
“The magic Swamp is a boy’s post-Katrina coming-of-age story, a mythical journey that we can all undertake with the same wild-eyed wonder and terror as the newly initiated hero, lost and then miraculously reborn in the bewitching heart of the bayous.”
James Nolan, Flight Risk: Memoirs of a New Orleans Bad Boy
“Charming and lyrical, The Magic Swamp is the tale of a boy and a special dog, who both find healing in a magical swamp in Louisiana’s fabled Cajun Country.”
Johnnie Bernhard, A Good Girl and How We Came to Be

Heartbroken after the death of his mother, thirteen-year-old Michel Toussain searches for the one thing that will fill his emptiness. In the aftermath of a catastrophic hurricane, he set out to help the stranded residents and animals of the flooded city. His last rescue of the day, a small white terrier with a crescent-moon-shaped tuft of fur on her ches, is spotted sitting on top of a floating Lucky Dog stand. The dog reminds Michel of his mother’s lullaby, a song of magic in the moon, the power of dreams, and a reminder that nothing is ever as it seems.

Deep in the trees, a Magic Swamp and its mystical creatures eagerly await the arrival of the boy from the swamp and his dog. It is there where the boy with a broken heart and his little stray hound of questionable heritage and pedigree discover the secret of dreams and the magic that hides in unexpected places.
Beautiful color cover with amazing black and white illustrations inside.
Discussion questions included.
Illustrations by Marty Ayo
Brother Mockingbird Publishing, Diamondhead, MS
Printed in the USA
140 pages
ISBN: 978-1-7322155-5-9
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