from Read it Here magazine
by Art Merrill
October 2007

Arizona Waterways

Make a where-to-go booklet that actually fits in a vehicle's glovebox. Now, have it show the destination location in a simple illustration, tell the reader how to get there, keep the description short and useful and add a phone number and website address for more info. You've just invented the handiest guide ever on where to launch your boat and wet a line in Arizona.

The concept is a forehead slapper, like the idea of attaching an eraser to a pencil: “Duh! Why didn't anybody think of this before?”

Arizona Waterways' 52 pages don't try to include the zillion creeks and small fishing venues scattered throughout the state – that's a fishing book and it's already been done. Instead, the author aims the booklet at owners of kayaks, canoes and trailerable boats who might also fish, and so she covers about 50 lakes and four rivers big enough for watercraft.

This elegant little guidebook, deliberately made the same size as a folded road map, is a model of concise information and clear illustration. Each 4”x9” page details a single destination (exception: grouping of Phoenix & Tucson metro urban lakes) in slightly oversize print, with 99 percent of the directions beginning with, “From Phoenix...”so you don't have to puzzle out unfamiliar starting points. The author employs simple keys like those on interstate highway signs to quickly indicate whether a particular place has handicap access, food, gas, drinking water and other civilized amenities. Some pages include an “FYI” sidebar of useful boating and fishing factoids.

Arizona Waterways is available in area outdoors stores for about $6. Got a boat? Get the book.