Review of Bayou Magic

In 2015 I'll be adding my reviews of Diverse Children's & mostly YA books here, and I'm delighted to make Bayou Magic by Jewell Parker Rhodes my first.

Not having children or grandchildren of my own, I rarely read Middle Grade Fiction, but I snagged an ARC of Bayou Magic at KidLitCon 2014 where the author was a presenter, and I’m so glad I did.

There’s magic in these pages—it's a lovely story from a gifted storyteller.

Maddy is the youngest of five sibling girls, which means she can easily get lost in the family dynamic. Each of her sisters have already done the obligatory summer stint with grandma in the Louisiana bayou of Bon Temps and reported it to be a deplorable sentence. To them, Grandmere’s strange ways make her something of a witch.

Now it’s Maddy’s turn to spend her summer with Grandmere. To an average city kid from New Orleans, a summer with no electricity or indoor plumbing might seem like a summer to forget. But Maddy is no ordinary 10 year-old and her gift for magic begins to blossom once in the loving embrace of her mystical grandmother and the enchanted world of Bon Temps.

Won’t tell you much more as it’s best to discover this gem of a Middle Grade story for yourself. It hits all the right notes of empowering young girls while appropriately addressing environmental issues, multicultural communities, slavery, alcoholism, cultural heritage, and African American folklore. 

For more about the prolific author/playwright/educator, Jewell Parker Rhodes, click the image below and visit her website.