Welcome to
Great Lakes, Great Read!
Welcome to the “one book, one community” program designed to inspire passion and connection to the Great Lakes Watershed through reading. Whether you live near the Great Lakes or far away, their beauty, history, and significance are impossible to ignore. They’ve been home to 120 bands of Indigenous people, provided drinking water for millions, held flourishing biodiversity and 20% of the world’s surface freshwater and more. By diving into this project, you are deepening your connection to a system that shaped the U.S. and Canada, and continues to sculpt stories today.
Featured Resource
The Water Walker, Nibi and You: A conversation with Joanne Robertson – October 9, 2024
Grandmother Josephine-ba Mandamin – The Water Walker – left millions of footsteps for us to follow in. Her relationship to water, respect for water and our relative’s rights to water were all lovingly demonstrated in her work for Nibi. We’re honored to feature Joanne’s children’s story, inspired by Josephine, as part of this year’s program. We’ll get to know it a little better and be inspired to continue her work for the Great Lakes and Turtle Island in this conversation.
The Best Part of Us, Our Great Lakes, and You: A Conversation with Sally Cole-Misch – October 2, 2024
After a career in Great Lakes policy and environmental communications, Sally translated her life’s work into fiction through her multi-award-winning novel, The Best Part of Us. Watch this interactive conversation to learn about the career and writing experiences that led her to write our 2024-2025 Great Lakes Great Read adult selection, which immerses readers in a breathtaking natural world, a fresh perspective on loyalty, and an exquisite ode to the essential roles that family, nature, and place hold in all of our lives.
Meet our authors: A conversation with Sally Cole-Misch and Joanne Robertson – September 25, 2024
Join us in meeting the authors of this year’s selected titles for our one book, one community program Great Lakes, Great Read. Our children’s selection is Joanne Robertson’s The Water Walker, while our adult selection is Sally Cole-Misch’s The Best Part of Us. Both authors dive into their deep connection with the Great Lakes in this conversation.
Host your own Great Lakes, Great Read
This toolkit will guide you in connecting your community to the water, words, and wonder necessary to complete this project.
Did You Know?
About 34 million people live in the Great Lakes watershed – making up over 30% of Canada’s population and roughly 10% of the United States.
By surface area, Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world.
170+ species of fish live in the basin, and 139 are native.