LU AND THE SWAMP GHOST

Carville—yes, that one—retells a tale learned from his Louisiana mother, about her own Depression-era childhood. “As curious as a Louisiana judge” since the time she learned to talk, little Lu heads into the swamp one day and encounters a mud-covered creature she takes for a swamp ghost. Lu tricks it into letting her escape, but seeing that it displays a decidedly un-ghostlike appetite for leftovers and for company, Lu recalls her Mama’s philosophy that “you’re never poor if you have a loving family and one good friend.” She fearlessly returns to offer it a hamper, a home, and, once a rainstorm washes off the mud to reveal the “ghost’s” true nature, a hand. Placing typically bulb-headed, frizzy-haired figures in a wonderfully gloppy bayou setting, Catrow ably captures Lu’s big personality, as well as the story’s warmth and humor. Here’s hoping Carville’s momma told him some more stories for Catrow to illustrate. (author’s note) (Picture book. 6-8)