Once upon an Isle: The Story of Fishing Families on Isle Royale: Paintings and Companion Stories

This is a wonderful book to delight and enlighten Isle Royale fans of all ages with crisp, beautiful prints and accompanying stories. If you've never visited "the Island", you'll have whet your appetite to do so after paging through this gem of a book, plus you'll know more of a great chapter in the history of this magical place.

Great customer service. Wonderful book!

Such a beautiful, evocative book, especially to those familiar with Lake Superior and Isle Royal, or those wanting to experience it.

A keeper

No purchase. Got it from mother in law. Excellent book about Isle Royale, now a national park, very far north in Lake Superior. The author spent many a summer on the island as a child with his family who were "commercial fishermen". A series of vignettes/reminiscences each a page long with an accompanying painting done by the author himself. Have never been to Isle Royale, but after reading this book I think I may have to remedy that situation. Fascinating little stories of what life was like in the 30s, 40s and 50s for his family plying their trade. If you like Michigan history, immigrant history and stories from the early to mid 20th century you can not go wrong w this short book. I believe it was meant to be a children's book, but it is far more than that. True treasure.

It is the happiest of chances for us that a boy who lived a very unique childhood grew up to be an illustrator. Howard Sivertson spent a good portion of his childhood living in a fishing colony on primeval Isle Royale, a remote wilderness paradise in northern Lake Superior. Though it is now a U. S. National Park, Isle Royale was for more than one hundred years home to commercial fishermen, a hardy breed who spent most of each year battling primitive living conditions and the unforgiving freshwater sea. Sivertson remembers much beauty and humor in life among the small tough Scandanavians. Prone to seasickness, Sivertson left the family fishing trade to make a living as an illustrator. Now in his later years, he has brought his childhood idyll to life in his lovingly rendered paintings and the simple stories which accompany them. Though this book may almost strike you as a childrens' story, the beauty and childlike simplicity of it cannot fail to move you.