Review by Booklist Review
This startlingly resonant story of resilience, using an arresting combination of story, images, and rhythm and rhyme, centers on one family right before the 2006 Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This is a particularly meaningful celebration, coming the year after Hurricane Katrina tore apart this Black family's home and neighborhood. Lala, the narrator, who looks preteen, takes us through the day of the hurricane itself, when they fled in a boat to their aunt's house, to the days before Mardi Gras 2006. This year, something is very wrong: Lala and her younger brother's mother isn't buying Mardi Gras charms or king cake or beads. Their father hasn't picked up his trumpet since the storm, so Lala decides she and her brother will hold their own Mardi Gras inside. And then things turn: her father picks up the trumpet, her mother starts dancing, and they join the rollicking parade outside. The illustrations, done in mixed media, are as powerful as the story, moving from an ominous-looking fried egg of a sun through total washout during the storm to a trumpet-shaped cloud as the family regains hope. An author's note and glossary provide great supplements, including a shout-out to NOLA residents' improvisational style in having porch floats when the Mardi Gras parade of 2020 was canceled during quarantine. Inspiring.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Price (The Bourbon Street Musicians) sensitively explores the lasting impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans through a view of one Black Louisiana family. Residing in "Aunt Henny Peck's old shotgun house" since their home was damaged in Katrina's storm and flood, siblings Lala and Babyboy long for "a thousand beignets, sweet bakes, King Cakes." But though "it's Mardi Gras weather," they fear that the holiday is "not coming, ever." Disappointed when their mother, once "the most fancy-dancy of the ball," doesn't embrace the season, Lala and Babyboy revisit their devastated neighborhood and cry at "the smell of rotting water; houses that once stood proud, bowed under decaying wood or disappeared." When Lala decides to resurrect Mardi Gras for her brother, their parents join in, and revelry returns to Bourbon Street and St. Charles Avenue in an act of familial and communal resilience that focuses on rebuilding. Mixed-media illustrations by artist Williams, making his debut, give overlapping meanings to the characters' conflicting emotions--sorrow and celebration, frustration and hope--in layered, saturated backdrops that commemorate the reality and festivity of life in the Big Easy. Back matter includes a highly useful glossary of terms for readers unfamiliar with the intricacies of Mardi Gras. Ages 4--8. (Feb.)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review
This moving picture book transports readers to New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina lands in August 2005. "Days before the storm / there was a burning-up sun." Then wind and water quickly replace the sun. The narrator and her family find shelter in an aunt's house. Before long, it is February and time for Mardi Gras. The narrator and her brother, Babyboy, excitedly wait for the festivities to begin, but it looks as though Mardi Gras may not come this year. Price's poetic free-verse text, with its strong, distinctive narrative voice, is full of New Orleans culture, from the "alligator tail in a po'boy bun" to the blast of Babyboy's trumpet. The text captures the fear and hope that children in New Orleans experienced before and after the storm. Williams's mixed-media collages are well detailed and eye-catching. For readers unfamiliar with New Orleans and Mardi Gras, the art -- with its sense of community, motion, and celebration -- provides an immediate, photo-like depiction of both. In an author's note, readers learn that Mardi Gras almost didn't come again during COVID-19 -- instead of the traditional parade, people created porch floats to celebrate. Nicholl Denice Montgomery March/April 2022 p.(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Price drums up a toe-tapping, finger-snapping tale of resilience in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Lala, the young African American narrator, begins the story with a haunting memory of the hurricane's wrath: "Wind threw Water into Sky, / snatched the Blue out. / Blue spluttered, then died" and "the levees cried." Forced to leave their home, Lala's family now lives in her aunt's shotgun house, and everything has changed. Lala's work-weary father hasn't played his horn since the storm, and her Mamma--once the best dancer in New Orleans--is perpetually cross and forbids music-making. Worst of all, Mamma has decided they won't be participating in the Mardi Gras festivities this year; but Lala is determined to celebrate the holiday in her own way. When her brother surprises everyone by playing a trumpet solo and Mamma finally smiles after Pop-Pop presents her with a Mardi Gras gift of flowers, it's on! The family ventures out into streets filled with brass bands, revelers, and vendors, and they find a renewed sense of hope to help them face the future. Price's lyrical text paints a rich picture of New Orleans and becomes downright musical as the story progresses. Williams' stunning mixed-media illustrations incorporate colorful geometric abstraction, including concentric circles representing the sun, bursts of musical sound, and halos around the characters' heads. Aside from one or two background figures, all characters are Black. A moving story infused with the spirit of New Orleans that sounds a note of creative hope for the city's future. (author's note, glossary) (Picture book. 4-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
