Literary Tourism: Illinois, Michigan

For this journey we aren't going in any particular order.  Many of the books I've read recently seem to be centered in the midwest.  So, today I will cover two of those states.

Illinois

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett - Many of Balliett's mysteries are set in Chicago.  Her Chasing Vermeer series features a middle school at the University of Chicago.  Hold Fast is also a mystery, but deals with a different population in the city - the homeless.  Balliett writes beautiful mysteries that challenge readers to think abstractly.  This book impressed me so much because it was honest in discussing issues facing the homeless like substance abuse, being undervalues in society, and losing dignity and hope.  This book is also set in the main branch of the Chicago Public Library which I loved of course.

Michigan

Bud Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis - I had no idea how important Flint was to Michigan until I found multiple references to it in literature.  After some research (read: a perusal of a Wikipedia article), I discovered that historically it was a center of industry.  This book is a historical novel of an orphan looking for his father and is very entertaining.