Preface Welcome to The Michigan Reader I hope you will enjoy this collection of short stories poems and games Historically primers or readers were created as books to teach reading skills to young children as well as a way to impart simple lessons about life In my reader I have chosen to write simple stories divided into parts for beginning readers as well as more difficult stories for the advanced young reader I also decided to include lively poems which utilize patterns repetition and rhyme as a way for young children to make predictions while they are reading As you read along you will find many stories and poems that are easy to use as short plays or acts Some poems can even be used in combination with the short story You can even use all of them together and have yourself an old-fashioned show In addition some of the riddles games and stories include questions at the end as a way for children to expand what they have just read into their own interpretation I hope this book is a building block for many heart-to-heart conversations conversations about our beautiful Michigan Thank you to all of the educators librarians and teachers who assisted me during my research and a special thank you to Mrs Beth White who teaches kindergarten in Petoskey Michigan for allowing me to use materials from her out standing Michigan collection Enjoy Your friend always Kathy-jo Wargin iii
Enjoy the Grand Prize Entry from The Michigan Reader Poetry Collaboration In this contest based on The Michigan Reader Ms Wargin wrote the beginning four lines of a poem which Michigan elementary-age children were invited to complete The below poem co-written by students Amanda Baird and Alexa Kus St Joseph School St Johns Michigan was selected by Ms Wargin as the overall contest winner To Dream To dream to dream Of childhood days I dream of boats And shining bays To hear to hear A robin’s song I hear the wind Singing along To taste to taste Ripe red cherries I taste fresh pies Filled with berries To live to live In a land that’s great I live in a mitten The Wolverine State To watch to watch The waves splash by I watch a sunset And birds fly high To seek to seek The forest of old I seek the deer And leaves of gold To smell to smell A soft warm breeze I smell blossoms Of apple trees iv
Table of Contents PAGE A Michigan Pledge 1 Michigan Fruit Riddles 3 The Lighthouse Keeper 6 This is My Alphabet 8 Michigan Character Counts 11 A Little Nonsense 14 The Moon and Stars in Michigan 16 Michigan Days 20 Michigan Months 25 A Michigan Wolverine 30 The Fighting Wolverines 33 Sojourner Truth 34 Sojourner’s Song 38 Grandmother’s Cottage 43 The Ghost 50 A New Adventure 52 Trunks in Tow 55 The White Swan 58 The Underground Railroad in Michigan 59 Freedom Train 64 The Trillium 66 The Fur Trader 68 Can You Tell Me 81 Native Camps 82 Beaver Hats 84 The Key to the Kingdom of Michigan 87 v
