The Bourbon Street Band Is Back (Shankman & O'Neill)

Author Ed Shankman and illustrator Dave O'Neill have created award-winning books on Boston, Cape Cod, Maine, and Vermont. Now they leave New England and turn their attention to the birthplace of jazz, New Orleans, Louisiana! Jazz, of course, is the only truly American form of music, born from a meeting and mixing of cultures where the mighty Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico. Drummer Bobcat Bob leads a hot band of multi-cultural musicians, featuring a gator on bass, a finger-snapping frog, and a horn section made up of raccoons, a crayfish, and some loons. Bobcat Bob's band is known for miles around - "They played like wind. They played like fire. They raised the roof, and raised it higher. They played all night and weren't done, 'Til morning came and they raised the sun." But one day the music stopped and "the great New Orleans lost its voice." Through months of darkness and sadness the people "wished that things were like before." And with a single drum beat on Bourbon Street, and then another, and another, the music came back to New Orleans, better than ever! Children and parents alike will love this story about the healing power of music.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation.