Note: Story has been corrected; the book does not come with a CD.

Christmas songs are rarely accused of being educational, but that is a charge I shall level joyously at “The Twelve Days of Christmas in Michigan” (Sterling). Written by Grand Rapids author Susan Collins Thoms and illustrated by Ann Arbor artist Deb Pilutti, the adorable book takes the form of a series of letters mostly written by a child from parts unknown paying a visit to a Michigan cousin. The first thing cousin Will shows the visiting Katie, of course, is how to get her hands into the map position — and then they're off on a statewide jaunt to take in all the fun, delicious, symbolic and historic attractions we have to offer.

The classic holiday song is rewritten on the subsequent pages with a Michigan twist, from the robin in a white pine tree to 10 jugs of cider to — sing it with me now — fiiiive fro-zen laaaaaaakes.

Each line is accompanied by letter Katie has written to her family at home about the adventure that inspired it, and they're jammed full of enough interesting facts that at least a few of them are likely to be new to the growups, too (Aunt Barb and Uncle Mike are apparently remarkable repositories of local information). Did you, for example, know that there are six quadrillion gallons of water in the Great Lakes? Or that a Michigan man named Sherman Poppen was an early inventor of the snowboard? Me neither.

Learning those little tidbits was one the things Pilutti — who is a freelance designer with a client roster that includes Warner Brothers, Seaworld and Chris Roberts-Antieau — enjoyed most about working on this project.

“I didn't know about the Sturgeon lighthouse and the ghost stories, so that was fun to learn,” she says, referring to day three's excursion to a keeper's cabin on Lake Huron that occasionally gets its lights powered by otherworldly forces. Another story she liked was an aside on day 12's exploration of mitten-made sweets about the origin of Vernors, which turns out to be a Civil War-induced happy accident of well-aged ginger and vanilla.

Pilutti's painted illustrations are beautiful, full of cute happy kids and sillinesses like hockey-playing robins. “We did a little research by traveling to Greenfield Village and Mackinac Island, so that was a lot of fun,” notes the Indiana native who has now spent half her life living in the mitten and much more of it visiting here.

“When I was younger, my family would vacation on the west side, and we just had the best time running up and down the dunes and playing in the lake,” she reminisces. Now, she regularly takes her own family up north for skiing and snowboarding. Calling the book “a celebration of Michigan,” she says she and Thoms “were so excited to work on it, and so enthusiastic about the state in general.”

Which doesn't mean it was easy, of course. Her part of the project took about six months, two of them spent on research and four on sketching and painting. Toward the end, she laughs, “I had to paint about three pages a week to make the deadline. It was a little tight, and there wasn't much room for mistakes! And then I happened to get a puppy right at the time that I started this, so that added to the chaos — he always wanted walks.” (By happenstance, AnnArbor.com snapped a photo of Pilutti and her pup crossing the finish line at the 2009 Crop Walk — see them here.)

Interestingly, Pilutti has one other children's book to her credit: “The City Kid and The Suburb Kid,” which she wrote and Linda Bleck illustrated. Not many folks can do both sides of that equation — does Pilutti think maybe one day she'll do a book on her own? “Yes, I would, if it's the right project,” is her reply. “One that utilizes my slightly quirky style and sense of humor.” But in the meantime, she says, “I was so happy to collaborate with (Thoms and Bleck) and feel like their writing and illustration styles were perfect choices for those books.”

You can also hear the song performed by Pioneer High School a cappella group The Pioneers, in which Pilutti's son Jack sings, on their Facebook page; look in the music player to the left.

And finally, I bring to you a gift that the 12th day of a Michigan Christmas has brought to me: an incurable craving for a sundae made with “a pile of ice cream made with milk from Michigan cows,” loaded with Mackinac Island Fudge and topped with cherry sauce squeezed from our signature fruit. I really don't think I'm going to be happy until I've savored one of these explosions of local goodness, so maybe you'd like to invite me to your next holiday party and ask me to bring dessert.

Deb Pilutti presents “The Twelve Days of Christmas in Michigan” at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 9 at Nicola's Books, with a special appearance by The Pioneers.

Leah DuMouchel is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com.