Mardi Gras Almost Didn't Come This Year

In this gorgeous and lyrical picture book, a family finds hope and healing in a Mardi Gras celebration after Hurricane Katrina changed their world.

That zany beat in our feet is ‘cause of Pop-Pop, our pa. He sure loved himself some Mardi Gras! “It’s Mardi Gras weather!” he’d shout out whenever, blaring his horn, tilting it high. Mamma’d laugh ‘til she cried. Hands on hips, she’d sashay barefoot, fancy-dancy of the ball.

But Pop-Pop hasn’t played his horn, not since the storm.

This vibrant and moving story shows a family struggling to rebuild their home and their spirits following Hurricane Katrina. A young brother and sister aren’t sure how their displaced family can move on until one very special Mardi Gras gives them and their parents new hope and belief in a beautiful future.

Kathy Z. Price made her debut in the children’s book field with the publication of The Bourbon Street Musicians. She is a Cave Canem Fellow and a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry. Kathy was awarded an Archie D. and Bertha H. Walker Scholarship with the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, and received a scholarship award for the Squaw Valley Community of Writers. Visit her at KathyZPrice.com.

Carl Joe Williams was born in uptown New Orleans. At fourteen, he was accepted into The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) where he received his formal training. Williams’s work has been displayed in several venues throughout the United States, including “Journeys,” an installation at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, and Williams’s “Sculptural Trees” installation on the median of Veterans Boulevard. Visit him at CarlJoeWilliams.com.