Series statement from publisher's website.

Abandoned photography captures the beauty in urban ruins left behind, giving the viewer an exhilarating look at our past. With over 200 years of history, there is no shortage of fascinating abandoned places across Alabama. In Abandoned Alabama: Exploring the Heart of Dixie, photographer and historian Leland Kent showcases eleven of his favorite abandoned locations from across the state. Among the locations are several forgotten historic homes, plus a one-of-a-kind mid-century masterpiece built by a famous architect. Discover the incredible history behind one of Alabama's oldest and most historic abandoned sites, Searcy Hospital, which has been closed since 2012. Each chapter gives a detailed narrative about these breathtaking places accompanied by stunning imagery. You can find more of Leland's work at www.abandonedsoutheast.com.

From two-time Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo comes a story of discovering who you are — and deciding who you want to be. When Louisiana Elefante’s granny wakes her up in the middle of the night to tell her that the day of reckoning has arrived and they have to leave home immediately, Louisiana isn’t overly worried. After all, Granny has many middle-of-the-night ideas. But this time, things are different. This time, Granny intends for them never to return. Separated from her best friends, Raymie and Beverly, Louisiana struggles to oppose the winds of fate (and Granny) and find a way home. But as Louisiana’s life becomes entwined with the lives of the people of a small Georgia town — including a surly motel owner, a walrus-like minister, and a mysterious boy with a crow on his shoulder — she starts to worry that she is destined only for good-byes. (Which could be due to the curse on Louisiana's and Granny’s heads. But that is a story for another time.) Called “one of DiCamillo’s most singular and arresting creations” by The New York Times Book Review, the heartbreakingly irresistible Louisiana Elefante was introduced to readers in Raymie Nightingale — and now, with humor and tenderness, Kate DiCamillo returns to tell her story.

"When a priest suggested to one of the first governors of Louisiana that he banish all disreputable women to raise the colony?s moral tone, the governor responded, “If I send away all the loose females, there will be no women left here at all.” Primitive, mosquito infested, and disease ridden, early French colonial New Orleans offered few attractions to entice respectable women as residents. King Louis XIV of France solved the population problem in 1721 by emptying Paris?s La Salp?tri?re prison of many of its most notorious prostitutes and convicts and sending them to Louisiana. Many of these women continued to ply their trade in New Orleans" -- inside cover.

Primary series statement taken from "America through time" publisher's website.

The Cajun coast of Louisiana is home to a way of life as unique, complex, and beautiful as the terrain itself. As award-winning travel writer Mike Tidwell journeys through the bayou, he introduces us to the food and the language, the shrimp fisherman, the Houma Indians, and the rich cultural history that makes it unlike any other place in the world. But seeing the skeletons of oak trees killed by the salinity of the groundwater, and whole cemeteries sinking into swampland and out of sight, Tidwell also explains why each introduction may be a farewell—as the storied Louisiana coast steadily erodes into the Gulf of Mexico. Part travelogue, part environmental exposé, Bayou Farewell is the richly evocative chronicle of the author's travels through a world that is vanishing before our eyes.