Epossumondas Plays Possum »

COLEEN SALLEY (1929-2008) was a beloved New Orleans storyteller, author, and children's book advocate well known for telling tales from her native South. www.coleensalley.com

JANET STEVENS, a Caldecott Honor winner, is the creator of many bestselling picture books. She lives in Boulder, Colorado. www.janetstevens.com 

Epossumondas is the silliest, most lovable possum south of the Mason-Dixon line. In his fourth book, will he still be his mama’s sweet little patootie if he heads into the swamp, just where Mama told him not to go? After all, the swamp is home to the fearsome and legendary loup-garou! Epossumondas isn’t a naughty  possum, but he sure is forgetful, and into the swamp he goes. There he meets all manner of scary creatures—but are any of them the loup-garou? And will he ever make it home to Mama? Maybe he will, as long as he remembers to do what possums do best: play possum.

Publishers Weekly

In the late Salley's last picture book, the fourth to feature Epossumondas and his Mama, Mama warns the possum to steer clear of the swamp because the dreaded “loup-garou snatches [possums] right up with its big ugly claws!” But Epossumondas follows a butterfly into the eerie swamplands, where a series of threatening animals pass by Epossumondas, who plays dead. Rich with Southern flavor—when Epossumondas returns from the swamp, Mama exclaims, “You don't have the sense you were born with! You gotta run away from those fearsome critters, too!”—it's an immersive piece of storytelling. Ages 3–7. (Oct.)