'Return to Wake Robin' Recalls Trips Up North

A summer trip to northern Wisconsin is a rich tradition for many, including author Marnie Mamminga, who recounts childhood visits up north in <em>Return to Wake Robin: One Cabin in the Heyday of Northwoods Resorts</em>. Told in chapters that span five generations, the story contains picturesque recollections alongside vintage family photos. With Mamminga as our guide, we travel to Wake Robin, the cabin that her grandparents built in 1929 on Big Spider Lake, near Hayward, to explore and experience the golden age of Northwoods camping.<br /><br />Mamminga, born and raised in Chicago, earned bachelor's and master's degrees in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her writing has appeared in the <em>Chicago Tribune</em>, <em>Reader's Digest</em> and <em>The</em> <em>Christian Science Monitor</em>, as well as several books in the series <em>Chicken Soup for the Soul</em>. Mamminga will speak at 7 p.m. July 19 at <strong>Next Chapter Bookshop</strong>.<br /><br />Fans of Deborah Harkness' international best-selling thriller <em>A Discovery of Witches</em> will find another beguiling installment of this grown-up, Harry Potter-esque tale in <em>Shadow of Night</em>. The first book of this trilogy introduced readers to Diana Bishop, a reluctant witch and historian, and Matthew Clairmont, her renaissance vampire scientist. Book two of the series picks up as the pair time-travels back to Elizabethan England in search of an enchanted manuscript.<br /><br />Harkness is a professor of history at the University of Southern California. <em>A Discovery of Witches </em>was a <em>New York Times</em> best seller and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Harkness will appear at <strong>Barnes &amp; Noble</strong> in Mayfair Mall July 24 at 7 p.m.<strong><br /><br />Book Happenings</strong><br /><br />Janet Halfmann is an award-winning children's book author who has written 35 books, both fiction and nonfiction. She will discuss her latest work at West Allis' “Third Thursday Art Crawl” July 19 in downtown West Allis.