Category: Storytime

Storytime: Patti Pig, Please Clean Your Digs by Cindy Foust

In this episode of Confetti Park Storytime, we hear Patti Pig, Please Clean Your Digs, narrated by the author, Cindy Foust, mastermind behind the Alpha-kidZ book series.

Patti Pig, Please Clean Your Digs is the “P” book in the series, of course!

Patti’s bedroom “is messy, to say the least. In fact, be careful looking under her bed, in case you come across a big hairy beast!”

Patti’s twin brother, Paul, doesn’t understand how they are so different. He is so neat and clean, and her room is, well—a pig pen!

“I can’t help if I’m a little untidy,” pouts Patty.
Anyway, who but Paul minds a little gum on the bed?
I don’t have time to squabble with my brother.
I need to plan my birthday party instead.

When Paul funds out Patti is planning a slumber party for their birthday, he offers to help her clean her room. The twins learn a lesson about teamwork—and Patti learns that a clean room is worth the effort.

Cindy Foust lives in West Monroe, Louisiana. She launched the Alpha-kidZ: Reading Adventures A-Z book series in 2003. Each letter of the alphabet gets a feature story and a feature creature who has an adventure.

Austin Alligator, Elephant Emmy Lou, and Freddy Fox… these are some of the characters who face a challenge and find a solution. All of Cindy’s books offer lessons in character development and conflict resolution, told in engaging rhyme. And the books are brightly and colorfully illustrated (by different artists). Cindy says that personal experiences and inspiration from family and friends provided the basis for each of the stories.

Look for all the books at http://www.alphakidz.com, and look for an interview with author Cindy Faust in a future episode of Confetti Park!
Storytime: Alycat and the Thursday Dessert Day by Alysson Foti Bourque

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear Louisiana children’s author Alysson Foti Bourque narrate her adorable award-winning book, Alycat and the Thursday Dessert Day.

Alycat is an adorable kitten whose whole week has been spent daydreaming about dessert day at school, when she gets her favorite: ice-cream filled popsicles! Poor Alycat…. He daydreaming causes her to be last in line, and she misses out. After a little tantrum, Alycat has an epiphany. She realizes she can make her OWN dessert! Imagination saves the day.

We love this book from Alysson Foti Bourque, of Sunset, Louisiana. It’s so fun to see Alycat grow, and her can-do spirit bounce back when she is disappointed. Alycat discovers that trying new things can lead to fun adventures and tasty inventions.

The book contains sweet, delicate illustrations by Chiara Civati and a recipe for Alycat’s new dessert! It makes the reader want to try new things, too.

Expect more from Alycat…. the next adventure in the series is Alycat and the Monday Blues! Buy it in local bookstores, on Amazon and B&N, and at the Alycat website.

Thank you, Alysson Foti Bourque, for sharing your wonderful story with Confetti Park.

Allyson Bourque
Storytime: To Dream of Dancing: Desdemona’s Dreams by Z.W. Mohr

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear an excerpt from the enchanting fairy tale To Dream of Dancing: Desdemona’s Dreams, Volume 1. Z.W. Mohr, the author, narrates for us a dream poem and an introduction to Desdemona. This is an excerpt from the first book in his original series co-created with illustrator Aaron Damon Porter.

Desdemona is an 11 year old girl who is being raised by her two mysterious aunts and guardian teddy bear. When we first meet Desdemona, she is battling a mad maestro who wants to steal away her dream of dancing. When she awakes, her adventures continue…..

From this introduction, we, along with Desdemona, will discover she can bring her dreams into the waking world at a time when everyone else is forgetting how to dream.

Many more chapters of Desdemona’s Dreams are to come from New Orleans-based co-creators Mohr and Porter. Currently, there is To Dream of Dancing: Desdemona’s Dreams, Volume 1 and The Land of Mar: Desdemona’s Dreams, Volume 2. The second book features pirates!!!

The Desdemona’s Dreams series offers a whirlwind of adventures in magical places, with inspiring and strong female characters. It also shows us the beauty of a child’s imagination, and how dreams shape the very world around us.

Stay tuned for an interview with Z.W. Mohr and Aaron Damon Porter on Confetti Park.
Storytime: The Beaver’s Tale of Greed narrated by Iran Martin

Grand’s Fairy Tales by Iran and Henryell Martin

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” by Iran Martin, from his book Grand’s Fairy Tales. This is an adapted version of a Grimm’s fairy tale called the “Fisherman and his Wife.”

In the older version of the tale, which was first written in Germany in the 1800s, a poor fisherman and his wife are blessed with wishes by a magical fish in exchange for releasing it. However, the wife becomes greedy and the husband, who wants to please her, goes along with her ever-more selfish demands to the fish.

In this version, adapted and narrated by Iran Martin along with his wife Henryell, the main character is a trapper who saves the life of a magical beaver, and the story takes place in a forest.

“I plead with you. Let me live.”

The old trapper stared in disbelief. Never had he trapped a talking beaver before!

Iran and Henryell live in Bossier City, in north Louisiana. They are native New Orleanians who moved to north Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. “The Beaver’s Tale of Greed” and all of the tales and fables in Grand’s Fairy Tales are steeped in Louisiana folklore and imagery of the forests, bayous and other water ways of our beautiful state. And many of them offer a moral for the reader to take away.

You can look forward to more stories from Iran and Henryell Martin on Confetti Park!

Buy Grand’s Fairy Tales on Amazon.

Iran & Henryell Martin
Storytime: Diamonds in the Rough—1800s Memories of Minnie Carter

Minnie Maude Carter Boston, born in Nathan, Ark., August 18, 1888.

A very long time ago, my great-grandmother Minnie Carter Boston shared for posterity some of her memories of life growing up in rural Arkansas in the late 1800s, in the piney woods and rolling hills. Her daughter-in-law (and my grandmother) Gypsy Damaris Petty Boston transcribed the memories while they lived in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Arkansas is part of an eroded lamproite volcanic pipe, which has caused diamonds to rise to the surface. I don’t understand all the geological processes, but there really are diamonds to be found on the ground in Arkansas. There is even a mining field called Crater of Diamonds that is open to the public, where you can go with your shovel, bucket and screen kit and hunt for diamonds under the hot, hot sun. You keep what you find!

The story goes that when Minnie was growing up, they regularly encountered the rough uncut stones in their yard, and never knew that they were playing with precious gemstones. So many people in the region were poor farmers and loggers—oh, the irony! How different their lives would have been had they recognized the diamonds in the rough (and knew where to trade them!).

Minnie Carter printed up her memories in a little book and called it I Played With Diamonds. In the forward, she dedicates it to her grandchildren:

“This booklet has especially been written for you. You have the story of my childhood days in the first ten years of my life.”

You won’t find this collection of family stories, childhood adventures, descriptions of country life or particular people on any library shelf (that I am aware of), but there are a few dozen copies out there. I have one, and to me, it is as precious as any diamond.

Within it are essays with colorful titles such as “Bath Facilities,” “Hog Killing Time,” “An Ash Hopper and How to Make Soap,” and “My First and Last Dip of Snuff.” The book is delightful, sweet, entertaining, and shows the great warmth and love her family. It’s also a marvelous snapshot of a time before industrialization, telephones, television, and Internet. It seems so very long ago.

Here is the opening of the book, narrated by New Orleans schoolteacher Catherine Golden. It is a description of the house that Minnie grew up in… it sets the scene for the stories that will follow, about the family, friends and neighbors of little Minnie Carter. The second segment is “My First Shopping Trip,” in which Minnie must trade an old hen to afford a birthday present.

I hope you enjoy this booklet, which I will share in segments over time.

P.S. Consider writing a memoir for your future grandchildren, by documenting the experiences of your childhood!
Storytime: Juju saves Christmas in da Bayou by Michelle Hirstius

Lucky Louisiana kids have many interesting takes on holiday classics…. and one that is beloved worldwide is the Cajun Night Before Christmas, adapted from the classic version (which dates back to the early 1800s) by James Rice in 1974.

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

In the Cajun version, the story is told in Cajun dialect:

Twas the night before Christmas an’ all t’ru de house,
Dey don’t a ting pass Not even a mouse.
De chirren been nezzle good snug on de flo’,
An’ Mama pass de pepper t’ru de crack on de do’.

In Trosclair’s eyewitness account, St. Nicholas drives a skiff which rises up over the swamps led by alligators instead of reindeer!

“Ha, Gaston! Ha, Tiboy! Ha, Pierre an’ Alcee’! Gee, Ninette! Gee, Suzette! Celeste an’ Renee’!”

Now, the legend grows, thanks to the imagination of New Orleans children’s author and illustrator Michelle Hirstius.

Michelle is the creator of the adorable series about JuJu, a good voodoo doll who brings good luck and fortune to those she encounters. In JuJu Saves Christmas in da Bayou, we learn the backstory of how Santa’s reindeer became gators.

Every year Santa delivers presents to all the boys and girls, but this year Santa gets into a pickle! Juju the GOOD voodoo is there to help… see how Juju saves Christmas!

What fun! Thanks, Michelle, for sharing your Christmas tale with Confetti Park.

Learn about all of JuJu’s adventures at http://www.michellehirstius.com/
Storytime: Coming Up Cajun by Carrie Delatte

It’s Confetti Park Storytime! In this episode, author Carrie Delatte narrates her children’s book Coming Up Cajun, which is based on the true tales of two little boys growing up in the heart of Cajun Country.

Full of nature, this sweet tale told in rhyming verse captures some of the wholesome outdoor activities, daily chores, and good times of Carrie’s own children.

“From the green of the land, to the blue of the bayous, they made the best of their time in the splendour of a Southern youth,” says Carrie.

The story is educational for how it captures all the activities that are part of daily life for kids growing up in the country, such as gathering eggs, trapping, fishing, hunting, loading bales of hay, tending livestock, paddling in their pirogues…. In addition, Coming Up Cajun is chock full of Cajun French vocabulary, and Carrie includes a handy glossary for readers’ benefit.

Born and raised in quaint Gheens, Louisiana, Carrie Delatte is the proud mother of four young children. She was brought up on a small farm off of Central Bayou Lafourche, and she enjoys southern living and the beauty of nature.

Carrie was diagnosed at the age of seven with the neurological disorder known as Tourette’s Syndrome. Carrie has vowed to donate 10% of proceeds from each title she releases to the Tourette’s Association of America (formerly called the National Tourette’s Syndrome Association) to further assist in the search for a cure, research and educational purposes. Her one outlet from the daily life of a “ticcer” is her writing.

Thank you so much, Carrie, for sharing your stories with Confetti Park!
Storytime: Juju Meets the Rougaroo by Michelle Hirstius

Juju Meets the Rougaroo: A Halloween Anti-Bullying Book by Michelle Hirstius

Halloween calls for some spooky tales, and we have some wonderful spooky tales to share in Louisiana! Here is one of our newest little Louisiana characters—it’s Juju, who makes GOOD voodoo!

What is a rougaroo? It’s like a werewolf. It’s a hairy half-human/half-wolf monster that lives in the swamps of South Louisiana. The Cajun people tell tales of the rougaroo (or rougarou, roux-ga-roux, rugaroo, rugaru or loup garou) prowling the Louisiana swamps and forests, stalking livestock, pets, and humans. It changes into wolf form with the phases of the moon—in worst case, the phase lasts 101 days. Some say you turn into a rougaroo by breaking church habits, and others say witches turn you into a rougaroo, and others say that the bite of a monster causes the change. It’s definitely a scary legend meant to keep little children close to home!

Well… this sweet little book isn’t as scary as those legends. In Juju Meets the Rougaroo, Juju and her friends are trick-or-treating when they encounter the rougaroo, and he tries to steal their candy. He is a bully! Only Juju stands up to him, and decides to use her good voodoo to show the creature his past, present, and future so that he can see how his meanness affects other people—and himself.

Juju is an adorable character created by New Orleans author and illustrator Michelle Hirstius. Juju Meets the Rougaroo is the seventh in a series and we are so glad that more are coming! Thanks for sharing your stories with Confetti Park, Michelle!

Check out all the adventures of Juju at http://www.michellehirstius.com/
Storytime: Foolish John, A Louisiana Folktale narrated by Ted Lindsay

Foolish John is a literal-minded character who appears in American folk stories as a fool who always gets things right somehow. In Louisiana folk tales, he was called Jean Sotte, and he had many misadventures that resulted in happy outcomes despite all of his foolish interpretations of situations.

A later year character who might have been inspired by the Foolish John stories is America Bedelia: “Everyone loves Amelia Bedelia, the literal-minded housekeeper! When she makes a sponge cake, she puts in real sponges. When she weeds the garden, she replants the weeds. And when she pitches a tent, she throws it into the woods!”

In this Foolish John tale, which is narrated by Ted Lindsay of Mooringsport, Foolish John is sent by his mother to sell a cow hide. What does he do? He strings it up on a tree, like a sail blowing in the wind above the woods. The misadventure continues from there, leading to great riches for John.
Storytime: ‘Dem Bones by David Ray (narrated by Chris Lane)

Enjoy this spooky, dramatic tale of a pirate who experiences the strangest vision…. a skeleton pirate crew that carries treasure aboard the island where he is marooned.

“It all started when Mr. Colt, me scurvy dog of a first mate, raised a mutiny against me. I was so proud; that’s how I first became a captain, you know.”

“….At first she appeared to be nothin’ but a large shadow moving across the waves, but as she got closer it became clear that it were a ship. But no ordinary ship she was, for she was indeed made of nothin’ but shadows…..It was then that that chill took a hold of me in earnest as I watches her crew boarding those boats, for they weren’t men, not least as we know them; they were a crew of skeletons whose bones glowed in the night.”

Based on an old pirate folk tale updated by David Eugene Ray, author of the award-winning book The Little Mouse Santi, and narrated by the vibrant New Orleans actor and producer Chris Lane, ‘Dem Bones is sure to thrill listeners of all ages! Who doesn’t love a good pirate tale?

This recording features archival fiddle performances from early 1900s American history: “Devil’s Dream” performed by John Sellick and “Mount Collins Reel” performed by Denis Murphy.

By the way, wonder who this “Louis Lafitte” is? He is the made-up imaginary pirate persona of a little boy from Louisiana, who has grown up hearing the legends of Jean Lafitte! Check out this song by the Confetti Park Players.
Storytime – Mr. Okra Sells Fresh Fruits & Vegetables by Lashon Daley

Mr. Okra Sells Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

It’s Confetti Park Storytime! In this episode, we hear a wonderful New Orleans tale based on our favorite contemporary street vendor, Mr. Okra. The story was written in collaboration with Mr. Okra by Lashon Daley, and illustrated by Emile Henriquez. We are so lucky to have the story narrated for us by the author!

And who is Mr. Okra? He is Arthur Robinson, a real life man who lives in New Orleans today! He a street vendor who sells produce from a truck. We New Orleanians love to hear his recognizable call.

“Up and down the streets of New Orleans, Mr. Okra drives his brightly painted truck. All over the city, you can hear his call: ‘I got oranges and bananas! I got tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocadoes!’ His fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables are as colorful as Mardi Gras floats, as green as the St. Charles Streetcar, and as different as the animals at the Audubon Zoo. Taste and tour New Orleans in this colorful story.”

Lashon Daley and Mr. Okra

Lashon Daley came to New Orleans to work with a nonprofit rebuilding organization as an AmeriCorps member. During that time, Daley discovered the joys of performing as a storyteller, sparking her interest in New Orleans folklore and the stories residents tell. Today she is in Berkeley, California, where she is pursuing her PhD in performance studies.

The colorful illustrations in the book were created by Emile Henriquez, a native New Orleanian who was born in the French Quarter. An art teacher, he also illustrated The Oklahoma Land Run, Toby Belfer Learns about Heroes and Martyrs, The Battle of New Orleans: The Drummer’s Story, D.J. and the Debutante Ball, D.J. and the Jazz Fest, and D.J. and the Zulu Parade.

Thank you, Lashon, for sharing your lovely book on Confetti Park! It is for sale on Amazon.

And here is Mr. Okra himself performing with the Confetti Park Players.
Storytime: Ten Little Crawfish by Melinda Falgoust
In this episode of Confetti Park, I am delighted to share the story of the Ten Little Crawfish, marvelously narrated by the author and illustrator, Melinda Taliancich Falgoust.

Ten little crawfish, swimmin’ in da swamp.
One thought he heard some Zydeco and
stopped to dance and stomp….

This is Melinda’s brand-new counting concept board book that someday will be on the shelf of every Louisiana kid. Join the ten little crawfish as they count down through the Crescent City and some of its best-known landmarks.

We are so lucky to have Melinda read it to us!

The New Orleans-based author and illustrator is currently taking pre-orders for this adorable and entertaining book through IndieGoGo. Be among the first to get it. (I think it’s going to be a classic!)
- With its ten, tasty crustaceans, the savory silliness appeals to a young reader’s developing sense of humor and helps them create a positive association with books.
- The patterned text also makes it easy for preschoolers to jump in and participate.
- The sights and sounds of New Orleans encourage young children’s fascinations about the world around them and lets them know the things they love can be found in books!
Regular listeners of Confetti Park know that Melinda is one of our wonderful regular contributors. She is incredibly prolific (she works very hard, kids!) and has a wide-range of books for both children and adults. Visit her website.

Listen to an interview with Melinda Taliancich Falgoust on Confetti Park

Listen to more of her stories:

Her Royal Majesty, the Superhero Bride of Frankenstein

Footprints

Lousy Liver