Reproduction of the original: Strange True Stories of Louisiana by George W. Cable

The essential travel guide to the land of voodoo, hoodoo, and backwater bayous, "Weird Louisiana" reveals everything weird, wacky, and wonderful about this state.

And that's for true! For decades, master raconteur Jim Bradshaw has regaled Louisiana readers with the witty, wistful, and weird in his weekly column, C'est Vrai. Collected here for the first time are stories about the characters of politics, poetry, business, show biz, and sports, along with criminals, eccentrics, soldiers, and more. A fistfight with Huey P. Long, how the name Breaux got its x, a bootlegging priest--these anecdotes and more unfold with a deft touch and a light heart. Bradshaw's charming take on all things Louisiana is a quirky romp through colorful characters and strange sights, highlighting the rich history, culture, and distinct flavor of Cajun country. Award-winning journalist Jim Bradshaw has spent almost fifty years making and breaking the news. He was an editor of the Lafayette (LA) Advertiser until 2008. Bradshaw continues to entertain in his column, C'est Vrai, still published by newspapers and Web sites across Louisiana.

"Natchez, Mississippi, once had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in America, and its wealth was built on slavery and cotton. Today it has the greatest concentration of antebellum mansions in the South, and a culture full of unexpected contradictions. Prominent white families dress up in hoopskirts and Confederate uniforms for ritual celebrations of the Old South, yet Natchez is also progressive enough to elect a gay black man for mayor with 91 percent of the vote"--

From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo comes a story of discovering who you are — and deciding who you want to be. When Louisiana Elefante’s granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn’t overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town — including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder — she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana's and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.) Called “one of DiCamillo’s most singular and arresting creations” by The New York Times Book Review, the heartbreakingly irresistible Louisiana Elefante was introduced to readers in Raymie Nightingale — and now, with humor and tenderness, Kate DiCamillo returns to tell her story.