Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans

Written by Phil Bildner and illustrated by John Parra, Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans is a beautiful story about the impact of one humble trash collector on the life of the city of New Orleans before and after the devastating events of one of America’s most well-known hurricanes.

The words dance and wiggle across the page in imitation of the way Marvelous Cornelius infused fun and life into what many would have considered an undesirable job cleaning the streets.

Each sentence is short and sweet but still manages to broadcast the enormity of influence Cornelius had through a very clever use of repetitive sentence structure and wonderful rhythm. The gorgeous illustrations follow the distinctive style of many of New Orleans' murals, with many of them being full page spreads. Parra’s work with acrylic paint allows readers to see each individual brush stroke, adding texture, character, and a sense of weathered age into every page of the story. Each spread allows the city of New Orleans to be an active character in the story, while also focusing on Marvelous Cornelius.

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This fun, inspirational tale of uplifting valor and chivalry in the face of both the mundane and tragic makes a wonderfully fun read sure to make you start dancing when you take out the trash too!

Below is a wee video focusing on the writing and art in this beautiful book.