Bayou Magic

It's time for Maddy, the youngest of five daughters, to spend a summer with her grandmother in a remote bayou. Narrator Bahni Turpin brings alive this wondrous story. Her portrayal of Maddy is fully credible, especially her curiosity about her heritage. Turpin delivers Maddy's grandmre's cryptic sayings in a perfect blend of Louisiana French and English. The colourful array of accents she gives to other bayou folk adds cultural depth as well. As Turpin guides listeners, Maddy journeys toward self-discovery and a once-in-a-lifetime adventure with mermaids, magic, dragonflies, and an oil rig disaster. The excitement of Maddy and her fellow adventurer, Bear, is infectious. M.F.T. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine


It's time for Maddy, the youngest of five daughters, to spend a summer with her grandmother in a remote bayou. Narrator Bahni Turpin brings alive this wondrous story. Her portrayal of Maddy is fully credible, especially her curiosity about her heritage. Turpin delivers Maddy's grandmre's cryptic sayings in a perfect blend of Louisiana French and English. The colourful array of accents she gives to other bayou folk adds cultural depth as well. As Turpin guides listeners, Maddy journeys toward self-discovery and a once-in-a-lifetime adventure with mermaids, magic, dragonflies, and an oil rig disaster. The excitement of Maddy and her fellow adventurer, Bear, is infectious. M.F.T. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

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.

November 1, 2015

Gr 3-7-Maddy follows a family tradition of spending her summer alone with her grandmother on the bayou. Her sisters warned Maddy that their grandmother is strange. Instead, Maddy finds her grandmother a kindred spirit who also has disturbing dreams that sometimes come true. The bayou provides wonders to explore and a new friend, Bear, who takes her out on a boat and tells Maddy about his father, who works on an oil platform. The rig explodes near the story's end, and Maddy gets her chance to be a heroine. What begins as a tale about a girl finding her own path transforms into magical realism involving pet fireflies, mermaids, and environmental miracles. Bahni Turpin's narration puts listeners right alongside the characters by fully voicing Grandmere's loving croak and Maddy's awe at the bayou's treasures. VERDICT This inspiring story with a mighty protagonist is a great selection for introverts who don't feel they fit in, as well as budding environmentalists. ["Maddy is a brave and hopeful heroine, and the descriptions of the bayou are almost as magical as her legacy." SLJ 2/15 starred review of the Little, Brown book.]-C.A. Fehmel, St. Louis County Library, MO

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.