Tag: books

Storytime: The Mardi Gras Tree by Melinda Taliancich Falgoust
Happy Mardi Gras, everybody!
Wherever you’re watching the parades– whether it’s out in the parishes, Slidell, Metairie or along beautiful St. Charles Avenue–chances are you will need some shade and respite after a long day of truck floats. Find a tree, have a rest, look around, and enjoy the show. And keep your eyes peeled for the Mardi Gras trees! You know the ones… they glitter like rainbows, dedicated as bead catchers by the people passing by.
In this episode of Confetti park, we hear the whimsical tale of The Mardi Gras Tree by Melinda Taliancich Falgoust.
“Laissez bon temps rouler! – let the good times roll! It’s Mardi Gras in New Orleans and everyone’s excited – including the little acorn who just can’t WAIT to grow into a great live oak and watch high over the parades. But as the Great Oak says, it’s not always about being the biggest or the best. “Whatever tree you grow to be, just be the best that you can be.” An endearing tale of growth and self-worth set against the colorful backdrop of one of New Orleans’ biggest celebrations.
You can order the book at https://www.waggingtalespress.com/picture-books
Melinda, thanks for sharing your story and your wonderful talent with Confetti Park!
A Mardi Gras Tree on the campus of Tulane University. Photo by Mary Cross
Animator Deborah A. Anderson discusses black hair, illustrations, and animations

Deborah A. Anderson is a 3D animator and creator of the The Black Hair Alphabet

In this episode of Confetti Park, we meet Deborah A. Anderson, New Orleans based animator and creator of The Black Hair Alphabet, a children’s book that explores different African-American hairstyles from A-Z.

In this interview, Deborah discusses why and how she created the book, and shares insight into the interesting worlds of video game avatars, 3D illustration, and the animation industry.

Says Deborah, “The idea behind the book came from a conversation with some colleagues in animation. We talked about the representation of black hair in video game avatars…. It was actually guys complaining… they were complaining about how if you want to represent your ethnicity, you’re picking between an afro or dreads. There’s really not a myriad of hairstyles to pick from.”

Deborah decided to blog about a different black hair style for each day of the month during Black History Month, starting with a different letter of the alphabet, to explore the versatility of black hair. Each day during February 2017, she spent approximately three hours illustrating a different hairstyle inspired by a letter—A for Afro. B for Bantu Knot, C for Conk., etc. At the end of the month, she had the material for a book!

Deborah, who is primarily an animator (she has created background scenes for Family Guy, the Cleveland Show, Batman, Scooby Doo) created her illustrations using a 3D animation software.

“I would first choose a font I thought would kind of illustrate the hairstyle I was going to do on it,” explains Deborah. “I tried to figure out how to put hairstyle on the font, so, sometimes I would pick a font where I needed it to be a certain way. So, for ‘Geometric Cut’ for ‘G,’ I purposely chose a font with a square top so I could do that geometric cut.”

She published The Black Hair Alphabet on Amazon. You can purchase it in print or for Kindle. Check out blkwmnanimator.com for more information about Deborah and her work!

Thank you so much Deborah, for sharing your story with Confetti Park.

Listen to Deborah narrate the entire book in this episode of Confetti Park Storytime!
New Orleans comedian Mike Strecker publishes a joke book for kids

Mike Strecker is a stand up comedian who has published a series of joke books for kids. Photo by Sally Asher

Mike Strecker is a stand-up comedian who has been performing in the New Orleans area since 1995. And now, he is a published book author. Mike recently released two volumes of jokes, Young Comic’s Guide to Telling Jokes Vol. 1 and 2, which are nationally distributed by Sterling Children’s Books.

“The way it came about… my wife’s a school teacher, and I have a habit of coming up with these corny little jokes. And she would say, ‘You have to write these down; kids love these kinds of books.’

So I wound up writing them down, and sure enough, I sent them away and a publisher wanted to publish them.”

“First I wrote 150 jokes—I figured that would make one volume. Little did I know!” laughs Mike. “I sent it away, and they said, ‘Yes, we like this. But we want to make two volumes of 600 jokes each.’”

Whew! That’s a lot of jokes!

Mike rose to the challenge, and spent the next few months torturing his wife and kids with experimental puns and word play.

“I have to say, the experience was pure joy,” says Mike. “Some days I’d come up with ten, other days, I’d come home and say, ‘Honey, what a day! I did 45 jokes!’ Finally, she was like, ‘Can you turn this off?’”

“There is a pun every where you look…. Once you start looking for them!” says Mike.

Mike’s books came out in January 2017. Included with over 600 jokes each are tips of how to deliver jokes, which Mike developed from his 20+ year career in standup comedy. For example, a joke should always be delivered conversationally. “Act natural,” says Mike. “Don’t read your jokes from this book or any book.”

Mike is already working on a followup, which is tentatively titled “Jokes for Crescent City Kids.”

You can catch Mike performing his family-friendly brand of stand up comedy around New Orleans. Check out his schedule at http://openmikestrecker.com/index.html
Interview with Ol’ Chumbucket, co-creator of Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ol’ Chumbucket reads to kids at Hubbell Library in Algiers Point

In this episode of Confetti Park, Katy Hobgood Ray interviews Ol’ Chumbucket, the co-creator of International Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19. Chumbucket, also known as John Baur in certain circles, lives in New Orleans today (he has lived in many places including the Virgin Islands) and spends much of his time traveling the pirate festival circuit promoting his books and pirate culture.

Chrissie Warren: Pirate Hunter, is his latest. It’s a truly entertaining young adult book about a 13-year-old girl in colonial Virginia who disguises herself as a boy in order to sign onto a merchant ship. What drives her to such rash madness? She must rescue her father, who has been taken by terrible pirates. This book is a great ride!

Ol’ Chumbucket has co-authored at least eight books about pirate culture with his buddy Cap’n Slappy (a.k.a Mark Summers, the co-creator of Talk Like a Pirate Day), including A Li’l Pirate’s ABSeas, “a piratical romp through the alphabet with all that that implies. Sometimes rude, sometimes downright dangerous and subversive, but always fun and always funny.”

Kids in the Algiers Point neighborhood where Confetti Park is located were very lucky to have Ol’ Chumbucket come to the Hubbell Library. He and the NOLA Pyrates Society sang sea shanties and shared pirate lore. Katy recorded this interview with Chumbucket outside the library located near the river. (You can hear the wind! Sorry for the rumbles.)

Here she talks to him about the genesis of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and they uncover what it is that makes pirates so universally appealing.

Says Chumbucket: “Pirates, they’re an expression of freedom. We always tell people it’s ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’—not ‘Commit Felonies Like a Pirate Day.’ We’re not advocating you actually waylay a Spanish galleon.

But… pirates were the freest people on earth. They lived by their own rules; they rejected convention. So when you go out and live your life for YOU instead of the rules that everybody else’s putting on you, the TV ads that tell you you have to smell like this, and the magazine ads that tell you you have to wear these shoes… if you do what you want, because it’s what you want, then you’re living like a pirate.”

For more information about Ol’ Chumbucket, visit his websites https://baurlife.com/ and http://talklikeapirate.com/.
Interview with Lashon Daley, author of the Mr. Okra story book!

This is a special Confetti Park interview with Lashon Daley, the lovely author behind Mr. Okra Sells Fresh Fruits and Vegetables.

Today Lashon is pursuing a PHD in Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. But for a while, she lived in New Orleans, and was inspired to write her sweet book about our favorite produce vendor.

In this interview Lashon talks about the first time she ever saw Mr. Okra, and how she went about creating a children’s book featuring his life’s calling.

Says Lashon: “It was an early Sunday morning, and I remember hearing the truck coming down my street and I thought, is that an ice cream man? And he was calling out these fruits and vegetables, saying there were strawberries and mangoes and bananas, and I thought to myself What kind of ice cream truck man is this?… I found out how well loved he is by the city.”

Lashon Daley and Mr. Okra

Mr. Okra Sells Fresh Fruits and Vegetables was published by Pelican Publishing Company, Inc. It is available in bookstores in New Orleans, Berkeley, and on Amazon.

Here’s what Mr. Okra has to say about the book (from the back cover): “I love selling fruits and veggies to the people of New Orleans because there are people who can’t get to the big stores and people who don’t really like to go to the big stores. . . . They depend on me and I depend on them. We are all family; even if they don’t buy nothing, they still come out and we talk. The fact that this young lady has put me in her children’s book means a whole lot to me. I’m very thankful.”

Listen to Lashon narrating Mr. Okra Sells Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Storytime: The Adventures of the Swamp Kids – The Missing Chord by Leif Pedersen

Leif Pedersen, creator of the Swamp Kids series

It’s Confetti Park Storytime! In this episode, we hear Louisiana-born big band leader and children’s author Leif Pedersen narrate The Missing Chord, the very first book of the Swamp Kids series.

The Swamp Kids are friends and bandmates who live in Bayou Bleu near Mamou, Louisiana. Led by Pierre a le Gator on fiddle, the musical swamp kids include Mon Cher the pretty raccoon and TuTu the Turtle on washboard. There’s also a fish who keeps time by splashing his tail in the water.

But they just can’t get their sounds quite right! What’s missing? Will they find it before the big Battle of the Bands contest?

Sachet the Crawfish longs to join in the merry music making, but he wants to bring just the right sound to the group. Maybe he has just what the Swamp Kids need!

Swamp Kids’ creator Leif Pedersen is a fabulous musician in his own right. Leif has been a lead singer for many famous internationally touring Big Bands orchestras, such as Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Al Beletto’s Big Jazz Band, Pete Fountain, and Woody Herman’s Band. Today, the New Orleans native leads his own band.

The Swamp Kids is a growing enterprise, with four books in the series and more coming. All of the books contain “Lagniappe Lessons” by Louisiana celebrities—famous Cajun fiddler Doug Kershaw is the guest star in The Lost Chord!
Visit www.theswampkids.com for puzzles, plush toys, activity sheets of teachers, and more!

This podcast features a bit of “Se Pas La Pan” performed by the Hackberry Ramblers.
Kids radio show “Confetti Park” debuts on WHYR 96.9 FM on Sunday, July 17

Kids variety show and podcast out of New Orleans features locally spun children’s music and stories showcasing the diverse cultures and sounds of Louisiana.

On Sunday, July 17 at 11:30 a.m., a children’s radio show called “Confetti Park” will hit the airwaves of Baton Rouge on WHYR 96.9 FM.

“Confetti Park,” hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray of New Orleans, features music and stories spun in Louisiana. There are skits, poems, clapping songs, interviews, studio performances by local musicians, and a weekly story time. A podcast version of the show is available on iTunes.

“Here in Louisiana, music permeates the fabric of our daily lives and kids integrate naturally with our live music scene,” says Ray. “I hope, through Confetti Park, to showcase the diversity and kid-friendliness of our culture, and also, to show that kids music can be really good. A lot of Louisiana music is naturally kids music—danceable and full of whimsy and fun.”

Katy Hobgood Ray is the host and producer of Confetti Park

An announcement on the WHYR website says: “….We could all use some inspiration, imagination, and fun. Luckily, WHYR-LP welcomes Confetti Park, a half-hour of music, stories, poetry, and more starting Sunday, July 17th. Hear Confetti Park on Baton Rouge Community Radio every Sunday at 11:30am, hosted by Katy Ray of New Orleans, for uniquely Louisianian magic that reminds us how wonderful our state can be.”

Ray, who works in communications at Tulane University in New Orleans, has a master’s degree in musicology from Tulane and is a former content producer and host for Red River Radio, an NPR-affiliated public radio network in north Louisiana. She directs a children’s choir in New Orleans called the Confetti Park Players; they won a Parents’ Choice Approved Award for their first album.

With support from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University, Katy traverses the state to unearth music and folktales, local legends and spooky stories, colorful family memories and forgotten histories. For the weekly segment Confetti Park Storytime, she features published children’s authors as well as interviews and encounters with everyday people on the street. Children’s voices are often used to share poems, contemporary jump rope jingles, hand-clapping games and other playground chants.

“Confetti Park” debuted in New Orleans on WHIV in April 2015. It currently airs in Hammond on KSLU and is available to all Louisiana community radio stations.

CONFETTI PARK
Confetti Park is a children’s media workshop in New Orleans. We create books, mobile apps, music, videos, and special events geared toward celebrating and growing the wonder and magic of childhood. For more information, visit https://confettipark.com
Storytime: The Girl Who Danced with the Devil

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear an old folk tale called, “The Girl Who Danced with the Devil.” It is narrated for you by Catherine Golden, an early childhood teacher living in New Orleans.

This tale originates in French Acadia culture (you can find it in the delightful Danny Kaye’s Around the World Story Book) and has been adapted for a Louisiana locality.

In the story, a young girl who loves to dance more than anything is heading off to the Mardi Gras Ball with her fiancé. She is warned by her mother not to dance past midnight, otherwise, something bad will happen. When midnight strikes, the breathless partiers are having so much fun in their whirlwind of dance that they don’t mind the chimes of the clock…. the door opens and a mysterious, handsome stranger enters the room.

Enjoy this mysterious and frightening tale of”The Girl Who Danced with the Devil.”
Storytime: Dixie the Old Dawg by Tommie Townsley

South Louisiana children’s author Tommie Townsley narrates the story of Dixie the Old Dawg for Confetti Park!

Dixie The Ole Dawg is a true classic country “Cajun Tale” set in Southwest Louisiana. This inspiring tale is about a dog who was abandoned by her family during a hurricane. After the storm, she finds her way to Ms. Theriot’s house. It is there that the two of them build a trustworthy relationship. Dixie finds out what it feels like to be left alone with no one to care for her. However, she also realizes that sometimes you do have to go through a storm in order to find happiness! Both children and adults will enjoy this true story. It is full of love, friendship, trust, and affection. It you love dogs, you will love Dixie! Always remember, “Dogs are a man’s best friend!”

You can order the book from Amazon or from Tommie’s own publishing house, Ally-Gator BookBites.

Tommie, who lives in Lake Charles, is a great friend to Confetti Park and a leader in the children’s art and culture scene in Louisiana. She has inspired kids around the state with her charming Cajun animal tales. Learn more about Tommie in this interview with Confetti Park.
Interview with multi-talented author Melinda Taliancich Falgoust

Melinda Taliancich Falgoust

Children’s author, actress, and musician just scratches the surface of the roles and capabilities owned by Melinda Taliancich Falgoust of Metairie, La., as Katy Ray discovers in this interview on Confetti Park.

Melinda, who has published several award-winning children’s books including Lousy Liver, Footprints, and her newest, Her Royal Majesty, the Superhero Bride of Frankenstein (which just earned a 5-star review with Reader’s Favorite), wears many hats. The navy veteran holds several jobs (including paralegal and school worker) and is a wife and mother to five kids. She also acts with the Porta-Puppet Players, a troupe of puppeteers, theatre actors and other entertainers that has been active in the Gulf South for decades. (Watch Melinda as Mother Goose on YouTube)

In addition to all this, Melinda writes—prolifically—and spends a significant amount of time on the road traveling to make appearances at book festivals, conventions, and in school visits. Melinda writes for adults and middle-grade readers (see The Gubbins Club), and her works have also won awards in competitions around the world. But it seems writing—and illustrating—books for young children is where she has the most fun.

“I have wanted to be a writer since I was twelve years old,” says Melinda. “I finally decided several years ago that it was time to dig in and get deep with it. So I pulled out the sketchbook, I pulled out the laptop, and started putting all those ideas that have been bubbling over the years right onto paper.”

Lack of sleep notwithstanding, Melinda has found a happy place in children’s literature: “I wanted to be a writer when I grew up, and I realized, that, really, writing in the genre that I write, I don’t need to grow up!”

Her Royal Majesty, the Superhero Bride of Frankenstein

Lousy Liver

Footprints

Listen to Melinda narrate Lousy Liver

Listen to Melinda narrate Footprints
An “A” for The Little Mouse Santi

Confetti Park is so proud of the great reviews rolling in for The Little Mouse Santi! We got an A from the School Library Journal, a prestigious publication that has been printing since 1954. This publication is a go-to for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians as they decide which books to order. Thank you Teri Markson and thank you to School Library Journal, for helping us spread the word about Santi! Librarians, if you want to order our book (and we hope you do!), please order through IPG.

School Library Journal

05/01/2015

K-Gr 2—In this simple ode to felines and the power of one’s heart’s desire, little mouse Santi has only one wish: to be a cat. Every day he watches the cats on the farm and practices strutting, meowing, ignoring others, and pretending to be bored, all the while wishing he could join them for naps in the sun, romps in the grass, and cozy snoozes in the lap of the farmer’s wife. The other mice laugh at him, but he doesn’t care, and one day he finally gathers the courage to become a cat…with surprising results. The spare text and clean lines give the book the look and feel of an animated cartoon, while gentle visual humor and winsome facial expressions add depth to Santi’s longing. VERDICT A sweet and appealing book that speaks of the need to confront one’s fears in order to realize a dream.—Teri Markson, Los Angeles Public Library
Storytime: Why the Possum has a Large Grin by Johnette Downing

Why the Possum has a Large Grin

Award-winning Louisiana children’s musician and author Johnette Downing shares with Confetti Park another marvelous trickster tale—this time about a possum! (Also listen to Why the Oyster Has the Pearl.)

When hungry Deer asks Possum how he stays so plump during the long dry season, the sly marsupial gets an idea. It wouldn’t take much for Possum to help Deer; he could just climb that ol’ persimmon tree and knock down the fruit. But Possum is just plain lazy and he’d rather trick Deer into doing the work for both of them. Once Possum decides to take advantage of his starving neighbor they both become marked forever.

This narration of Why the Possum has a Large Grin is available on Johnette Downing’s Reading Rocks CD, and in book form by Pelican Publishing. It is also available for purchase on Amazon.

Audio used by permission.

Tag: books

Whew! That’s a lot of jokes!

School Library Journal