Kenny Salwey is a modern-day American hermit who has lived most of his life in the Mississippi river bottoms, coming to know the river ecosystem with an intimacy unavailable to most. Now, Kenny shares his love of, and knowledge about, the mighty river. The Last River Rat is a seasonal look at Kenny's unique life.

They Called Us River Rats: The Last Batture Settlement of New Orleans is the previously untold story of perhaps the oldest outsider settlement in America, an invisible community on the annually flooded shores of the Mississippi River. This community exists in the place between the normal high and low water line of the Mississippi River, a zone known in Louisiana as the batture. For the better part of two centuries, batture dwellers such as Macon Fry have raised shantyboats on stilts, built water-adapted homes, foraged, fished, and survived using the skills a river teaches. Until now the stories of this way of life have existed only in the memories of those who have lived here. Beginning in 2000, Fry set about recording the stories of all the old batture dwellers he could find: maritime workers, willow furniture makers, fishermen, artists, and river shrimpers. Along the way, Fry uncovered fascinating tales of fortune tellers, faith healers, and wild bird trappers who defiantly lived on the river. They Called Us River Rats also explores the troubled relationship between people inside the levees, the often-reviled batture folks, and the river itself. It traces the struggle between batture folks and city authorities, the commercial interests that claimed the river, and Louisiana’s most powerful politicians. These conflicts have ended in legal battles, displacement, incarceration, and even lynching. Today Fry is among the senior generation of “River Rats” living in a vestigial colony of twelve “camps” on New Orleans’s river batture, a fragment of a settlement that once stretched nearly six miles and numbered hundreds of homes. It is the last riparian settlement on the Lower Mississippi and a contrarian, independent life outside urban zoning, planning, and flood protection. This book is for everyone who ever felt the pull of the Mississippi River or saw its towering levees and wondered who could live on the other side.

A story filled with lessons that will help young adults explore and understand the importance of nature's circle of life.

The United States Navys fight for control of the waters of Southeast Asia. By far the greatest contribution of the narrative is the insight it provides into the hows and whys of United States involvement in Vietnam, and the attempt of that involvement to bring freedom to those who were unable to achieve it by their own efforts. We see the United States more as a caretaker and less as a policeman in terms of motivation for its involvement half a world away. Andwe see the tremendous price paid by those who served to ensure that freedom ordinary men who, by fate, were thrown together in a strange land, and who fulfilled a part of their destiny, and their Nations, on the brown water. Weldon Bleiler

“Calling to mind such widely disparate writers as Mark Twain, Andre Norton and Peter Dickinson, Stevermer paints a realistic ruin of society.” —Publishers Weekly The award-winning author of the Scholarly Magic series delivers the thrilling adventure of a crew of young kids working their way through a post-apocalyptic world on a steamboat they call home . . . No one knows for sure what caused the Flash. They just know that nothing has been the same since. Cities have been destroyed by pestilence, riots, and fires. The paddleboat River Rat, once a museum, was turned into an orphanage. But a dangerous storm forced the children to flee with the boat to safer waters, making it theirs for good. Since then, Tomcat, Toby, Esteban, Lindy, Spike, and Jake have traveled, bartered, and performed their way up and down the Mississippi River. One rule that has served them well: no passengers. But after watching a man on shore being pursued by a vicious pack of locals, the group has no choice but to save him. At every stop, the boat is met by the man’s tireless hunters. They want what the fugitive knows: the location of a bunker filled with guns. A currency more valuable than gold . . . and one that the crew of the River Rat might well pay for—with their lives. “An unusual, compelling futuristic novel . . . wry, sharp, lively, and perceptive.” —The Horn Book (starred review) “Too good to miss.” —Booklist An ALA Best Book for Young Adults A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

In Tales of a River Rat, famed storyteller and self-described hermit Kenny Salwey informs and entertains readers as he weaves his life story on the Mississippi River. Salwey knows the river ecosystem with an intimacy unavailable to most. Here he shares his love of and knowledge about the mighty river in an accessible manner sure to appeal to all ages.

After developing an unusual friendship with a young Vietnam War veteran in 1972, fourteen-year-old Todd discovers his writing talent and solves a murder mystery.

In this classic tale from New York Times bestselling author Linda Goodnight, revisita hero with big dreams and the girl next door who's always been there for him… Doing the right thing always came easily to firefighter Zak Ashford. So he can't refuse totake in the dying wife he thought divorced him long ago—or to watch over her threetroubled children. The only person Zak can turn to is Jilly Fairmont, the pretty girl nextdoor who helps him and the children through their loss. And not just because she secretlycares for Zak. Yet it isn't long before Zak realizes what this honest, compassionate womanmeans to him, too. With big dreams at stake, Zak suddenly finds himself reconsidering thefuture he always thought he wanted. A future that will be nothing unless Jilly agrees toshare it with him…

Calling all dog lovers! Join Kenny Salwey as he remembers the dogs who have shared his life in the backwater swamp along the Upper Mississippi River. From his earliest memories of Brownie, Rover, and Pepper, who helped with chores and hunting trips in the countryside where he grew up, to his faithful black labs Joey and Spider, Kenny recalls the much-loved dogs who enriched his many years hunting, fishing, and just living along the river. These humorous, heartfelt stories will touch anyone who has experienced the companionship of man's best friend.Over the course of my life, I have had many animal friends, but none can compare in terms of companionship, lovingness, faithfulness, and friendship to the noble dog.

War between Bayern and Tira is finally over. To cement the peace with their old sworn enemies, a group from each kingdom will cross to the other for a 'season of friendship'. At first all is well, but mysterious events in the Tiran capital arouse suspicions and anger bubbles just beneath the surface. Enna's friend Razo must find out who is masterminding these events before it's too late and they find themselves trapped in the heart of Tira as war breaks out.