Max & Gumbo

My grandmother Iris, an award-winning poet, and I created the Max & Gumbo Children's Series of paperback books in 2025 when she was 96 years old.

The first book, Devious Doings: Max & Gumbo Search for the Wind (2025), is a story about Max, a little boy from New Orleans, and a bird that appeared while he was eating gumbo at his grandmother's house. Max and the little bird became inseparable, and somehow, they were able to communicate with each other. Max lovingly named the bird "Gumbo," and together, they explored the mystery of the wind—what it is, where it comes from, how it hides, and the enormous power it seems to yield over things near and far.

Strings & Things (2026), the second book in the series, is about all the things we do with strings, from floating balloons and flying kites to tying our shoes. Both books are available on Amazon.