But if you
need some reading suggestions, here are a few.
When Shreveport Academy
Award-winning filmmaker, bestselling author and animator William Joyce was
young, he looked at the world differently from other kids. When his school
announced there would be a writing contest, Joyce thought for sure his creative
story, about a kid who believed his boogers had super powers, would win.
Instead, he got called to the principal’s office.
Joyce returns to those days “when
TV was in black and white, and there were only three channels, and when kids
didn’t have playdates — they just roamed free in the ‘out of doors,’” in
“Billy’s Booger: A Memoir.” The book follows Billy as he excitedly writes the
tale, loses faith when he doesn’t even win an honorable mention but then
realizes he has an audience with the school’s children, who love the tale.
The original pages from his
elementary school days are included in the book’s middle, a nice reminder to
creative kids who don’t always fit in that greater things could be in store for
them when they grow up.
Joyce cofounded Moonbot Studios in
Shreveport and is the author of “The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris
Lessmore,” “The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs,” “The Numberlys” and “Rolie
Polie Olie,” among many other books and films.
Another book that incorporates
tales within its pages is “Inside This Book (are three books)” by Barney
Saltzberg. Seymour fills his book of blank pages created by his mom with things
he sees and hears while his sister Fiona prefers poetry in hers and the
youngest brother, Wilbur, draws photos in his tiny book that Seymour captions.
The three kids put their books inside the larger book because “books are better
when they are shared.”
Mark Teague, author of “Funny Farm”
and “Pigsty,” among so many other great books, gives his take on the classic
paranoid tale in “The Sky is Falling!” Chicken Little gets hit in the head with
an acorn and, despite squirrel trying to explain what happened, believes the
sky is falling. Teague’s tale has a fun twist, however, and includes dancing
animals and a fox who isn’t as clever as he seems.
For teens,
check out Sarah Guillory of Louisiana who pens award-winning young adults
novels. Her latest is “Reclaimed,” starring Jenna Oliver who wants to escape
her small town and alcoholic mother. Jenna meets up with newcomers, the
McAlister twins: Ian, who can’t remember anything from the last three months
and who falls for Jenna, and Luke, who can’t resist Jenna, which makes Ian’s
memory return. Jenna, Ian and Luke are about to learn there are only so
many secrets you can keep before the truth comes to reclaim you.
Guillory will
speak about her books and sign copies at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Baton Rouge
Public Library.
And because
I’m running out of space, I’ll continue this list next week.
New releases
Dixon
Hearne of Monroe has just published a comedic novella titled “From Tickfaw to
Shongaloo” from Southeast Missouri State University Press. The book was awarded
sole runner-up in the 2014 William Faulkner-William Wisdom competition. The
book is available at Amazon.com. For more information on the author, visit www.dixonhearne.com.
Jami
Attenberg, who winters in New Orleans, chooses Jazz Age New York City for her
latest novel, “Saint Mazie,” in which Mazie Phillips, proprietress of The
Venice, the famed New York City movie theater, keeps a detailed diary. Years
later the diary is discovered by a documentarian in search of a good story. Who
was Mazie Phillips, really? A chorus of voices from the past and present fill
in some of the mysterious blanks of her adventurous life. “Saint Mazie” is also
Amazon’s June spotlight pick.
Urbanist
and Journalist Roberta Brandes Gratz has published a book chronicling Hurricane
Katrina’s transformation of New Orleans in “We’re Still Here Ya Bastards: How
the People of New Orleans Rebuilt Their City.” Gratz has published three
previous books on urbanism, including “The Battle for Gotham: New York in the
Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs.” Her writing has also appeared in the Nation, New
York Times Magazine and the Wall Street Journal. She splits her time
between New York City and New Orleans.
Book events
The Historic New Orleans
Collection’s latest exhibition, “Purchased
Lives: New Orleans and the Domestic Slave Trade, 1808–1865,” will
run through July 18, and several special events have been scheduled. William
Earle Williams of Haverford College will speak on “A Stirring Song Sung Heroic:
African Americans from Slavery to Freedom, 1619 to 1865 and Beyond” from 6 p.m.
to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the New Orleans museum. Admission is free.
Cheré Coen is the author
of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette,
Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author
of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write
her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment