Title: U.P. Reader -- Volume #5:
Bringing Upper Michigan Literature to the World
Authors: Mikel Classen and Deborah K Frontiera
Publisher: Modern History Press
Publisher Website Address:
www.ModernHistoryPress.com
Publisher Email Address: info@ModernHistoryPress.com
ISBN-10: 1615995714
ISBN-13: 978-1615995714
ASIN: B09253976L
Price: $17.95 paperback, $28.95 hardcover, $5.95
Kindle
Page Count: 308 pages
Formats (P.B., H.C., Kindle)
Discussion Questions for U.P. Reader Volume #5 Free PDF Download
This anthology is one of the very best collections I have ever read. It is a satisfying long read including poems, stories, interviews, and writing pieces by young authors. It helps to understand the Yooper culture (Upper Peninsula area of Michigan). Some of the stories are laugh-out-loud funny. Some stories are so sad you might need a kleenex. It is all highly captivating reading.
You'll want to grab a pasty and eat some smelt soon after reading. Pasties were the lunch women would make for the miner's on lunch hour as they require only one hand to eat, being like a turnover but with meat and vegetables. Have you ever been smelting? The picture in the book shows a fishing boat, but when the smelt are running a bucket is all that is needed. Run it through the water, easily catch a bunch at once, put the smelt in a container, and get some more. It happens once a year. For some people, it is one of the highlights of the year.
Lake Superior features prominently in the book which is easily understood as the UP is surrounded by the lake. The UPers refer to the lower Penninsula people as "trolls" as they live under the Mackinac Bridge. This book was written by yoopers, not trolls. Maybe you are one of the fudgies who visit the area for fudge (tourist) -- hey, not a bad idea.
Discussion Questions
1.
“Your
Orbit” by Barbara Bartel – the author is working through writing an obituary
and manages to make it humorous. Did you like this writing piece? Could you
apprentice yourself to write a similar story? What would you say?
2.
“How to Hunt Fox Squirrels” by Don Bodey --
is another humorous story. What struck you as funny? How do mother squirrels
put their children to sleep at night? How does the author suggest a person
should go about getting a good squirrel recipe?
3.
“A.S.S. for State Slug” by Larry Buege – is
really about what topic? How does Officer Koski end the last protest?
4.
“Matter of Time” by Tricia Carr – seems to
be about a senile old woman. Who is scheming against her? How does she get back
at the schemers?
5.
“The Lunch Kit” by Deborah K. Frontiera –
instead of being snowbirds with their friends in Arizona, a couple begins to
care for a child they knew nothing about. How did this happen? How does
counseling help? What do they decide to do about schooling?
6.
Pictures throughout the book – which pictures
remind you of living in, visiting, or understanding the Upper Peninsula? Have
you ever gone smelting? Eaten a pasty? Seen a mine? Watched deer in the woods? What
other observations regarding the images would you like to share?
7.
“The
Rescue of the L. C. Waldo” by Robert Grede – this story is almost an odyssey as
there are so many problems faced by the seaman and those on shore. How did
people help? Would telephones have been helpful? Why did some people try to
help and not others?
8.
“A Night to Remember” by Charles Hand – have
you ever had car trouble on a remote stretch of road? What did the students
think was going to happen to them? Gitche Gumee and Big-Sea Waters refer to
what? What did you think of the plowing? The resolution? The jailer’s office
night policeman forgot to do what?
9. “Right Judgment” by Tamara Lauder – what did
the flowers represent?
1 “Requiem for Ernie” by Hilton Moore – did
you realize people thought polio was catchy? Do you remember anything about the
time before polio vaccines? Even now people are being told they maybe had it
when they were young. Compare and contrast polio and the coronavirus.
Carolyn Wilhelm
