Historical Society of Michigan Awards ‘Sport: Ship Dog of the Great Lakes’ Book Award

The Historical Society of Michigan is bestowing its 2019 State History Award in the Books: Children & Youth category on Sport: Ship Dog of the Great Lakes, a children’s book about a Wisconsin dog. Retired Michigan children’s librarian Pamela Cameron researched and wrote the work, which award-winning Wisconsin artist Renée Graef illustrated and the Wisconsin Historical Society Press published this spring. Sport tells the real-life story of a Newfoundland-retriever puppy who was rescued from the Milwaukee River in 1914 by the crew of the Lake Michigan lighthouse tender ship the USS Hyacinth. Sport became a crew member and helped serve lighthouses throughout Wisconsin and Michigan until his death. The author includes educational details about lighthouse and marine procedures, ship terminology and life on the Great Lakes.