Cane River Christmas [Hardcover]

Its Christmas time in Louisiana! This year Elise and her mother are traveling from New Orleans to join her family in Natchitoches to celebrate the season in a very special way.

Along north Louisianas Cane River, holiday traditions include paradeseven a boat parade!along the river and a Christmas festival with arts and crafts and carolers singing. The light-bedecked city of Natchitoches enchants Elise. Christmas lights blink from every lamppost and storefront. The twinkling colors are reflected in the river, and fireworks light up the sky. The sugary scent of funnel cakes and cotton candy saturates the evening breeze. But Elises favorite holiday treat is the famous Natchitoches meat pie that Maw-Maw sells at her festival booth every year. Can you guess her secret ingredient?

Natchitoches, Louisianas oldest city, has celebrated the Christmas season with a festival for a century. Today, the Natchitoches Christmas Festival lasts six weeks long and features hundreds of thousands of lights, days of entertainment for children and adults, and visits from Santa. And everyones favorite festival food? The Natchitoches meat pie, of course! The official recipe for this yummy snack concludes the tale of Elises family Christmas.

Denise Walter McConduit lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, and she is passionate about preserving her states rich cultural traditions. Her first books were inspired by the real-life experiences of her son:?D.J. and the Debutante Ball, D.J. and the Zulu Parade, D.J. and the Jazz Fest.?She is also the author of?The Boy Who Wouldnt Read?and?Claudia in the Storm: A Hurricane Katrina Survival Story, a middle-grade novel about the turmoil children faced during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Denise is a member of the Society of Childrens Book Writers and Illustrators and has an MFA in creative writing. For more information, visit www.denisemccl³¶