This select bibliography was compiled by Anne Moser, Wisconsin Water Library at University of Wisconsin-Madison in April 2024. Many of these titles are appropriate for young adult readers too. We may be missing titles so please send us your favorite great Great Lakes reads for consideration. Please send them via email to askwater@aqua.wisc.edu.
Be sure to check out our select bibliographies for young readers and our titles focused on Wisconsin.
The Accidental Reef and Other Ecological Odysseys in the Great Lakes by Lynne Heasley. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2022.
Biodiversity, Conservation and Environmental Management in the Great Lakes Basin by Eric Freedman and Mark Neuzil. London; New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group 2018.
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes by Dan Egan. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
The Dismal State of the Great Lakes: An Ecologist’s Analysis of Why It Happened and How to Fix the Mess We Have Made. by JP Ludwig. Bloomington, Ind.: Xlibris LLC, 2013.
Great Lakes Fact or Fake? by Dave Dempsey. Traverse City, Mich.: Mission Point Press, 2023.
The Great Lakes: Stories From Where We Live by Sara St Antoine. Minneapolis, Minn.: Milkweed Editions, 2005.
Great Lakes for Sale: From Whitecaps to Bottlecaps by Dave Dempsey. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2009.
The Great Lakes Water Wars by Peter Annin. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2018.
Lake Nation: People and the Fate of the Great Lakes by Dave Dempsey. [n.p.]: Dave Dempsey, 2018.
The Late, Great Lakes: An Environmental History by William Ashworth. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1987.
The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas by Jerry Dennis. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2003.
The Once and Future Great Lakes Country: An Ecological History by J.L. Riley. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2013.
Pandora’s Locks : The Opening of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway by Jeff Alexander. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2011.
Ripple Effects: How We’re Loving Our Lakes to Death by Ted Rulseh. Madison, Wis.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2022.
Third Coast Atlas: Prelude to a Plan edited by Daniel Ibañez, Clare Lyster, Charles Waldheim and Mason White. New York: Actar, 2017.
Water without Borders? Canada, the United States, and Shared Waters by Karen Bakker, Emma S. Norman and Alice Cohen. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019.
Wilderness, Water & Rust: A Journey toward Great Lakes Resilience by Jane Elder. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2024.
Climate Ghosts: Migratory Species in the Anthropocene by Nancy Langston. Waltham, Mass.: Brandeis University Press, 2021.
Local Activism for Global Climate Justice: The Great Lakes Watershed by Patricia Perkins. Abingdon, Oxon; New York: Routledge, 2020.
Weather and Climate of the Great Lakes Region by Val Eichenlaub. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
Across the Great Lake by Lee Zacharias. Madison, Wis.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2018.
The Best Part of Us by Sally Cole-Misch. Berkeley, Calif.: She Writes Press, 2020.
Dead of November: A Novel of Lake Superior by Craig A Brockman. Tecumseh Mich.: Curve of the Earth Publishing, 2020.
Death at Gills Rock: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.
Death by the Bay by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2019.
Death Casts a Shadow by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2022.
Death in Cold Water by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2016.
Death Rides the Ferry by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2018.
Death Stalks Door County: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, 2014.
Death Washes Ashore: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2021.
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. New York: Square Fish, 2023.
House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. New York: A.A. Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 1994.
Shifting Winds: A Maritime Tale of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gately. 2023.Self-published by Susan Peterson Gateley.
Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury: A Novel by Kinley Bryan. Hilton Head Island, S.C.: Blue Mug Press, 2021.
Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley. New York Henry Holt and Company, 2023.
An Entirely Synthetic Fish: How Rainbow Trout Beguiled America and Overran the World by Anders Halverson. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2010.
Fishing the Great Lakes, An Environmental History, 1783-1933 by Margaret Beattie Bogue. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2000.
The Great Lake Sturgeon edited by Nancy Auer and Dave Dempsey, East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2013.
The Life of the Lakes: A Guide to the Great Lakes Fishery, 4th edition by Brandon C Schroeder and Shari Dann. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Matching Baitfish Patterns and Techniques for Great Lakes Steelhead and Lake Run Browns by Kevin Feenstra. Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2021.
People of the Sturgeon by Kathleen Kline, Fred Binkowski, Ron Bruch. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2009.
The Salmon Capital of Michigan: The Rise and Fall of a Great Lakes Fishery by Carson Prichard. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2024.
Something Spectacular: My Great Lakes Salmon Story by Howard Tanner. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2019.
Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region by James H. Harding. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Animal Tracks of the Great Lakes by Ian Sheldon. Edmonton: Lone Pine, 1997.
Insects of the Great Lakes Region by Gary A. Dunn. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1996.
Mammals of the Great Lakes Region by William H. Burt. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1972.
Great Lakes Rocks: 4 Billion Years of Geologic History in the Great Lakes Region by Stephen Kesler. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Tales of the Great Lakes: Stories from Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin. Secaucus, N.J.: Castle, 1986.
Around Lake Michigan: American Indians, 1820-1850 by Gerard van Bussel and Eric Hemenway. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2021.
Honor the Earth: Great Lakes Indigenous Response to Environmental Crises by Phil Belfry. [n.p.], 2014.
Indians and Other Misnomers of the Upper Great Lakes: The True Indigenous Origins of Geographic Place Names by Phil Belfry. Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.: Ziibi Press, 2023.
Indigenous Life around the Great Lakes: War, Climate, and Culture by Richard W Edwards, IV. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 2020.
A 1,000-mile Great Lakes Walk: One Woman’s Trek Along the Shorelines of All Five Great Lakes by Loreen Niewenhuis. Milwaukee, Wis.: Crickhollow Books, 2013.
Biking the Great Lakes Islands: A Guide to Biking Seven Islands in the Great Lakes by Kathleen S Abrams and Lawrence F Abrams. Wausau, Wis.: Entwood Pub., 1985.
Going Full Circle: A 1,555-Mile Walk Around the World’s Largest Lake by Michael Link and Kate Crowley. Duluth, Minn: Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 2012.
The Great Lakes at Ten Miles an Hour: One Cyclist’s Journey Along the Shores of the Inland Seas by Thomas C Shevory. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
Great Lakes Island Escapes: Ferries and Bridges to Adventure by Maureen Dunphy. Detroit, Mich.: Painted Turtle, an imprint of Wayne State University Press, 2016.
Some Like It Cold: Surfing the Malibu of the Midwest by William Povletich. Madison, Wisc.: Wisconsin Historical Society, 2016
The Windward Shore: A Winter on the Great Lakes. by J. Dennis. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2011.
Great Lakes Sea Lamprey: The 70 Year War on a Biological Invader by Cory Brant. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2019.
Lake Invaders: Invasive Species and the Battle for the Future of the Great Lakes by William Rapai. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2016.
Overrun: Dispatches from the Asian Carp Crisis by Andrew Reeves. Toronto: ECW Press, 2019.
Blue Colored Muse: A Poetry Collection Inspired by the Pure Beauty of the Great Lakes State and the Talented Artists Who Call It Home by Jennifer Gordon. United States: Jennifer Gordon Poetry, 2023.
Harborless by Cindy Hunter Morgan. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2017.
Haul-Out: New and Selected Poems by Stephen Tudor. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1997.
HOMES by Moheb Soliman. Minneapolis, Minn.: Coffee House Press, 2021.
Let Them Be Left: Isle Royale Poems by Keith Taylor. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alice Greene & Company, 2021.
New Poems from the Third Coast: Contemporary Michigan Poetry edited by Michael Delp, Conrad Hillberry, Josie Kearns. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2000.
Our Bearings: Poems by Molly McGlennen. Tuscon, Ariz.: The University of Arizona Press, 2020.
The Sky Watched: Poems of Ojibwe Lives by Linda LeGarde Grover. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2022.
Watermarks: Poems from the Coast of Keweenaw by Barbara Simila and Peter Oikarinen. Calumet, Mich.: Manitou Books, 1996.
Weweni: Poems in Anishinaabemowin and English by Margaret Noodin. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2015.
The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a World out of Balance by Dan Egan. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
Great Lakes Champions: Grassroots Efforts to Clean Up Polluted Watersheds by John Hartig. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2022.
The Beginnings and Tales of the Lake Erie Islands by Jessie A. Martin. Warren, Mich.: Harlo Press, 2007.
29 Missing : the True and Tragic Story of the Disappearance of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald by Andrew Kantar. East Lansing, Mich.: Lancaster : Michigan State University Press; Gazelle, 2000.
Door Peninsula Shipwrecks by Jon Paul Van Harpen. Mount Pleasant, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006.
A Fully Accredited Ocean: Essays on the Great Lakes by Victoria Brehm. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 1998.
Ghost Ships, Gales and Forgotten Tales: True Adventures of the Great Lakes by Wes Oleszewski. Gwinn, Mich.: Avery Color Studios, 2012.
Graveyard of the Lakes by Mark L. Thompson. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2004.
Great Lakes Pirate: the Adventures of Roaring Dan Seavey by Gavin Schmitt. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2021.
Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals by William Ratigan. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1977.
Haunted Lake Huron: [Lake Myths Wrecks & Spirits) 1st ed. by Frederick Stonehouse. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities, 2007.
Haunted Lake Michigan. 1st ed. by Frederick Stonehouse. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities, 2006.
Le Griffon and the Huron Islands: 1679 by Steve and Kathie Libert. Traverse City, Mich.: Mission Point Press, 2021.
Light From the Birdcage: Stories From An Abandoned Great Lakes Lighthouse by Mike Sonnenberg. [n.p.]: Huron Photo, 2021.
Lighthouses and lifesaving on the Great Lakes by Linda Osborne Cynowa. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, 2022.
Lost & Found : Legendary Lake Michigan Shipwrecks by V.O. VanHeest. [Holland, Mich.]: In-Depth Editions, 2012.
Mastering the Inland Seas: How Lighthouses, Navigational Aids, and Harbors Transformed the Great Lakes and America by Theodore Karamanski. Madison, Wis.: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2020.
Mysteries and Histories: Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes by Wes Oleszewski. Marquette, Mich.: Avery Color Studios, 1997.
A Pocketful of Passage by Loraine Campbell. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 2007.
Ship Captain’s Daughter: Growing Up on the Great Lakes by Ann Michler Lewis. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2015.
Shipwrecks of the Great Lakes: Tragedies and Legacies from the Inland Seas. by A. Lardinois. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2021.
Shipwrecks and Lost Treasures, Great Lakes: Legends and Lore, Pirates and More! by Michael O Varhola, Paul G Hoffman and Frederick Stonehouse. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot, 2008.
Shipwrecks, Monsters, and Mysteries of the Great Lakes by Ed Butts. [n.p.]: Tundra Books, 2011.
Steamboats & Sailors of the Great Lakes by Mark L. Thomphson. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1991.
Stories from the Wreckage: A Great Lakes Maritime History Inspired by Shipwrecks by John Odin Jensen. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2019.
Uncovering Great Lakes Shipwrecks by Kathryn Wesgate. New York: Enslow Publishing, 2023.
Warriors and Warships : Conflict on the Great Lakes and the Legacy of Point Frederick by Robert Banks. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Dundurn Press, 2023.
Wreck of the Carl D.: A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea by Michael Schumacher. Beverly, Mass. Quarry Books, 2010.
Lake Specific Reads
Lake Erie: A Pictorial History by Julie Macfie Sobol and Ken Sobol. Buffalo, N.Y.: Boston Mills Press; Distributed in the United States by Firefly Books, 2004.
Lost Lake Erie by Jennifer Boresz Engelking. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2023.
Shipwrecks of Lake Erie: Tragedy in the Quadrangle by David Frew. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2014.
Huron: The Seasons of a Great Lake by Napier Shelton. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, 1999.
Lake Huron by Anne Ylvisaker. Mankato, Minn. : Bridgestone Books, 2004.
Le Griffon and the Huron Islands – 1679: Our Story of Exploration and Discovery by Steve and Kathie Libert. Traverse City, Mich.: Mission Point Press, 2021.
A New Insurgency: The Port Huron Statement and Its Times by Howard Brick and Gregory Parker. Middletown, Del.: Maize Books, 2015.
Three Fires Unity: The Anishnaabeg of the Lake Huron Borderlands by Phil Bellfy. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2011.
Around Lake Michigan: American Indians, 1820-1850 by Gerard van Bussel and Eric Hemenway. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press, 2021.
Lake Michigan by Sarah FitzSimons. Madison, Wis.: Water Books, 2019.
Perimeter: A Contemporary Portrait of Lake Michigan by Kevin J. Miyazaki. Madison, Wis.: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2014.
Unsalted Blue Sunrise: Poems of Lake Michigan by Kathryn P Hardon. Paris, Ill.: Prarie Cloud Press, 2023.
Legends and Lore of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gateley. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2013.
Lore and Legends of Long Point by Harry B. Barrett. Ontario, Canada: Burns & MacEachern, 1977.
Maritime Tales of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gateley. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2012.
A Natural History of Lake Ontario by Susan Peterson Gateley. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press, 2021.
Around the Shores of Lake Superior: a Guide to Historic Sites by Margaret Beattie Bogue. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2007.
Going Full Circle: A 1,555-mile Walk Around the World’s Largest Lake by Michael Link and Kate Crowley. Duluth, Minn.: Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., 2012.
Impermanence: Life and Loss on Superior’s South Shore by Sue Leaf. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2024.
Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World by Nancy Langston. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2019.
Let Them Be Left: Isle Royale poems by Keith Taylor. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alice Greene & Company, 2021.
The Greatest Lake: Stories from Lake Superior’s North Shore by C. Mihell. Toronto: Dundurn, 2012.
The Long-Shining Waters by Danielle Sosin. Minneapolis, Minn.: Milkweed Editions, 2011.
Superior Death by Nevada Barr (Anna Pigeon Series). New York: Berkley, 2003.
Sustaining Lake Superior: An Extraordinary Lake in a Changing World by Nancy Langston. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; 2017.
