Showing results by author "Ken Wells" in All Categories

Ask any self-respecting Louisianan who makes the best gumbo and the answer is universal: "Momma." The product of a melting pot of culinary influences, gumbo, in fact, reflects the diversity of the people who cooked it up: French aristocrats, West Africans in bondage, Cajun refugees, German settlers, Native Americans-all had a hand in the pot. What is it about gumbo that continues to delight and nourish so many? And what explains its spread around the world? A seasoned journalist, Ken Wells sleuths out the answers.

For most people, average means, well, average. What would you say if someone told you it’s better to be average than to push for perfection? After all, being average leads to healing, peace, self-acceptance, and brings you back to your center. Besides seeing the beauty and meaningfulness of average, you’ll soon discover something unexpected—you are enough.

Justin Pitre was born and raised on his grandfather's Louisiana bayou, and he has made a promise to keep his family's prized 500-acre property safe. But across town, Big-Tex oil bigwig Tom Huff and his company have major plans to cash in on the resources that lie below the bayou.

Rascal may be the happiest beagle ever to live. He used to live on Voclain's Farm, with its whole jambalaya of dogs, but now he lives with his very own boy, Meely. Together they explore the Louisiana bayou, bunny chasin', coon and squirrel huntin', and crawfishin'. But when Meely gets stuck on a rotting bridge deep in the bayou, it's up to Rascal - with a little help from his old friends at the farm - to save his boy from danger.

The true story of a resilient circle of shrimp boat captains who faced and withstood the wreckage of Katrina but now find their courage tested by a greater threat: the disappearance of their livelihood and their centuries-old bayou culture.

Joseph E.W. Pine, a talking 45-foot-tall evergreen living in the forest next to a Christmas tree farm, has long dreamed of becoming a Christmas tree. His dreams seem to come true when he strikes up a friendship with Sam, a big-hearted boy of seven, who loves Christmas more than his own birthday. When Joseph tells Sam of his longing, Sam hatches a plan to surprise Joseph with a home-made Christmas star on Christmas Eve. But the plan turns dark when a worsening snowstorm traps Sam high in Joseph’s branches. As the situation turns dire, Sam reminds Joseph of what Mrs.