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In this comedic novel set in New Orleans in the late 1980s, an inveterate lottery player will risk everything—except gainful employment—to strike it rich. Filled with local-flavored humor, it features engaging, unforgettable characters and a unique plot that offers insights into fate, faith, and the vagaries of life. 

In chapters ranging from food and drink to history and war, this book shares real-life stories that only New Orleans could produce. Errol Laborde founded Lundi Gras and the now-beloved tradition of Zulu meeting Rex at Spanish Plaza before a loud, excited crowd on the eve of Fat Tuesday. He tells that origin story here, along with other vignettes adapted from his national-award-winning Streetcar column in New Orleans magazine.

A ghastly murder, Jim Crow justice, and the gallows tree.

When two federal marshals rode up to Will Mathis’ rural house outside of Oxford, Mississippi, in 1901 to arrest him for counterfeiting and distilling, they had no idea what was waiting for them. Mathis and African American servant Orlando Lester shot the marshals, chopped up their bodies, and burned Mathis’ house to the ground with the bodies inside. Mathis and Lester were sentenced to hang. Nationwide media coverage of the grisly case led more than 7,000 people to descend on Oxford to witness the hanging of a black man and a white man side by side. Briskly paced and meticulously researched, this tale that captured the public imagination is brought back to life in riveting detail.

According to the Bureau of Governmental Research, “Few people alive today have had as great an impact on New Orleans’s physical environment as Bob Becker.”

In Going South, Becker recounts a lifetime of personal experiences with humor, self-deprecation, and appreciation for lessons learned. Turning back the clock to the 1950s and beginning with his early days as a newspaper boy in Buffalo, New York., Bob reveals the early interactions and experiences that helped to form his journey from the windswept snow of his hometown to the Big Easy, with adventures in the remote island of New Guinea and the plains of Africa.

The many additional stories come from Bob’s fascinating career, which has included being New Orleans city planning director, zoo manager, college educator, consultant, author, and chief executive of one of the nation’s largest urban parks. His many adventures and challenges include planning the 1984 World’s Fair, navigating the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, and confronting venomous snakes. Going South celebrates the legacy of an everyman from a working-class family who rose to prominence as a “mover and shaker” in New Orleans.

Twelve-year-old Gracie Watson is unusually—some might even say morbidly—excited about her upcoming move to Savannah, one of the most haunted cities in the country.

Gracie isn’t one to make friends with the living, but she quickly bonds with a graveyard groundskeeper’s son, who vows to help her on her quest. Together, they set out to find the ghost of another Gracie Watson, who happens to be buried at Bonaventure Cemetery. Like any great adventure, what they find is nothing like what they expected.

"...a fun and engaging read for football fans and realistic fiction fans alike." —Kirkus Reviews

A Team Against All Odds

Hatcher has big football dreams. He wants to be a play-calling star. A legend. So, he joins a city youth team with the hopes of helping them design plays to win a championship. But when his inability to read plays correctly gets him cut to the B-team––a group of scrappy misfits––his dream of winning turns to surviving a season of Cajun craziness. 

Enter cousin Heatha, who, forced to live with them, attempts to discover the root of Hatcher’s problems. How can latchkey kids Hatcher and Heatha work together to defy the odds?

Using techniques from hypnosis, neurolinguistic programming, the Bible, and the greatest salespeople in history, Hogan empowers you to improve all areas of your life.

A beast of a tale, for true!

Twelve-year-old Hatcher Hampton eagerly embarks on his first “men’s” fishing trip, a family tradition. He accompanies Grampa Grump and his older brother Hunter to the Big Fish Fishing Rodeo on Bayou Vivré. The $500 prize is just enough to save his family from eviction. Hatch is determined to show up his brother and win the cash reward.  Misadventure soon unfolds in the bayou backcountry. The Hamptons go up against the one-armed man Lazarre and discover a legend of the swamp. Hatch comes face-to-face with his greatest fear and learns important lessons about self and family. This middle-reader is a rollicking and offbeat tale that will surely delight the boy in everyone.

Lessons in gentility and etiquette from our first president.

Written by a mother-daughter duo, this guide provides essential etiquette to live by in a hectic, twenty-first century society. The authors emphasize that George Washington, while subject to great stress, always maintained an air of comfortable ease. From everyday social interactions to table manners, this book explains how to present your best self, despite the pressures of modern day life.

This is the French language version of Mrs. Simms' Fun Cooking Guide. Cooking in several languages comes naturally to Myrtle Landry Simms, a descendant of French immigrants and Acadian refugees from Nova Scotia.

Now in paperback!

Substitute teacher Victor Kennedy begins a middle-school American history class by writing one word on the chalkboard: Tuskegee. Over the next several days, the elderly veteran teaches students about the Tuskegee Airmen, brave men who fought racism and prejudice to fly more than 1,500 missions during World War II. The students learn about segregation and how the victories of the Tuskegee Airmen helped move the United States on a path toward racial equality. In Tuskegee Airmen: American Heroes, exciting battles against evil abroad and at home come alive for a new generation.

Now in paperback!

Decode the story of the Sioux who helped win the war.

In World War II, code making and code breaking reached a feverish peak. The fabled Enigma cipher had been broken, and all sides were looking for a secure, reliable means of communication. Many have heard of the role of the Navajo Code Talkers, but less well-known are the Sioux Code Talkers, who used the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota dialects. Told by the great-niece of John Bear King, who served in the First Cavalry as a Sioux Code Talker, this informative title explores not only the importance of the indigenous peoples to the war but also their culture and values. Follow the seven Sioux who put aside a long history of prejudice against their people and joined the fight against Japan.