The Edmund Fitzgerald: Inspiration from Tragedy

By Barbara McNally

For a publisher, the selection of a particular topic for a children's book is never an arbitrary choice. There are far too many important factors involved for this to be a decision made lightly or on a whim. But this said, sometimes one must take a chance and go on a gut instinct.

In 1975 I was a teenager in Michigan when the Great Lakes cargo ship Edmund Fitzgerald sank. And, as teenagers often do, I'm sure I somewhat romanticized this event. I saw it as Michigan's own Titanic. (I'm sure that repeated listening to Gordon Lightfoot's stirring ballad about the ship's demise didn't help.) Growing older and becoming a parent certainly grounded the event in more realistic and serious undertones, but the topic still fascinated me beyond other tales from our region.

So, even though I was relatively new to the editorial group at Sleeping Bear Press, when I saw an opportunity to share my fascination at a lunch with one of our illustrators and suggest it as a subject for a book, I took it. Luckily for me, the suggestion was warmly received. The bigger question was how to do it.

Our book had to be different. Of course, there were other books on the subject, usually done with a nonfiction, photographic treatment. We wanted to give our young readers the drama and lyricism of the Lightfoot ballad. A story that engaged the mind, accompanied with evocative visuals. We wanted a book that told the story, not to frighten or sadden, but to commemorate the ship and the crew members.

Thorough, careful and delicate research would have to be done by both the author and the artist. This was, after all, a true story and there were the feelings and remembrances of the crew members' friends and families to be considered.

Author Kathy-jo Wargin and artist Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen both set out to do their own separate research, working closely with the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society to help sort fact from fiction. The story was a very personal one for Wargin. It was not until the final paintings were completed that I learned that she'd had a relative on the doomed ship. A fifth-grader at the time of the sinking, she too found this a story that needed to be told.

In a recent interview from her home in Petoskey, MI, Wargin expressed her feelings about the story's importance: "I just have really felt that the event is so important to our history, and for children. I think it's important for them to understand what really happened and to put it in terms that they can understand and reconcile. Children are the keepers of our history. If we don't share these stories, then they will go away."

As editor of this project, I was surprised to learn the 29 members of the ship's crew came from seven different states, including Florida and California. I had thought it was Michigan's story. It was then I realized how other states had lost their sons, fathers, uncles and brothers.

After 18 months, The Edmund Fitzgerald: Song of the Bell became a reality. The story, relayed via suspenseful narration and masterful artwork, unfolds over the two-day period of the ship's final voyage.

We are extremely proud of The Edmund Fitzgerald. When we chose to undertake this project, it was with the strongest belief that we could tell this story in a way that paid respect and tribute to not only the crew members, but also to their families and friends. And at the very heart is our hope that we have also honored all sailors who traveled and continue to travel deep waters.

Barbara McNally, who has worked in the book business since 1988, is an associate editor at Sleeping Bear Press, publisher of The Edmund Fitzgerald: Song of the Bell. For more information, visit www.sleepingbearpress.com.