Anne-Marie Oomen's Books

An American Map

Essays

By: Anne-Marie Oomen

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Meditative travel essays by Michigan author Anne-Marie Oomen that explore new landscapes across America. In An American Map, Anne-Marie Oomen, award-winning writer and self-confessed northern Michigan homebody, chronicles her recent travels across America, in essays that span rediscovered landscapes, wild back roads, vital cities, and everything in between. Oomen takes both a wide and narrow lens to her destinations, giving readers a vivid sense of each locale while finding resonances between each place and her own experiences. With each new adventure, Oomen finds her sense of self deepening and becoming more clearly rooted in the larger adventure of America. The evocative essays of An American Map consider locations across the United States, from the poetry of Alpine meadows to the terror of desert border crossings, the irony of ocean floors littered with live ordnance, and the excitement of a rural film premiering in New York City. Oomen's warm, personal voice takes readers into the heart of each experience, as she imagines that a place like the Smoky Mountains could offer insight into the Iraq War or that a decaying war tank could help save rare turtles. Oomen proves that the value of travel is not merely in the physical place but the spiritual or meditative place it allows us to visit at the same time. Fans of Oomen's writing, as well as all readers interested in travel writing, will appreciate the unique insights and diverse landscapes of An American Map.

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Page Count

224

Publisher

Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814334202

ISBN 13

9780814334201

Love, Sex, and 4-H

By: Anne-Marie Oomen

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Love, Sex, and 4-H

By: Anne-Marie Oomen

Fans of memoir will appreciate the honest portrayal of growing up between rebellion and tradition in Love, Sex, and 4-H.

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Page Count

234

Publisher

Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814340792

ISBN 13

9780814340790

The Lake Michigan Mermaid

A Tale in Poems

By: Anne-Marie Oomen,Linda Nemec Foster

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The Lake Michigan Mermaid

A Tale in Poems

By: Anne-Marie Oomen,Linda Nemec Foster

A modern-day fairy tale told in conversation between a young girl and the mermaid of Lake Michigan. The Lake Michigan Mermaidis a new tale that feels familiar. The breeze off the lake, the sand underfoot, the supreme sadness of being young and not in control—these sensations come rushing back page by page, bringing to life an ancient myth of coming of age in a troubled world. Freed from the minds of Linda Nemec Foster and Anne-Marie Oomen, the Lake Michigan mermaid serves as a voice of reason for when we’re caught in the riptide. This is a gripping tale in poems of a young girl’s desperate search for guidance in a world turned upside down by family and economic upheaval. Raised in a ramshackle cottage on the shores of Lake Michigan, Lykretia takes refuge in her beloved lake in the face of her grandmother’s illness and her mother’s eager attempts to sell their home following her recent divorce. One day Lykretia spots a creature in the water, something beautiful and inexplicable. Is it the mythical Lake Michigan mermaid, or an embodiment of the stories her grandmother told as dementia ravaged her mind? Thus begins a telepathic conversation between a lost young girl and Phyliadellacia, the mermaid who saves her in more ways than one. Accompanied by haunting illustrations, The Lake Michigan Mermaid offers a tender tale of friendship, redemption, and the life-giving power of water. As it explores family relationships and generational bonds, this book is an unforgettable experience that aims to connect readers of all ages.

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Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814342213

ISBN 13

9780814342213

Pulling Down the Barn

Memories of a Rural Childhood

By: Anne-Marie Oomen

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Pulling Down the Barn

Memories of a Rural Childhood

By: Anne-Marie Oomen

Blending artful language and style with the dirt, blood, and sweat of farm life, this collection of essays tells a moving story of growing up in rural Michigan. Pulling Down the Barn eloquently recalls author Anne-Marie Oomen’s personal journey as she discovers herself an outsider on her family farm located in western Michigan’s Oceana County, in the township of Elbridge—a couple hundred acres in the middle of rural America. Written as a series of heartfelt interlocking narratives, this collection of essays portrays the realities of farm life: haying, picking asparagus and cherries, the machinery of tractors and pickers; but each chapter also touches upon the more ethereal and rarely articulated: the stoic love that permeates a family, the farmer’s struggle with identity, and the way land can shape a childhood. With its rich language and style, Pulling Down the Barn engrosses the reader in Oomen’s memories—setting beauty and wonder against work and loss—and paints a poignant portrait of growing up in rural Michigan.

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Page Count

150

Publisher

Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814335799

ISBN 13

9780814335796

House of Fields

Memories of a Rural Education

By: Anne-Marie Oomen

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House of Fields

Memories of a Rural Education

By: Anne-Marie Oomen

The follow-up to Pulling Down the Barn, House of Fields is a collection of evocative personal essays that recall the many facets of a young girl’s formal and informal education in rural Michigan. Anne-Marie Oomen uses a wealth of vivid language and personal details to bring scenes from her childhood on a family farm to life in House of Fields. Yet the focus of this book shifts away from the daily activities of the farm, which Oomen presented in Pulling Down the Barn, to life outside its boundaries, as she explores the complex meaning of "education" in all of its rural forms. From reading lessons to shattered windows, from dynamite to first kisses, from lost underwear to confirmation names, these stories depict the spiritual and emotional journey of being educated by family, fields, and church—as well as by traditional schools. Oomen’s description of the farmhouse where she grew up becomes the central image for this collection of essays. This once-grand home, filled with memories and the physical wear of family life, is the soul of her family’s farm, and its sense of nurturing and protection is reflected in the author’s relationships to her mother, her teachers, and her mentors. Within this context, Oomen examines memories from her formal education, which began during the final years of the one-room school era then shifted to the "consolidated" schools of the late 1950s and 1960s and to a parochial school system. Struggles with reading, first friendships, early loves, and contradictory educational models are coupled with the challenges of coming of age and the ups and downs of an emotional education between mother and daughter. Fans and teachers of creative nonfiction, as well as anyone with roots in a rural community, will enjoy this lyrical and revealing volume.

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Page Count

174

Publisher

Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814335667

ISBN 13

9780814335666

The Lake Huron Mermaid

A Tale in Poems

By: Linda Nemec Foster,Anne-Marie Oomen

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The Lake Huron Mermaid

A Tale in Poems

By: Linda Nemec Foster,Anne-Marie Oomen

A dazzling tale of sisterhood and the healing power of nature embodied in the Great Lakes. A young girl faces turmoil when she must rise to the challenge of caring for her sister suffering a long-haul case of COVID-19. Brooding over her sister's precarious condition, Dawn seeks solace in free diving in Lake Huron, where she discovers a presence in the gray-blue waters who also knows the pain of loss and loneliness. The Lake Huron mermaid reaches out to Dawn, starting a chain of events that set the human sisters on a wild journey to the Straits of Mackinac. A new tale in the spirit of the award-winning The Lake Michigan Mermaid, this collection of poems introduces another beautifully illustrated freshwater mermaid to the world, fluidly shifting between Dawn and the mermaid's voice. Their voices resonate with a parallel sense of longing and isolation, interrupted by the hope, compassion, and restoration found in sorority. Through this poetic adventure, Dawn and the mermaid unearth a deeper understanding of sisterhood and the significance of growing up together, making sense of the world together, and fighting to stay together.

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Publisher

Wayne State University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0814347428

ISBN 13

9780814347423

Book's by Anne-Marie Oomen

An American Map

An American Map

Love, Sex, and 4-H

Love, Sex, and 4-H

The Lake Michigan Mermaid

The Lake Michigan Mermaid

Pulling Down the Barn

Pulling Down the Barn

House of Fields

House of Fields

The Lake Huron Mermaid

The Lake Huron Mermaid

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