“Ellie’s Pursuit Of The Mighty Fitz” Officially Releases

SUPERIOR, Wis. — “The sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald is a story that will never be forgotten, even 50 years since that tragic day.

However, it’s rare to read about the Fitzgerald in the form of a children’s book… until now.

“I took a deep breath. I’m like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but I’m pretty good (with) once I start a project, I complete it’, and I’m pretty proud of myself on this one.”

Missy green is the publisher of “Ellie’s Pursuit of the Mighty Fitz”, a new children’s book that will be on shelves in museums like the Maritime Museum in Duluth, and Fairlawn mansion in Superior.

“I’ve read it so many times, it just brings she deals with grief in the book, and so it brings it more real to me that these men and what their families went through,” said Missy’s mother Ellen.

However, the making of this book brings even deeper grief for both Ellen and Missy, as their 23-year-old daughter and granddaughter, McKenzie Lee Williams, a UW-Superior graduate and the sole author of the book, tragically passed away in a motorcycle accident in 2024 before the book ever went to publication.

McKenzie’s mom says getting the opportunity to write a book meant the world to her daughter.

“She had a job working at a bookstore in Duluth, and people would ask her for children’s books about the Edmund Fitzgerald and there weren’t any,” said Missy.

“She had an opportunity to apply for a research grant through the university, so she wrote a proposal, and it was approved, and she found out the day that Gordon Lightfoot died.”

The release of the book has been a journey of grief and healing for Mckenzie’s family, but one they are proud to have finished, just as Mckenzie dreamed would happen, keeping her name alive, one book sold at a time.

“It was a running joke. I would always tell Mackenzie that I would I was going to make her famous, and I was going to be her “momager” and take care of all the business side of her being an author, and I would tell her all the time, I said, ‘you’re going to be the only famous writer whose own mother doesn’t read her books!'” said Missy with a chuckle.

“Ellie’s Pursuit of the Mighty Fitz” releases Oct. 3, with the official happening at Rapids Riverside in Poplar, WI, with copies becoming available online on Oct. 10.