Phil Bildner (Shoeless Joe & Black Betsy) and John Parra (Green Is a Chile Pepper) pay tribute to a real-life hero in this tall tale treatment of a man who came to be known as "a wizard of trash cans" and kept the streets sparkling, come what may.
Bildner uses the structure of a folktale to introduce his protagonist: "In the Quarter,/ there worked a man/ known in New Orleans as Marvelous Cornelius." Parra depicts the man in the foreground with the iconic wrought iron balconies of the Big Easy as his backdrop. Cornelius greets a silver-haired man, a couple with a baby and a woman shaking rugs. When he calls out "My young'uns!" the children cheer, "Marvelous Cornelius!" Author and artist scrupulously tie each double-page spread to New Orleans ("not a single praline wrapper ever stayed on the streets"). Cornelius transforms the act of loading garbage bags into "showtime," launching them so "they landed in a perfect pyramid inside the hopper's metal mouth." But then Katrina hits, drowning the city in "a gumbo of mush and mud." Staring at ruins "as high as the steeple atop St. Louis Cathedral," Cornelius weeps, "It would take thousands of me to clean this." Now, when Cornelius goes by the young'uns, they pitch in. As do the silver-haired man, the couple with the baby, plus "barbers, bead twirlers, and beignet bakers."
This inspiring story trumpets the power of one person's efforts in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds to inspire an entire community. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness