On Sand Island  by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

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Maps

Illustrated by David A. Johnson.

Houghton Mifflin, 2003.
ISBN 0-618-23151-X.

Author's Note: A boy named Carl -- Carl Dahl -- really did live on Sand Island in the early 1900s. And he did grow up to be a fisherman. After his father was lost on the lake in April 1928, Carl returned from the U.S. Navy to Sand Island, raised a family, and fished Lake Superior, setting his nets in the place where he could see fire in the branches.
But in the 1940s sea lampreys came to Lake Superior, fastened their round, rough mouths on the lake's whitefish and trout, and killed them without nets or hooks. They killed so many fish that a fisherman could no longer make a good living. In 1952, Carl moved to Sault Ste. Marie and operated tugboats, but he returned to Sand Island every summer for the rest of his life. The National Park Service ranger's cabin on the island sits where Carl Dahl and his family lived.
People still say Carl Dahl was one of the finest men and one of the best boatmen ever to live on the Island.

All illustrations on this page are copyrighted by the illustrator David A. Johnson and used with permission. No further reproduction or republication is permitted without permission of the copyright holder. Houghton Mifflin Company, 222 Berkeley Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116.