Bayou Magic

March 16, 2015
One summer, nearly-10-year-old Maddy Johnson gets swept up in the mysteries of the Louisiana bayou. She’s the youngest of her five sisters and the last to spend a summer with her Grandmère Lavalier, hours from her family’s home in New Orleans. Quickly adapting to life in her grandmother’s wooden shack, Maddy learns about signs and healing herbs, listens to tales about her ancestors, explores the waters with a boy named Bear, meets other locals (who, like Maddy, are a “stew” of ethnic backgrounds), and thinks she sees a mermaid, the legendary Mami Wata. Grandmère’s quiet sadness about the past and worry for the future (“To be a hero, bad things have to happen,” she tells Maddy) strike notes of unsettling and suspenseful tension. Readers will be easily drawn into Rhodes’s (Sugar) heady descriptions, and as environmental disaster threatens the landscape Maddy has come to love, her heroism shines as she protects the community and recognizes her own strength. Ages 8–12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

February 15, 2015
Infused with a whimsical sense of adventure, Rhodes' latest draws life from the mystical aura of the Louisiana bayou, braiding it with threads of environmental consciousness.Madison Isabelle Lavalier Johnson lives in New Orleans with her mother, father and four older sisters. Each summer a note arrives requesting that one of the sisters come and visit their grandmother at her remote cottage in the bayou. When Grandmere's latest letter arrives with Maddy's name scrawled across it, the 10-year-old gets the shivers. Her siblings have warned of her grandmother's weirdness and the spookiness of the setting. Yet Maddy's adventure-seeking nature is drawn to the intrigue. The pace of the story is quick, while the setting and mysticism give the tale a sense of timelessness-it feels neither modern nor historical. Although the overall movement of the story is satisfying, the confluence of ideas heaped into the story can at times seem forced. Rhodes combines coming of age, friendship, aging, environmentalism and family obligation, just to name a few issues, into her bayou bouillabaisse. The effect sometimes feels muddier than the swamp. Still, an array of colorful bayou folk adds likable strangeness, while the presence of a mermaid in the family lore refreshes the waters. Adventure-seeking girls with a taste for mermaids need apply. (Magical realism. 8-12)

Starred review from February 1, 2015

Gr 3-6-Maddy lives with her family in New Orleans. At almost 10, she is the youngest of five girls, and this summer it will be her turn to stay with her grandmother in the bayou. Apprehensive about the visit-her sisters say Grandmere is a witch, whose house has no electricity or indoor plumbing-Maddy is also excited to discover Bon Temps. Soon, Grandmere teaches Maddy about healing herbs and their family history. When Maddy finds that she can call fireflies and see mermaids, Grandmere tells her the story of Mami Wata, the water spirit who accompanied their slave ancestors from Africa. Maddy soon comes to love the wetlands and the residents of Bon Temps, human and otherwise. So when the Gulf oil spill threatens the town, it is Maddy who must use her magic to save her new home. Some sensitive subject matter may be disturbing to younger readers-Maddy's friend has an alcoholic father who inadvertently hurts him and then later dies in the explosion. Maddy is a brave and hopeful heroine, and the descriptions of the bayou are almost as magical as her legacy. VERDICT Hand this to middle grade readers who enjoy family stories, history, and a dose of fanciful magic.-Laurie Slagenwhite Walters, Brighton District Library, Brighton, MI

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2015
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* It's 10-year-old Maddy's turn to spend a summer with her maternal grandmother on the bayou in Bon Temps, Louisiana. She has heard stories from her sisters about the strange woman they call Grandmere, but Maddy can't wait to go. During her stay, she meets the locals and makes friends with Bear, whose father works on a deepwater oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico and who is looked after by the bayou people. Under Grandmere's tutelage, Maddy learns her family's history, important life lessons taught through wise, simple dictums, and becomes adept at watching and listening. She comes to understand that family magic is deep within her, and when she senses that something bad is about to happen, she realizes that the only one able to keep her beloved bayou from being destroyed is her. Environmental issues that have impacted and continue to threaten the Gulf Coast play a strong role, shaping Maddy's understanding of humanity's connection to the fragile ecosystem. Though her stirring coming-of-age story is set in a world of magic, folk history, and ritual that is easy to embrace, at the same time it revels in friendship and love, and reflects life in the Deep South. Looking to add diversity to your shelves? Look no further than the fascinating characters that populate Bon Temps and experience the community in which they live.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2015
It's nine-year-old Maddy's turn to visit Grandmhre and have a bayou summer in Louisiana. Unfortunately, her visit coincides with the 2010 oil spill. The richly drawn characters, setting, and bayou community of the first half of the novel are undermined by a plot that turns magical--where fireflies and mermaids become the hope for saving one part of the Gulf.

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)