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For book reviews, news and more,
read Louisiana Book News every Sunday in The Daily Advertiser.
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‘Two Bobbies’ wins Teachers’ award
Two
Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival, co-authored
by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery and illustrated by Jean Cassels of New Orleans,
has been chosen as a 2009 IRA Teachers’ Choice winner. The children’s book follows the
true story of an unlikely dog and cat who survive the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina by sticking together. The
book has also been named a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People
2009 by the National Council for the Social Studies and the
Children’s Book Council, a Junior Library Guild Premier Selection and an Indie
Next List: Top Ten Books of the Season. Two
Bobbies was profiled on NPR’s All Things
Considered and placed on the New York Humane Society recommended reading list. For a review of the book, see below.
State Library reveals Readers’ Choice Awards
Elementary and middle grade
students throughout Louisiana have chosen two books as winners of the 2009
Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice Award, to be given away at the Louisiana Book
Festival in October. The Diary of a
Killer Cat by Anne Fine was the top choice of third, fourth and fifth
graders and Secrets of My Hollywood Life
by Jen Calonita was the winner from middle school students in grades six, seven
and eight. The Louisiana Young Readers’ Choice
Award, now in its 10th year, is a reading enrichment program of the State
Library of Louisiana. Previous winners include Alligator Sue by Lafayette’s Sharon Arms Doucet.
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| Clovis Crawfish |
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From the Jan. 26 Times of Acadiana
Pelican Publishing of New Orleans has been introducing young readers to Acadiana for years, publishing children’s books as diverse as an alphabet series by Lafayette’s Beverly Vidrine to The Cajun Night Before Christmas by James Rice.
This month, Pelican releases three new children’s books, all with a Louisiana flare, and a color reprint of Clovis Crawfish and Michelle Mantis by the late Mary Alice Fontenot of Eunice.
Witchy woman
Allison Hoffman Lane places a young girl and her uncle in the swamps of Louisiana, only to have the “swamp witch” turn them 12-inches tall in Uncle Arnel and the Swamp Witch, illustrated by Egil Thompson. “Pauve ti bête,” the witch says before she cast her spell.
Lane is the wife of Mike Lane, publisher of RodnReel.com, and although her literary leanings are quite different from his, he planted the seed for the first book with a painting he created, she said.
“I took that thought, a pencil and writing tablet, sat out back, enjoyed my fish pond, palm trees and palmettos, emptied my mind of everything else and then Marie, Uncle Arnel and Aunt Cherie were born,” Lane said.
She wrote the story in English, then researched the French phrases.
“On a more personal level, I have family living in Lafayette and from my youngest years have always enjoyed my visits there,” she said. “Having a connection to Lafayette and growing up in New Orleans, I have acquired a love for Cajun tradition. We recently had a party at our home and hired a Cajun band to play. Although I didn’t know the French, the music was great and everyone who didn’t know the two-step when they came, knew it when they left.”
The book is the first of a series. Next up is Uncle Arnel and the Awful, Angry Alligator.
Cayenne does the trick
Two new board books examine our love of cooking: Chef Creole by Johnette Downing, illustrated by Deborah Ousley Kadair and The Cajun Cornbread Boy by Dianne de Las Casas, illustrated by Marita Gentry.
Downing performs children’s tunes worldwide so it’s natural she would turn the traditional song Aiken Drum into a regional tune with Louisiana lyrics (the book offers the music in the back). As children learn the body parts of Chef Creole, they enjoy Kadair’s fun collage-style illustrations.
An old Cajun woman always wanted a boy so she creates one in The Cajun Cornbread Boy, based on the folktale that uses gingerbread. This maman adds something new to the mixture, as well — cayenne. Like the traditional story, the cornbread boy runs through South Louisiana, telling everyone he can’t be caught. The alligator gets the best of him, but this version has a happy ending. Once the gator gets wind of that cayenne, he spits him out.
De Las Casas and Gentry are both residents of New Orleans.
Native daughter
Mary Alice Fontenot was born in Acadia Parish and worked for 35 years as a journalist at The Daily Advertiser and the Crowley Post Signal. She also taught kindergarten in Eunice and studied French at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now UL).
Her early years were spent on her grandfather’s farm and her later years in her garden, so it was only natural that she would create a world of creatures revolving around an adorable crawfish named Clovis.
The first Clovis Crawfish book was published in 1961. By the time of Fontenot’s death she had published 18 book in the series, with her daughter finishing the 19th posthumously. Fontenot has won numerous awards, including the 1998 Acadiana Arts Council Lifetime Achievement Award and was named a Louisiana Legend by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and a Living Legend by the Acadian Museum of Erath.
Clovis Crawfish and Michelle Mantis includes everything lovable about her series: friendly creatures in their native habitats experiencing life, Cajun French expressions with a pronunciation guide in the back, a story with a nice moral and a song by Jeanne and Robert Gilmore.
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Sept. 11, 2001, disturbed the young son of author Lauren Thompson, and she needed a way to reassure him that there was hope in the world.
"I wanted him to know that while bad things happen, the world is nonetheless a good place to be, full of people who want to help,” she writes in the end of Hope is An Open Heart (Scholastic), a board book for young readers.
The book’s many faces of hope include Hurricane Katrina transplants.
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Elizabeth Evans loves working her family farm, hoping to take over its operation instead of finding a husband. But the 17-year-old’s simple world turns complicated when first a young man is hired to help her father plow spring fields and plant crops and a French girl the same age as Elizabeth is found hiding out in Elizabeth’s woods.
Even though Elizabeth’s father adamantly claims the French left Nova Scotia years before when they chose not to swear allegiance to England, she begins to have her doubts when she finds a deserted French homestead, hears of Acadians returning to Annapolis in rags and starving and her new friend in the woods offers a different account about what happened.
The coming of age young adult novel, "Lightning and Blackberries" by Joanne K. Jefferson (Nimbus Publishing), follows Elizabeth as she stubbornly refuses to give up her dream of running the farm, only to be disillusioned when she realizes the farm has been stolen from Acadians living there before. Her growth as she contemplates the realization of the injustice, and later actions to try to rectify le grand derangement make for a powerful story that showcases both the victim and the subsequent settlers of Nova Scotia.
"Lightning and Blackberries" is a wonderful young adult novel that looks at both the Acadian expulsion and the innocent unknowing participants who were faced with a brutal reality.
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Piper Reed returns
Kimberly Willis Holt, formerly of Louisiana, continues her middle reader series of a Navy brat having a variety of adventures as she travels around the country in "Piper Reed: The Great Gypsy" ((Henry Holt Books for Young Readers).
With illustrations by Christine Davenier, her latest book has Piper still in Pensacola, but her father, known to the family as “Chief,” is on a long ship duty and Piper wants to do something to make him proud. She enlists her Gypsy Club to put on a pet show so she and her dog might win. Along the way, the family visits New Orleans, stays in a spaceship-looking house for an out-of-this-world Christmas and new neighbors arrive. And the pet show doesn’t turn out as she hoped.
As in the past Piper Reed book, Holt creates a charming world with Piper at its center, a creative rambunctious, dyslexic young girl who wants to fly the Blue Angels.
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Mo Willems continues fun pigeon series
New Orleans children’s author and illustrator Mo Willems continues his
fun pigeon series with "The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!" (Hyperion Books).
Like his previous titles, one of which won a Caldecott Honor, our
favorite pigeon demands a puppy. And like most children we know, he
insists he will care for it and play with the puppy, then cries when he
thinks he won’t get his way. When the puppy arrives, the pigeon
realizes it has teeth, claws and “slobber” and changes his mind. But
that doesn’t last long. He then wants a walrus.
Willems, who also
writes the Knuffle Bunny books, brings to life early readers books by
making them lively and fun. Kids will ask to read this one again and
again.
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Go, Go America by Dan Yaccarino (Scholastic)
The Farley family heads off on a road trip, each one owning different
talents. As they travel across America in this retro-style book (even
the car looks likes a 60s station wagon), they report on each state,
with both typical and unusual facts. In New Orleans, for instance, a
fire engine must stop at a red light, even if it’s on its way to a fire
(of course I had to wonder if that was just the legislators calling a
traffic light a red light!). They mention the War of 1812, when the
Battle of New Orleans was fought after the war had ended, and Carnival,
but also add that the honeybee is the offical state insect. Mississippi
mentions Edward Adolf Barq Sr. as inventing root beer (I thought Barq’s
wasn’t a root beer — that's what the commercials used to say), Florida
is the only state that has two rivers with the same name and in Texas
we learn that the first word spoken on the moon was “Houston.” In the
back are more fun facts about each state, such as the state motto, tree
and nickname. It’s a fun way to learn U.S. geography, with a country
map to guide kids through the states.
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LSU
Press has published a charming children’s book titled Molly the Pony by Pam Kaster of Zachary, also author of Zydeco
Goes to Horse Camp. The
book tells the true story of Molly, a pony left behind to ride out Katrina and
who is rescued in its aftermath. Molly ends up living on her rescue farm but
suffers a terrible bite from a roaming dog that injures her front leg. Molly
receives a prosthetic limb after an amputation and then becomes a traveling
animal to children’s hospitals and nursing homes. Accenting
the book are photos of Molly and the children and elderly she meets. “Wherever
Molly goes, she leaves a trail of hoof prints and smiling faces,” the book
concludes. The
book also features the score of an original song titled An Extra Smile.
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Spring 2008 TitlesIt’s tough
growing up.
That’s why there are many
wonderful books
to help children
find their way,
discover their identity
or develop self-confidence.
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Sharon Arms Doucet’s “Alligator Sue” (Farrar,
Straus & Giroux, $17), which won the Young Readers’ Choice Award
from the State Library of Louisiana, is a delightful tale of a young
girl separated from her Cajun home in the Atchafalaya by a hurricane.
Sue falls into an alligator nest, learns how to live in the wild with
the reptiles and forgets her upbringing. But she doesn’t fit in.
Mosquitoes plague her skin, the alligator den’s too cold and she can’t
bellow like the others. When she discovers her old cabin, she realizes
she is a girl, but she doesn’t exactly fit in there now either. In the
end, when another hurricane threatens and she’s able to help her swamp
friends by using her human attributes, she discovers who she really is
— Alligator Sue! “Am I A Color Too?”
by Heidi Cole and Nancy Vogi and beautifully illustrated by Gerald
Purnell (Illumination Arts, $15.95) tells the story of a young boy of a
mixed race marriage who wonders what his nickname is based on his skin
color. Is he black or white or something else? It’s a lovely book with
a great moral: that people come in all colors and don’t need to be
categorized by their skin. Marcolino reluctantly practices his piano every day in Davide Cali’s “Piano Piano”
(Charlesbridge, $15.95). His mother insists he won’t be a grand pianist
without the daily duty, but Marcolino sees that as her dream, not his.
When his grandfather tells him his mother hated the chore as much as he
does, Marcolino is thrilled. The next day his grandfather lets him pick
out his own instrument and he chooses the tuba, which makes him very
happy. Marcolino then practices every day so he can become a grand tuba
player. “Daft Bat”
by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross (Anderson Press, $16.95) explains how
different perspectives should be valued. When Bat first arrives on the
scene, the other animals think he’s daft because everything he sees is
upside down. When they finally hang from their toes and view the world
(with the book’s type upside down as well), they realize that Bat isn’t
so daft after all; it’s how you look at the world. And when you turn
the book to read the words, kids will experience Bat’s view as well,
making the point even that much more effective. In “Those Shoes”
by Maribeth Boelts (Candlewick, $15.99) Jeremy’s shoes are falling
apart and his grandmother can’t afford the fancy high-tops he sees the
other kids wearing. She insists on buying him snow boots with the
little money they have. Jeremy finds a used pair of “those shoes” in
the thrift shop but they’re too tight. He buys them anyway and suffers,
but eventually returns to his taped-up shoes his teacher had given him.
When he realizes Antonio has busted-up shoes too, but in a smaller
size, he leaves the high-tops on his doorstep. When he attends school
the next day and sees Antonio happy in “those shoes,” Jeremy feels
happy too. And warm in his new snow boots as snow begins to fall. For plain ole fun, don’t miss the adorable “Chester” by
author-illustrator Melanie Watt (Kids Can Press, $16.95). As Watt
attempts to convey a mouse in the country tale, Chester, her cat,
interferes, adding graffiti to the mouse photos and invading the story
pages. It becomes a battle between illustrator and the mischievous cat
until the very end when illustrator prevails. But not to worry, Chester
has the last word. “Chester” is one of the cleverest books out
and a true delight to read. Every inch of the book keeps the tug-of-war
going between mouse and cat; even the book jacket and copyright page
contains Chester’s interference. No doubt “Chester” will be a big hit
with young readers.
The creators of “Guess How Much I Love You” have returned with two adorable board books that are sure to be a hit with small children. “Colors Everywhere” and “When I’m Big”
by Sam McBratney, illustrated by Anita Jeram (Candlewick, $7.99),
follow Big Nutbrown Hare as she shows her baby rabbit the world, from
small creatures and how they grow to the colors that exist everywhere
in nature.
Randy Ceil of Houston, who brought us the charming “Gator,” follows up with another imaginative tale called “Duck”
(Candlewick, $15.99). Duck is a carousel animal who dreams of living
beyond the playground and taking flight with a real flock. When a
duckling stumbles into the park, Duck helps raise him. But when it’s
time for Duckling to fly south, Duck must sacrifice her love for the
little one and help get him off the ground. What’s so beautiful about
this tale is the duckling’s return to the carousel in the spring where
he helps Duck take flight beneath his wings, much like a parent
teaching a child how to fly and then the child returns the favor to a
parent.
Jon J. Muth offers more Zen teachings with his panda Stillwater in “Zen Ties”
(Scholastic, $17.99). This time, Stillwater takes his nephew Koo (who
he greets appropriately as “Hi, Koo!”) and the children of the
neighborhood to help an elderly lady who is sick. The children are
afraid of their grouchy neighbor, but their association with each other
brings them all joy. As in his Caldecott Honor Book “Zen Shorts,” Muth offers some lessons and a few haikus. The play on words throughout the book will teach as well as entertain.
For some interactive fun, try “Rodeo”
(Bright Sky Press, $15.95) by award-winning author Roxie Munro. The
easy-to-read book that explains all the elements of a rodeo are
complemented by 50 flaps that reveal pictures ranging from a rodeo
dance to a long fold-out that animates calf roping. The wild bucks and
cowboys jumping off the page are perfect for reluctant readers and
young boys.
Two beautiful books that make perfect gifts as well as provide great reading are “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett, illustrated by Inga Moore (Candlewick Press, $21.99) and “Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose” by Hugh Brewster (Kids Can Press, $17.95).
“The Secret Garden” is
an enduring classic, first published in 1911 and republished
continuously since, as well as made into several films. This edition
juxtaposes Burnett’s timeless story with lovely illustrations on almost
every page. It’s a great way to introduce the story to younger readers
who might shy away from a paperback or for parents who want to
experience the story again at their children’s bedtime.
One of John Singer Sargent’s most brilliant paintings is “Carnation, Lily, Lily Rose” and
Brewster creates a fictional telling of how the painting came to be in
this book of the same name. The story comes to life through the eyes of
five-year-old Kate Millet who Sargent picks to pose for his paintings.
In the end, two other children are chosen for “Carnation” but it is
through the Millet household that the story unfolds. Packed with
Sargent’s sketches, photos and paintings, this book is sure to
captivate young artists.
March starts a host of spring holidays beginning with St. Patrick’s Day, and “The Luckiest St. Patrick’s Day Ever!”
(Scholastic, $5.99) by Teddy Slater shows it off in rollicking rhyme as
the Leprechaun family gets together to celebrate. Steven Kroll’s “The Biggest Easter Basket Ever” (Scholastic,
$4.99) shows how working together can be more productive than
competition when two mice join forces to create the biggest Easter
basket in town. The book comes with a sheet of foil stickers inside.
For Earth Day, Laurie David, producer of the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” and Cambria Gordon have created “The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming” (Scholastic,
$15.99) for young readers. The book (printed on recycled paper, of
course) is chock full of graphics, photos and animation sure to keep
even the most wandering eyes on the page. The authors make the subject
easy to understand and provide ways for kids to help out. Another handy
little book to make children proactive in fighting pollution is “You Can Save the Planet: 50 Ways You Can Make a Difference” (Scholastic, $4.99) by Jacquie Wines.
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Holiday books 2007
New Orleans author and illustrator Jean Cassels wears her
writer’s hat in The Twelve Days of Christmas in Louisiana, illustrated by Lynne Avril Cravath (Sterling,
$9.95). It’s a charming book about Paul, who gets to spend the holidays with
his cousins in Louisiana. Each day brings new gifts in new places – from three
marsh ducks to six ghosts-a-spooking in places such as Rayne, Breaux Bridge and
Avery Island — culminating on the 12th day, which begins our
Carnival.
Lafayette’s Leslie Leonpacher's beautiful and
touching The Dog and the Hurricane
($25), illustrated by New Orleans artist Jane Brewster, is printed on hand-crafted paper and bound with a ceramic
fleur-de-lis bookmark fired in Leonpacher’s studio.
Although fashioned as a children’s book, adults will love this story of a young dog lost
in the streets of New Orleans after Katrina. Leonpacher worked in the
Lamar-Dixon animal facility after the storm and used her first-hand experiences
to pen this tale. Don’t
mistake it as a “hurricane book;” it’s anything but. The tale could have been
told in any American city after a storm has passed.
For more information, visit www.thedogandthehurricane.com.
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New Orleans author and illustrator Jean Cassels introduced an educated pig named Dr. David Harleyson who loves to paint portraits in The Mysterious Collection of Dr. David Harleyson (Walker & Company, $17.95). Mr. Harleyson travels the world and leaves his nephew a series of paintings with clues so that the youngster can piece the story together while readers learn about subjects from Mother Goose, Grimm and Aesop.
Cassels continues this innovative storytelling with Br’er Rabbit Captured! (Walker & Company, $17.95). Uncle Harleyson takes his nephew on a trip in the hopes of convincing Br’er Rabbit and neighbors to sit for portraits. Everyone is delighted with the honor, offering stories about Br’er Rabbit in the process, but the bunny proves illusive, especially when the fox and wolf continue to construct traps to nab him.
Beautifully illustrated, the book offers insights into the Uncle Remus stories while being thoroughly entertaining.
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A couple of great children’s books to read for Black History Month include Tales of Famous Americans by Connie and Peter Roop (Scholastic, $17.99) andJosephine’s Dream by Joan Betty Stuchner, illustrated by Chantelle Walther (Silverleaf Press, $16.95).
Tales includes a mention of Madam C.J. Walker, born in the delta of Louisiana in 1867. When Walker grew up and worked doing laundry, she realized her hair had turned brittle with sections falling out. Through experimentation, Walker developed hair products specifically for African-American women. At one time, she was the wealthiest African-American woman in America and she passed on this wealth to communities, churches and political causes.
Josephine’s Dream examines the real-life Josephine Carson, born poor and who worked cleaning houses at a very young age. But her dream of performing brought her to a group of street musicians and then into theaters. Because of the hardships blacks endured during that time, Carson traveled to Paris where she became Josephine Baker, a widely successful singer. In France during World War II, she worked with the Resistance, which earned her medals of honor, and later adopted children of many races and religions, which she labeled the Rainbow Tribe. She also participated in the Civil Rights Movement.
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| Forest Hill (Louisiana) award-winning author Kimberly Willis Holt’s “Skinny
Brown Dog” (Henry Holt, $16.95) for young
readers, illustrated by Donald Saaf, is about an unlikely friendship that
occurs between a skinny brown dog and Benny, the town baker. When the pup arrives at the bakery, Benny insists he doesn't want a dog, even though he notices how the rug by the fireplace would be the perfect spot for a dog to lie. A friendship begins between the two, but Benny still denies a place for the skinny brown dog in his home. When an accident puts Benny in the hospital, he realizes how much he misses the dog and how his life has changed for the better by knowing him. It's a sweet tale that unfolds slowly like a deep friendship, gently illustrated so children will fall in love with the skinny brown dog and his baker friend, even when the dog's not so skinny by the end.
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| Don Schmidt's self-absorbed mother may despise the chickens that came with her inherited farm on Horse Island, Louisiana, but Don is raptured by them. When the age is reduced to 11 for entrants in the annual chicken judging contest at the fair Don enters and, using his newly acquired poultry expertise, wins. The blue ribbon catapults Don from being the "New Kid" in fifth grade (he moves there from Shreveport a few years back, but the name sticks) to enjoying minor celebrity in Jacques Couvillon's "The Chicken Dance" (Bloombury, $16.95).
The book follows Don's ascent into stardom chickenwise — the Horse Island Food and Furniture owner now demands to have dozens of Don's eggs every week and the school bully becomes Don's best friend — but the year also brings about big surprises, some that will change Don's life intently.
Couvillon's debut novel is one not to be missed. Young readers will delight in this humorous tale involving poultry that also offers emotional depth that will resonate long after they put the book down.
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| Jady Regard of New Iberia has produced two new titles in his children’s book series focusing on college football: “Born to be a Longhorn” and “Born to be an Aggie.” In both books, a young boy and his father head to the stadiums for a day of football, tailgating, marching bands and mascots.
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