I drive over 60,000 miles per year in Wisconsin. I go fishing, attend writing and fishing related events, pick up specimens for medical lab testing, sight see, check out the wonders found on dead end roads, take roads on which I’ve never travelled, go to restaurants, stores, museums, and whatever else fits my schedule or whimsy. I love Wisconsin and its people. If we ignore the politics and the taxes they create, we’ve got it pretty good here, and the following books can increase your knowledge while providing you with outstanding places to eat, visit, enjoy local color, value our history, and help you identify, appreciate and catch native fish.
FISH OF WISCONSIN by Dave Bosanko. Adventure Publications, Inc., $12.95, 176 pages. Bosanko’s full color book is pocket size, or you can stuff it in a backpack, tackle box, or someplace else handy when going fishing. This book is a wonderful, glance at native Wisconsin fish, but it is not an in depth reference guide. For example, the northern pike is listed as also being called a pickerel. A separate specie, the pickerel is a forgotten by our WDNR, baby carp-eating NATIVE fish, and it is the smallest Wisconsin member of our three resident pike family gamefish, consisting of muskellunge, northern pike, and pickerel.
Sunfish family descriptions are quite helpful, as Bosanko does a dandy job of describing the green sunfish, but he neglects the red ear sunfish, which is often caught in Southern Wisconsin lakes.
This book is great for gaining quick insights on Wisconsin’s fish, but it should only be used for that purpose. The artists’ illustrations are excellent, and the inserts showing how to identify similar species are of great help. The glossary is a nice touch.
Author Bosanko has studied engineering, plus he has degrees in chemistry and biology. He spent thirty years as a staff biologist in the two field stations for the University of Minnesota, and yes, he’s a fisherman.
LE SHACK A VERY SPECIAL FISHING PLACE by the late Jim C. Chapralis. Angling Matters Press. Illustrations by Charles B. Mitchell. $16.95 & 216 pages. Chapralis and I had been in contact for about 3 decades in one way or another. He used to book amazing fishing trips to exotic locations around the world. He once competed heavily in fly fishing contests, and he returned to the sport in senior years. While he could fish anywhere he chose, this Illinois angler spent much of his time in Central Wisconsin so he could fly fish his favorite streams. Le Shack is all about this old fishing camp, the friends who enjoyed it, and of course, the fly fishing adventures. The book reads fast, as does good fiction, but it’s all about the recollections and fondness for fishing of a man named Jim C. Chapralis. When you study these pages, it’s like attentively listening to an old and close friend. You’ll share the adventures, and you’ll feel great for having read Jim’s final book on the great sport of fly fishing.
IN PICKLE; A FAMILY FARM STORY by Jerry Apps. Terrace Books. $24.95 & 250 pages. Jerry Apps is always recommended reading when it comes to history, fiction, or historical fiction about Wisconsin. Beer loves know him for his great book called Breweries of Wisconsin. He’s written Cheese, Country Ways and Country Days, One-Room Country Schools, Ringlingville U.S.A., and more, and he’s a member of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association, WRWA. While In A Pickle is fiction, it deals with a very real topic in Wisconsin and other Midwest farming states. This is the story about a pickle farmer who also owns a small town pickle cannery. Then, the large H.H. Harlow Pickle Company makes its presence felt. The problems start. Will the farmers go to the big company, or will they stay loyal to their hometown company? It’s factory farming against the right of Americans to own their own farms and sell their products as they wish.
Although set in Wisconsin in 1955, similar events continue today. Local canneries, even some of good size, have vanished. We no longer see a Jolly Green Giant cannery in Fox Lake, nor is there a Frank’s Kraut cannery in Franksville. Is this progress? Read the book, and then decide. Apps has written another winner.
DOOR COUNTY’S EMERALD TREASURE; A HISTORY OF PENINSULA STATE PARK by William H. Tishler. The University of Wisconsin Press. $24.95 & 261 pages. Tishler, a Door County native who’s also a professor emeritus of landscape architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, developed the old plans for Old World Wisconsin. As an author, he’s won awards, plus he’s served on the Wisconsin Historic Preservation Review Board. Tishler takes us from before when the White Men visited this area on up today. The park land has a great history, plus walleye and smallmouth bass anglers know there is fantastic fishing off of Peninsula Park, the state’s second state park.
Farmers were the first Caucasians to live on this land. Many were of Norwegian descent, and later, immigrants from Norway farmed the soil. Sharp-eyed visitors will see remnants of their past presence.
On one occasion in 1909, , the lighthouse keeper performed a daring rescue of 9 ice anglers who had become stranded on an ice floe that had been sent adrift by the change of the wind direction.
Golfers will appreciate the course history, and readers can discover the wonder of the land. The book is filled with information, names, dates, and genealogy, plus maps and black-and-white historical photos add to the fun of reading Tishler’s “Treasure.”
AROUND THE SHORES OF LAKE SUPERIOR; A GUIDE TO HISTORIC SITES by Margaret Beattie Bogue. The University of Wisconsin Press. $60.00 cloth; $24.95 paper. 378 pages. Bogue’s book is in its 2nd edition, and it should be read before adventure driving the circle tour of Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water in the world. Take along your book. You can refresh your mind as you visit the locations. For me, just looking at the map provided in the back cover sleeve makes me want to make the trip right now.
This is the land of forests and water. This is the land of the Indians. This is where iron was once heavily mined. There are local parks, state parks and national parks, or forests. Much of the Canadian route is near Lake Superior. If you plan to make your trip both a sightseeing and a fishing trip, you will have to purchase licenses. You will pass through Minnesota, Ontario, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The book is packed with day planning ideas, plus there are 200 color and black-and-white images. On your journey, you’ll feel the past and current presence of the French and the Ojibwa. You’ll see how industry has helped provide jobs and how some industries have affected the environment. Enjoy the history provided by Bogue, and learn about the landmarks, points of interest and other places to visit.
Bogue has written the award-winning book Fishing the Great Lakes: An Environmental History, plus she’s published Around the Shores of Lake Michigan. A professor emerita of history and liberal studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the author knows how to pen a warm and wonderful travel book.
WISCONSIN’S CHAMPION TREES by R. Bruce Allison. Wisconsin Book Publishing. $14.95 & 111-pages. During my Wisconsin travels, I can’t help but imagine how past logging practices clear cut almost all of the mature trees in our state. Today, what is considered a mature forest is nothing like our state’s forest was a few hundred years ago. The trees are skinnier and younger today. When current factory foresters replant trees, they often replant softer, faster-growing trees, so they can reap money sooner. What’s the percentage of old oaks, maples, hickories, walnut, chestnut or iron trees that have been replaced in our state by current logging practices? Compare the percentage to how many white pines have been planted. A pine tree for an oak is like replacing an apple tree with a grapefruit tree. Try and make apple cider. Tree substitutions also affect what animals and plants live in our state’s forests. Now you know why certain game and song birds are no longer viewed in good numbers.
How great it is to see Allison’s book. I don’t think my friends, or even my enemies, would say I’m a “tree hugger,” but they will say I admire outstanding tree specimens for their perseverance, luck and uniqueness. They had to persevere to grow old, and they had to be lucky not to become lumber, pulp, or garden shavings. Most of the big trees I see are in urban areas.
Allsion, a consulting arborist, lists the biggest trees by Latin name. Provided are locations, tree measurements in circumference in inches, height in feet and average crown spread in feet, when last measured, and the names of the nominating persons. Circumference is measured 4½ feet above ground. The author instructs readers on how to register a tree they might think is a “Champion Tree.” The Latin/English glossary for tree names is handy. This is another fine book to take along on your Wisconsin travels. Trips are more fulfilling when you’ve gathered knowledge on the locations. It works for me.
EVERY ROOT AN ANCHOR; Wisconsin’s Famous and Historic Trees by R. Bruce Allison. Wisconsin Historical Society Press. $21.95. 115-pages. We met the author in the last review. Here, Allison shows us trees that marked trails, and some possibly were manipulated to show the directions to travel. There’s also a tree called “The Accidental Hanging Tree” in Trempealeau County, the most southern county in Indian Head Country, www.wisconsinindianhead.org. Now gone, this oak tree was used to scare unwelcomed Hans Jakob Olson, a recently released ex-convict away from his farm. The fake lynching went awry, and the convict died. Per Allison, “The victim’s grown son and two neighbors and Olson’s wife, Bertha, were directly accused of the crime.” They received life sentences, but they were pardoned after 5 years. 30 spectators were “fined $100 plus $7 costs” for not doing anything to stop the hanging.
Who said books about trees are boring? There are a lot of great tales here, plus plenty of Wisconsin history connected to these giant, woody plants.
IT HAPPENED IN WISCONSIN; From the invention of the snowmobile to a historic Packers win over the Bears, thirty events that shaped the history of the Badger State by Michael Bie. The Globe Pequot Press. $12.95 & 165 pages. Here are serious, fun, and plain old interesting events that took place in our state. Since you enjoy reading, but you’ve found that non-fiction bestsellers often don’t really have an effect on your life, except that the news media tells you they do, switch to reading about life around you. It’s often much more meaningful. You live in areas you read about. You get to see the places and participate. It becomes more than just news trivia. It is real life. You might know some of the people, their descendants or relatives, and the places where these events occurred. Possibly, you have insight regarding these “happenings.” Find out how “Our Woolies Changed Everything.” How was Frank Lloyd Wright connected to a murder at “Taliesin?” Why was Teddy Roosevelt almost assassinated in Wisconsin? Bie packs perusers with plenty of facts and keeps us entertained. Check out his travel, history and culture website covering America’s Dairyland at www.classicwisconsin.com. I’ve bookmarked it. I’ve also bookmarked the Wisconsin State Historical Society at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/.
CAFE WISCONSIN; A Guide to Wisconsin’s Down-Home Cafes by Joanne Raetz Stuttgen. The University of Wisconsin Press. $19.95 & 302 pages. Stuttgen is a folklorist, who has lived in Wisconsin, and this book is already in its 3rd edition. A great deal of research and interviewing went into this book, and cafes all around Wisconsin, broken down into regions, are discussed. We discover their specialties, and we meet the people who own the restaurants. It’s a casual-style read, plus it’s a great reference guide for choosing places to dine when travelling.
CAFE WISCONSIN COOKBOOK by Joanne Raetz Stuttgen and Terese Allen. The University of Wisconsin Press. $24.95 & 207 pages. I let a friend of mine who loves to cook study this book, and all I heard was accolades. Here are the great recipes that attract people to the Wisconsin cafes mentioned in the previous book. Some recipes are easy, and bringing the taste of Wisconsin into your own home leads to some wonderful dinners. In fact, you can invite friends or relatives and serve a complete Wisconsin meal, including deserts, breads, and salads.
Stuttgen and Allen, a food editor, food columnist and cookbook author, have listed the locations from which the recipes come, thus adding to the local flavor.
So, go ahead and try some beer cheese soup, three-cheese tuna bake or Midwest style barbecued ribs. Then, there’s corn sausage soup, butterscotch pie or creamed cod. The recipes show their heritages too. There’s kolaches, chicken mole enchiladas, and sausage, potatoes, and sauerkraut. And, there’s the good old Friday fish fry, as is served by the Village Kitchen, in Casco, WI or barbecued hamburgers as made by OJ’s Midtown Restaurant, in Gillett.
Isn’t Wisconsin wonderful? I told you it is.
HOME COOKED CULTURE …WISCONSIN THROUGH RECIPES; RECIPES COMPILED BY CHOUA LY edited by Terese Allen. Wisconsin Arts Board. $14.95 & 112 pages. Ly has a Doctorate in law, and Allen is a former cook who writes about food. Together they’ve created a terrific tome that fits perfectly with the previous two books. The pages are laid out as landscapes, so you can easily keep the book flat while making these scrumptious taste treats. We have bratwurst a la Vern that is definitely fit for Wisconsinites and welcomed visitors. Veal fans will enjoy chalber balleli (veal balls), and there’s another way to make a Friday fish fry. This version includes bacon. Pasties, sweet sour cabbage, dandelion greens, which I’m seeing more often in restaurants, sherried cheese soup, stuffed pumpkins, tamales, Irish soda bread, cinnamon rhubarb muffins, Nodji’s cranberry tassies, Swissconsin cheese toasts, and numerous other mouth watering recipes are in this book. Wisconsin’s recipes are a great way to enjoy the diversity of people in our state. Just think, the more diversity, the more recipes we get to try. Thanks to Ly and Allen, we have plenty to explore.
WISCONSIN STARWATCH; The Essential Guide to Our Night Sky by Mike Lynch. Voyageur Press. $24.95 & 160 pages. The author signed my copy, and he wrote “Make the stars your old friends!” How true. When we gaze at the stars, we are peeking back into time. A time machine isn’t required to visit the past. All we have to do is look up at night.
I’m often up at night. I wrote this article through midnight and into single digit morning hours. I made a few outside trips to make my dog, Tipsy, happy, and I always check out the sky. My mother liked to look at the stars, so I learned some of the constellation names from her. After getting glasses, I was able to focus on the pinpoints of light. I saw three times as many stars as I did before glasses.
Lynch, who is listed as “America’s Master Stargazing Instructor,” wrote his book in a free flowing style making a possibly stuffy topic into fun reading. Regarding Auriga the Charioteer, Lynch wrote “It must take an amazing imagination, and perhaps a few libations, to see this detailed scene in a simple pentagon-shaped constellation.”
Drawings of the constellations and locations make finding these stars quite easy. Reading about the mythology matching the constellations adds to the readability. The photos are excellent, as is the descriptive science on solar and lunar eclipses, moon phases, telescopes, asteroids, shooting stars, comets, meteor showers, the aurora borealis and the massive amount of space junk we’ve amassed. The back of the book has monthly maps showing the star and planet locations. There’s also a wonderful listing of the brightest stars that travel over our state.
So, after a fine day of travelling, dining, sightseeing, or fishing, check out the night sky. It’s time to relax.
And, that’s what I’m going to do right now, after I try one of those Wisconsin recipes. 
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