Tag: story

Storytime: Can We Take A Road Trip? By Papa Dude

Summertime means road trips! In this episode of Confetti Park, we take a road trip with Papa Dude and his best friend Charlie Crab. They take us on a trip across America, and we to get visit some of the most interesting and fun places the continental United States has to offer.

Who is Papa Dude? His real name is Steven Scaffidi, and he is a New Orleans creator who has a whole line of Papa Dude adventures, a character he based on his own father.

Says Papa Dude: “Ya know…I just love good food, good times, and a good story too. Some folks say that I know a little bit about a lot of things. Ha! Well maybe so but I can’t wait to share all that I’ve learned over the years with you!”

Through Papa Dude’s and Charlie Crab’s eyes, we see some amazing American attractions—those manmade, like the Hoover Dam and Mount Rushmore, and natural attractions, like Yosemite and Carlsbad Caverns. As we travel through bayous, beaches, deserts, mountains, and crisscross the great highways with Papa Dude and his sidekick, we think about just how vast and majestic is this country of America. What a great summer book!

You can learn more about the Papa Dude series at Steven’s website, https://www.heypapadude.com/

And learn more about Steven and his other creative projects at https://www.ghostriderpictures.com/
Storytime: The Loup Garoup

Loup garoups are also knows as rougarou in Louisiana, and most famously as werewolves.

It’s almost Halloween, the time of year when the doors between the living world and the spiritual world are open wide. Soon we will observe Allhallowtide, when we remember the dead, including saints (hallows), martyrs, and all the faithful departed.

It’s the perfect time to cozy up to a fire and hear tales of the supernatural. You decide… truth or fiction?

In this episode of Confetti Park Storytime, Kathleen Welch shares with us the legend of the Loup Garoup as found in Acadiana French-Canadian, Acadian, and Franco-American folklore.

The rougaroo is on display at Audubon Zoo in New Orleans

Loup garoups are also knows as rougarou in Louisiana, and most famously as werewolves. They are a terrifying night creature that emerges when the moon is full. Another word you might have heard associated with phases of the moon is “lunatic.”

“The belief is that sinners may be transformed into black bears or dogs, in which shape they wander each night until someone draws blood from them, thereby breaking the curse,” says Welch, describing the loup garoup.

You can learn a lot about werewolf legends at History.com
Storytime: Le Lutin

In this episode of Confetti Park Storytime, we hear about Le Lutin, a fairytale figure and a trickster spirit! Contributor Kathleen Welch shares some of the legends about this hobgoblin who has a knack for pranking.

Le lutin could change his appearance whenever he wanted. So you never know when you are seeing a lutin. But legends say his natural form was a little man with a long beard. He was especially fond of children and horses.

According to the Houma, Louisiana newspaper, “If you’ve ever lost your car keys or misplaced one of your socks, you just may have been pranked by a lutin.”

Some stories are darker. This tale of Le Lutin, from an 1870 text from France called The Fairy Mythology by Thomas Knightly, says:

The other legend named Le Lutin tells how seven little boys, regardless of the warnings of their old grandmother, would go out at night on various affairs. As they went along a pretty little black horse came up to them, and they all were induced to mount on his back. When they met any of their playmates they invited them also to mount, and the back of the little horse, stretched so that at last he had on him not less than thirty little boys. He then made with all speed for the sea, and plunging into it with them they were all drowned.

So, how to get rid of a lutin if one of these little hobgoblins is plaguing you? According to Knightly:

“The best way, it is said, to banish a Lutin who haunts a house, is to scatter flax-seed in the room that he most frequents. His love of neatness and regularity will not allow him to let it lie there, and he soon gets tired of picking it up, and so be goes away.“

Thanks to Kathleen Welch for sharing this bit of French folklore. She gives credit to The Red Housewife Blogspot.
Storytime: Samuel Morse, That’s Who! by Tracy Nelson Maurer

In this episode of Confetti Park Storytime, you’ll hear the fascinating and fun story of the inventor Samuel Morse, who used electricity to power the telegraph and who invented Morse Code. Way back in the 1800s, he was teaching the world how to do instant messaging!

Tracy Nelson Maurer is the author of this fun biography geared toward kids, and we are so happy that Tracy has narrated the story for our enjoyment.

Back in the 1800s, information traveled slowly. Who would dream of instant messages?

Samuel Morse, that’s who!

Who traveled to France, where the famous telegraph towers relayed 10,000 possible codes for messages depending on the signal arm positions—only if the weather was clear? Who imagined a system that would use electric pulses to instantly carry coded messages between two machines, rain or shine? Long before the first telephone, who changed communication forever?

Samuel Morse, that’s who!

Tracy Nelson Maurer will be one of the featured authors at the upcoming New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University being held March 19-21. Learn more about this event at https://bookfest.tulane.edu/.

Tracy Nelson Maurer

Tracy has written several fun biographies of important change makers, such as John Deere and Noah Webster, and lots of nonfiction books about a wide range of topics such as history, STEM, social skills—even cheerleading and automobiles! Learn more

Thank you, Tracy, for sharing the story of Samuel Morse with Confetti Park!
Storytime: The Opossum’s Tale – A folk tale narrated by Janneke van der Molen

A Native American foltale narrated by Janneke van der Molen

In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear a traditional folk tale interpreted and narrated by Janneke van der Molen of New Orleans.

Janneke is originally from the Netherlands, but has called New Orleans home for two decades. She has a deep love of the culture of South Louisiana and her adopted city of New Orleans.

Enjoy her interpretation of this strange Native American myth about why opossums have pouches.

Opossums are marsupials— do you know what a marsupial is? It is a kind of animal that carries its babies in a pouch outside its belly, after the babies are born. They continue to grow and eat until they are big enough to travel on their own. Most opossums live in the South Pacific in countries like Australia and New Guinea. Can you name some other animals that are marsupials?

The only marsupials living in the United States are different kinds of opossums.

You will have to listen to this story to learn the reason the opossum has a pouch—that is, according to Native Americans!

The Confetti Park podcast and radio program, hosted by Katy Hobgood Ray, features music and stories that families will love listening to together. We explore songs of Louisiana, the Mississippi Delta and beyond. Sparkling interviews, in-studio performances, delightful music medleys, jokes, local author storytime, and a little surprise lagniappe make for an entertaining show!

Confetti Park is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University.
Storytime: Panorama by Gypsy Damaris Boston

This is a road trip from North Louisiana to South Louisiana, represented in an essay called “Panorama” by Gypsy Damaris Boston, and narrated by her granddaughter, Katy Hobgood Ray. The essay is from her collection of published nature observations, Dear Louisiana, Love Gypsy.

Gypsy’s mantra has always been, “Stop, look and listen…. Nature is at work for you.” Some excerpts from this essay:

From the pine-covered red clay hills of north Louisiana, to the moss-draped live oaks of the black and coffee grounds-land of south Louisiana, I watched Nature’s pageant of beauty and look at our state with pride and delight.

….

The rains that caused so much trouble made everything lush and green. The water hyacinths are beautiful!

….

Young boys tell of filling sandbags to protect the levee. When the water would wash the sand out of the bags, bags of shells were used to slow the water and the sand bags were placed behind them. An additional problem developed when the continuing winds pushed the tides inland on the bayous and would not permit rainwater to drain anywhere.

….

I look at a small pirogue hewn out of a cypress log. I am surprised to see it painted…It is shallow, slightly pointed at the end, and the smooth walls look no thicker than a bread board. There is a trick to paddling a pirogue.

——

I eat seafood gumbo cooked as the French do and served with French bread. The loaf weighs only eight ounces but it is over 30 inches long.

The Confetti Park radio show and podcast is supported by the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and Music Rising at Tulane University.
Storytime: Lafitte’s Restless Ghost narrated by Ted Lindsay

You’ve heard of Pirate Jean Lafitte, a French pirate who gained infamy in the bays and swamps off the Gulf of Mexico. He lived from 17080-1823. He is often featured in tales of treasure hunters and is part of many legends from Louisiana and Texas.

Here is one that takes place in Laport, off the coast of Galveston Bay… in the 1800s, many years after Lafitte;s death. We learn thatt he ghost of the smuggler continually wanders the earth searching for a worthy inheritor. Only when he finds a person who is worthy can he at last rest.

The story is narrated for you by Ted Lindsay of Mooringsport, La.

We begin with a weary travel who is approaching an abandoned house at dusk, and he enters it to take shelter from the cold wind. He can hear the waves tearing at the bluffs of Galveston Bay…. After stabling his tired horse, he enters the old house and builds a fire for comfort.

He wakes to find a strange man standing over him, who beckons him to follow. The weary traveler, in a stupor, is so commanded by the presence and entreaty in the eyes of the stranger that he does….

The strange man says to him,

“Here more gold lies buried than is good for any man. All you have to do is dig, and it is yours. You can use it; I cannot. However, it must only be applied purposes of highest beneficence. Not one penny may be evilly or selfishly spent. Do you understand?”

I said “Yes.”

Then the visitant was gone, and I was shivering with cold.

What happens next? Listen to the full story as featured on Confetti Park!
Storytime – Fair Weather Friend: A Story of Hurricane Katrina by Marcus Page

Summertime in New Orleans brings a hyper awareness of storm season. In this episode of Confetti Park, we hear Fair Weather Friend: A Story of Hurricane Katrina, narrated by the author Marcus Page.

Marcus is a poet and a New Orleans native. He was inspired to write a story of the power of friendship after the experience of Hurricane Katrina. Two children, who are the best of friends, are separated from each other during the hurricane evacuation. While their families face different challenges, both of these young children bear the pressure of the situation and the forced evacuation of their home.

It was August, the summer of 2005.
The kids were getting ready to go back to school.
After a long summer of playing and vacationing,
Payton and Maria were looking forward to getting back to school.

Payton and Maria were walking to the corner store.
When they arrived to the store the store clerk was watching
the news on a TV behind the counter.

There was a special bulletin urging all residents to evacuate soon,
because a huge storm was coming.
The news man called the storm Katrina.

Katrina was said to possibly be the biggest storm New Orleans had ever seen.

Fair Weather Friend: A Story of Hurricane Katrina is available on Amazon. Listen to Marcus narrate the story. And learn more about Marcus and his poetry and performance art at http://www.rawartists.org/marcuspage.
Storytime: The Adventures Of The Swamp Kids – A Dog Named Cat By Leif Pedersen

A Dog Named Cat by Leif Pedersen

There is something special about a Catahoula Leopard Dog! What a strange and magical breed…It’s the state dog of Louisiana. And it’s celebrated in the cute children’s book by Leif Pedersen. Leif narrates the fun-filled adventure in A Dog Named Cat, the fourth book in The Adventures of The Swamp Kids series, for Confetti Park.

The Swamp Kids travel to a nearby animal shelter in hopes of finding a new pet they can adopt and bring home. They find a Louisiana Catahoula Cur puppy and learn all about him. (This podcast features “Sunbonnet Sue” performed by the Hackberry Ramblers.) Listen!

….They’re called “catahoulas,”
and raised up the bayou a bit.
They’re really good herders,
and faster than lightning.
At home he will be a big hit!

So now what to name their new furry friend? Lots of smiles come from this great book for animal lovers, not least the brightly colored illustrations of the swamp critters by artist Tim Banfell. Also included in the book is a Lagniappe Lesson written by WWL-TV and Radio personality Angela Hill, a dedicated animal lover respected for her journalistic talents and her unwavering commitment to animals. Angela offers kids tips on the care and responsibility involved with pet ownership.

Want to hear more? Listen to The Missing Chord by Leif Pedersen, the very first Swamp Kids book in the series. The Swamp Kids have many adventures you can enjoy… Visit www.theswampkids.com for puzzles, plush toys, activity sheets of teachers, and more!

The Catahoula Cur is an American dog breed named after Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, United States. Also known as the Catahoula Leopard Dog or Louisiana Catahoula, it became the state dog of Louisiana in 1979.
Storytime: Brer Rabbit and the Peanut Patch by Dianne de Las Casas

Dianne de Las Casas

Listen to the magical storytelling of Louisiana children’s author Dianne de Las Casas. Here is Dianne reading “Brer Rabbit and the Peanut Patch,” from her collection Jambalaya – Stories With Louisiana Flavor.

Brer Rabbit is a favorite recurring character in Louisiana folklore—as in all regions with strong African-American and Native American cultural influences. Brer Rabbit is a “trickster” figure, who can get out of tough situations and win the day though cunning and quick thinking.

Though Brer Rabbit is smaller and less physically capable than other animals (and really, just exactly what damage can a bunny rabbit do anything besides a vegetable garden?), he uses clever tricks and fast talking to outsmart his rivals.

We celebrate the life of Dianne de Las Casas—masterful storyteller, prolific children’s author, champion of Louisiana children and Louisiana folklore, incredible mother, educator, entrepreneur, and creative soul.

Read “Remembering Louisiana children’s author Dianne de Las Casas”
Storytime: God from A to Z by Robin House

From North Louisiana (Bossier Parish) comes a Bible-inspired book suitable for all ages because of its unique multilayered approach. For families of Christian faith who want an easy way to teach their children about Bible verses and God, that can be revisited again and again as the child grows, this book is ideal.

As you listen to Robin narrate her book, you will hear the very simple layer ideal for young children. As Robin moves through the alphabet, she describes characteristics of God of the Christian faithful.

From the website: “God from A to Z is Robin’s first published children’s book. Aimed at young children, the illustrated book describes the God of the Bible in detail, with each letter of the alphabet linked to one of God’s aspects. God’s nature is poetically captured in Robin’s writing while Peggy A. Borel’s beautiful illustrations visualize and cement the concepts for young minds on each page.”

In addition, there are verses and discussion concepts included in the pages of the book, that are meant for prompting inquisitive discussions between family members as the children get older.

Learn more at https://www.godfromatoz.com/

Look for an interview with Robin about her inspirations and the writing process on an upcoming episode of Confetti Park.

Thank you, Robin, for sharing your book and your story of personal faith with Confetti Park!
Storytime: Juju the Good Voodoo by Michelle Hirstius

Are you ready for the creation story of Juju the Good Voodoo Doll?

In a cabin in a bayou one foggy night
Marie the VooDoo Queen was casting spells
on dolls that were good,
and some that were a fright.

One little doll she saw at a glance—
purple hair, big black eyes
and a gold dress.
could this be the very one, by chance?

“You are special…. you are the one!” and so Marie mixed the spell of good deeds for this doll.

This is how the story of Juju the Good Voodoo doll begins her role casting spells of good deeds on others who need help. This is the very first in the adorable series by Michelle Hirstius.

“Voodoo, Hoo Doo, You do! Juju knows voodoo, and I’ll put a good spell on you.” From here, you can follow her adventures in books both written and illustrated by the very talented and creative Michelle Hirstius, who lives in New Orleans.

Confetti Park is so delighted to share some of Juju’s other adventures in our Storytime feature too! Listen along as Juju saves Christmas in da Bayou (and meets Cajun St. Nick) and as Juju Meets the Rougaroo—it’s a perfectly hair-raising tale spooky tale featuring the Louisiana swamp monster. All these books are ideal for young readers and impart lessons about being nice and doing good.

From the author’s website: “Juju is adorable and will enter your hearts as she comes off the pages of this delightful tale. Children and adults will fall in love and enjoy reading the origin of where Juju came from and what she is set out to see and what “good deeds” are to come. This book lets children learn something known a negative can be positive. Juju is also different and unique and that’s OK. You can be YOU!”

Check out all the adventures of Juju at http://www.michellehirstius.com/