imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
Chippewa: Biography of a Wisconsin Waterway.
By Richard D. Cornell. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017.
The Great Lakes at Ten Miles an Hour: One Cyclist’s Journey along the Shores of the Inland Seas.
By Thomas C. Shevory. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
Great Lakes Journey: A New Look at America’s Freshwater Coast.
By William Ashworth. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000.
The Mississippi: A Visual Biography.
By Quinta Scott. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2010.
Naked in the Stream: Isle Royale Stories.
By Vic Foerster. Traverse City, Mich.: Arbutus Press, 2010.
A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk: One Woman’s Trek along the Shorelines of all Five Great Lakes.
By Loreen Niewenhuis. Milwaukee, WI: Crickhollow Books, 2013.
Walking Home Ground: In the Footsteps of Muir, Leopold, And Derleth.
By Robert L. Root. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2017.
Anyone in Wisconsin can borrow these books. Just email askwater@aqua.wisc.edu