Bayou Magic by Jewell Rhodes - ESSENTIAL

 Rhodes, Jewell Bayou Magic 235 pgs. Little Brown and Company, 2015, $ 17.00 Content PG.  Maddy is going to spend the summer with her grandmother that lives in the Louisiana bayou. She is excited and scared. Her older sisters did not enjoy their summers with their grandmother, and claims that she might even be a witch. However, as soon as Maddy arrives, she is enchanted by her grandmother, the bayou, and everything about life there. She loves the surroundings, the fireflies, and her new friend. She feels like there is something else – maybe even a mermaid!

This was an amazing book. I could not put it down. I discovered the bayou with Maddy and loved the vivid descriptions and language in the book. The book read like a “movie in my mind.” Maddy revels in the bayou, all the life, her new friends, the food and people that live there. I learned, through the eyes of Maddy, the impact of natural and man made disasters on the environment. Maddy will stay with me for a long time.

EL/MS – ESSENTIAL.  Ellen-Anita Olson, Teacher Librarian