Buddy Zooka

We are focusing primarily on New Orleans and its environs for sale of this book. We expect some trickle of sales in cities where significant New Orleans communities have sprung up (Austin, Atlanta) and we hope to sell the book in our home territory of Seattle, but we are focusing more than usual on New Orleans with our events and marketing. We will be launching buddyzooka.com to help market the site and plan to offer music downloads here too. The book will kick off with a big Earth Day event in New Orleans and an event in connection with Faulkner House. Tracey has been holding events based on the Buddy Zooka story for the last two Earth Days, so this is a natural time to launch the book. Soon after Earth Day is the New Orleans Jazz Fest. Around that time we plan to hold events that include live music based on the soundtrack she's put together. Actors will come in costume as some of the characters, and the event will have a celebratory Mardi Gras feel. We also plan to do performances and readings in nearby towns during June. Tracey is an energetic person who, through many years of teaching art in middle school, knows her target reader well. She also knows how to celebrate her New Orleans culture while imparting a serious message. We are angling to have the book become a favorite for tourists who want to bring a gift home for the kids.

An environmental romp through New Orleans: Buddy encounters talking gators, multicolored magicians, Indian spirits, and love."Utterly original...A very charming novel with an element of sweetness tempered by humor and occasional silliness...To say that Buddy Zooka will stand out on the shelves is an understatement." -Bookslut Buddy Zooka brings the French Quarter to life like no one since Ignatius Reilly. In fact, if A Confederacy of Dunces were written by Lewis Carroll, Buddy would appear. Buddy is a happy-go-lucky musician in the French Quarter until one day he goes fishing and catches an alligator, Mardi Gator, who quickly decides to take up residence in Buddy's hat. Thrown off his usual carefree routine, Buddy loses his smile and starts to contemplate his world. Buddy's journey turns spiritual as faith healers show him how man has been degrading his environment and how the secret to our salvation resides within each one of us. Buddy's story is at turns zany and contemplative, and the lesson learned is a profound one that resonates in New Orleans like nowhere else.Buddy Zooka is targeted at readers of middle-school level and up. Tracey Tangerine, a.k.a. Tracey Davis, is an art teacher in New Orleans' public high schools and a native of the city. She wrote this fantastic tale while in exile from Hurricane Katrina in Portland, Oregon. She directs a musical version of Buddy's story with New Orleans students each Earth Day. One of her highlights, she said, was walking through the halls of a strange high school and hearing a student singing a tune from the play.