Swamp Water

Victoria's grandma takes her out for a special, fancy birthday lunch. But how special can a restaurant be if it doesn't serve hamburgers or tacos or PB & J? Victoria is about to find out!

Swamp Water, the first novel by a young native of south Georgia, was an immediate critical and financial success. The setting is the mysterious Okefenokee in southern Georgia--"the Swamp that pulled a man down and never let him go." Movie versions were made in 1941 (by Jean Renoir) and in 1951.

Victoria's grandma takes her out for a special, fancy birthday lunch. But how special can a restaurant be if it doesn't serve hamburgers or tacos or PB & J? Victoria is about to find out! Victoria's grandmother is taking her out for a very special birthday lunch. And because it's a very special birthday lunch, Victoria's grandmother takes her to a very fancy restaurant. But because it's a very fancy restaurant, they don't make hamburgers OR chicken fingers and French fries OR tacos OR Swamp Water! What's a hungry girl to do? Maybe give the restaurant some helpful suggestions of what SHOULD be on their menu? In true Munsch fashion, Swamp Water is an uproarious treat, which will resonate with all of the picky eaters out there . . . and the grown-ups who try to feed them.

This story begins in Bay City, Louisiana, at a time when everyone left the front door unlocked, and car keys remained in the car either in the visor or the floorboards. Everyone slept with the windows open because the only means of cooling was the attic fan or swamp coolers. Sweet was the air of innocence. In Swamp Water Tales, author Tarver Wooten shares a collection of stories and adventures from his life in this small town in Louisiana and the challenges of growing up as Sicilian-German in a military community, where the sentiments from the war were still fresh. He narrates stories of wandering from neighborhood to neighborhood without a care in the world during the barefoot days of summer and playing along the stretch of the Red River. This memoir offers a look at how a child grew into a teenager in a place that was home, a place where his friends were, and a place where everything he knew about life was there.

Tundra introduces the first three books in its important new ecosystems series. Each title celebrates the world’s diversity by presenting a different ecosystem: its land and water, its animals and plants. The art is brimming with creatures and ecological features, described in fact-filled notes at the end of each book and in a useful glossary and map. Swamps are often seen as a dangerous and useless. They are often drained to create farmland or to reduce diseases. But such measures can be disastrous. Who Needs a Swamp? explores wetlands and their importance in the food chain and in preserving our soil and clean water. Not only is each book informative and beautiful, but it is a call to action for everybody who cares about the world in which we live.

In a world filled with breathtaking beauty, we have often overlooked the elusive magic of certain landscapes. A cloudy river flows into an Arctic wetland where sandhill cranes and muskoxen dwell. Further south, cypress branches hang low over dismal swamps. Places like these-collectively known as swamplands or peatlands-often go unnoticed for their ecological splendor. They are as globally significant as rainforests, yet, because of their reputation as wastelands, they are being systematically drained and degraded. Swamplands celebrates these wild places, as journalist Edward Struzik highlights the unappreciated struggle to save peatlands by scientists, conservationists, and landowners around the world. An ode to peaty landscapes in all their offbeat glory, the book is also a demand for awareness of the myriad threats they face. It inspires us to see the beauty and importance in these least likely of places­. Our planet's survival might depend on it.