Synopses & Reviews
"A testament to the teachers who supported Katrina's children,
Sugarcane Academy reminds us all that heroes hold small hands on field trips, clean paint brushes, and sing morning songs." --Phillip Done, author of
32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny: Life Lessons from Teaching
As floodwaters from Hurricane Katrina surged at their heels, fleeing New Orleanians had their minds more on safety than whether their children would be missing school. But when a group of evacuee parents who settled in New Iberia, Louisiana, realized they would not be returning home quickly, they set about reconstructing their families lives. And so they turned to beloved New Orleans schoolteacher Paul Reynaud, whose fierce determination and unwavering spirit transformed an abandoned office into a one-room schoolhouse. This is the story of Sugarcane Academy: twenty-five students, their devoted parents, an inspiring teacher, and the boundless power of learning.
This wonderful memoir manages to do what a flood of news-reporting could not: see the tragedy of Katrina through the eyes of children. The story of the Sugarcane Academy, an improvised one-room school in a sugarcane parish in south Louisiana, will be one of the lasting books of our tragedy.” --Andrei Codrescu, author of New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City
Michael Tisserand is the author of The Kingdom of Zydeco, which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for music writing. He served as editor of Gambit Weekly, the alternative newsweekly of New Orleans. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.
Review
"[Tisserand's] 'Sugarcane Academy: How a New Orleans Teacher and His Storm-Struck Students Created a School to Remember' is that seemingly impossible thing -- a gentle, hopeful tale about the displaced and the small Cajun town where they landed...It's an Oprah-worthy story sure to resonate with young urban parents...Quiet and powerful." Charles McGrath - The New York Times Education Supplement
Review
"A testament to the teachers who supported Katrina's children,
Sugarcane Academy reminds us all that heroes hold small hands on field trips, clean paint brushes, and sing morning songs."
Mike Sager, Writer-at-Large Esquire
Review
"Every so often a remarkable tale of human resiliency comes our way. It is especially moving when that saga enables vulnerable children to overcome adversity. Sugarcane Academy is a story that needed to be told. The contents of its pages open our eyes to how a disaster in New Orleans can bring forth creativity and empathy that we all need to emulate."
LA Times
Review
"This wonderful memoir manages to do what a flood of news-reporting could not: see the tragedy of Katrina through the eyes of children. I was touched by the depth of feeling that wells from these pages, and I was heartened by the resilience and courage of these Children of the Storm. Katrina impressed itself indelibly on a generation of New Orleans children, and Tisserand makes the complexity real through the story of his own children and that of their friends in exile. The story of The Sugarcane Academy, an improvised one-room school in a sugar-cane parish in south Louisiana, will be one of the lasting books of our tragedy."
Andrei Codrescu, author of New Orleans, Mon Amour
Review
"Through his personal account, the experiences of Bookpage
Review
"Michael Tisserand knows more about life in New Orleans than anybody else I know. Sugarcane Academy is a poignant, well-written and awe-inspiring non-fiction saga of Louisiana citizens coping with Katrina's wrath. Highly recommended."
Douglas Brinkley
Review
"When journalist Michael Tisserand and his family found themselves escaping the maelstrom of Hurricane Katrina, he turned his investigative eye on the aftermath as his family and others helped create a one-room schoolhouse for evacuee children. This true story of how determination, faith, and a sheer force of will allowed learning and hope to blossom in the office space that became the only public school open in New Orleans."
FamilyCircle.com
Review
"Writing with the same warmth and humanity that distinguished his ASCAP Deems Taylor Award-winning The Kingdom of Zydeco (1998), Tisserand offers tender, revealing profiles of Reynaud, his fellow volunteer teachers and others affected by the evacuation...Inspirational and heartwarming." (Starred Review) Kirkus Reviews
Review
"The contrast between the hopefulness and ingenuity of the parents,students and teachers who created the school and the despair of downtrodden bureaucrats and volunteers who, in Tisserand's gentle telling, established policies and protocols that become roadblocks to spiritual and physical regeneration is huge."
Susan Salter Reynolds
Review
"With his sharp eye for detail and his abundant heart, Tisserand paints a devastating portrait of the toll exacted by Hurricane Katrina, particularly on the children. Simple, compelling, and quietly dramatic,
Sugarcane Academy is both eulogy and commencement -- a tribute to the endurance of the human spirit."
Mel Levine, M.D. author of A Mind at a Time
Review
"This book delivers insightful anecdotes on the incredible misfortune Katrina wrought. But it also embodies the spirit of the people who rose from the floodwaters and dared to plant seeds of hope in the sugarcane fields." Phillip Done, author of 32 Third Graders and One Class Bunny
Review
"A slender but appealing book...[about] a remarkable teacher named Paul Reynaud, the sort of person who has a gift for understanding children's wants and needs..." Southern Living Magazine
Review
"Heartwarming...The story of Sugarcane Academy is as inspiring as it is moving and sometimes sad, and as much a reflection on the resilience of children and dedicated teachers as it is on the hardships faced by everyone displaced by the storm."
The Oregonian
Review
PRAISE FOR THE KINGDOM OF ZYDECO "Exhaustive . . . riveting . . . The Kingdom of Zydeco is a back-road trip well worth making." —LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW "An important book for anyone with an interest in life, American music, Southern culture, dancing, accordions, the recording industry, folklore, old dance clubs in the weeds, fortune tellers, hoodoos or shotguns."—E. ANNIE PROULX
Review
"This wonderful memoir manages to do what a flood of news-reporting could not: see the tragedy of Katrina through the eyes of children. I was touched by the depth of feeling that wells from these pages, and I was heartened by the resilience and courage of these Children of the Storm. Katrina impressed itself indelibly on a generation of New Orleans children, and Tisserand makes the complexity real through the story of his own children and that of their friends in exile. The story of The Sugarcane Academy, an improvised one-room school in a sugar-cane parish in south Louisiana, will be one of the lasting books of our tragedy."
Synopsis
Sugarcane Academy: Building a School After Katrina tells the story of one adventurous teacher and his one-room schoolhouse. Circling around Mr. Reynaud's educational oasis are parents coping with losing their homes and trying to plan new futures, while learning to live on food stamps and FEMA assistance checks. It's a story of an unexpected journey to Cajun country for a classroom of children who are among the youngest victims of a national disaster.
Sugarcane Academy also tells the stories of other evacuee children who landed in the Lafayette area. A boy born of Ukranian parents who holed up in a New Orleans medical center for four days after the hurricane, telling his mother he couldn't stop thinking about death. An ad-hoc tutoring room set up in the Cajundome, one of the sports arenas-turned-massive shelters that line Interstate 10 from Baton Rouge through Texas. There, counselors are using art and play to help children who witnessed tragedies, who lost family members. Through memoir, essay and reporting, the book will also reveal how race and class issues factor in both education and a natural disaster.
We are still understanding how Katrina tore into the lives of children. Sugarcane Academy will profile one remarkable teacher and a group of children as they persevere through the storm's aftermath. It will also show that, even under the most difficult of circumstances, you can still find moments of sweetness.
Synopsis
Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, taking lives and livelihoods and displacing thousands. Because the hurricane struck at the beginning of the school year, the citys children were among those most affected. Michael Tisserand, former editor of the alternative cultural newspaper Gambit Weekly, evacuated with his family to New Iberia, Louisiana. Then, rather than waiting to find out whenor ifschools in New Orleans would reopen, Tisserand and other parents persuaded one of his childrens teachers, Paul Reynaud, to start a school among the sugarcane fields.So was born the Sugarcane Academyas the children themselves named itand so also began an experience none of Reynauds pupils will ever forget. This inspiring book shows how a dedicated teacher made the best out of the worst situation, and how the children of New Orleans, of all backgrounds and races, adjusted to Katrinas consequences.
About the Author
MICHAEL TISSERAND is the author of The Kingdom of Zydeco, which won the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for music writing. He served as editor of Gambit Weekly, the alternative newsweekly of New Orleans. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.