Comments on: Colleen Salley

By: Pam Carrubba

Pam Carrubba — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:58:03 +0000

I remember a warm afternoonwhen Colleen made an appearance at Book Ends bookstore in BaySt. Louis. She filled the room with life when she began to read a selection about Epposomondus. Oh, when she called his name you expected to see him waddle is the screen door.
Several of my gifted students went to the book signing and became life-long readers. They could not stop talking to her or about her the next morning at Second Street Elementary School.
She was so much fun , but the best was yet to be. She and the bookstore owner came in our school and there was an immediate buzz. What the girls had said was true–she was the lady in the book they had bought.
That warm afternoon, she read in an auditorium built in the 1920s to about 300 students and teachers. Everyone was caught up in the magic of her words. You could have heard a pin drop until the room erupted in laughter.
Those girls are now 9th and 10th graders, the bookstore was destroyed in Katrina, and we all lost our autographed books.
About a week after I received the email from Karen Rowell at USM, I was looking through a box of school pictures. I found a picture a Colleen on that warm afternoon with her book and her hat–enlightening us all setting visions in our heads.

Hail Queen Collen! We will miss her, but my students and I will always have the memories of an author’s tea on a warm afternoon.

By: JAUG

JAUG — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 14:30:59 +0000

all hail the Queen…

Mardi Gras will not be the same..

By: Deborah Ousley Kadair

Deborah Ousley Kadair — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 02:49:11 +0000

There will not be a time that I will think of Coleen without smiling. She was such a hoot! I had the pleasure of attending various reading conferences and book events with my friend Coleen. She always encouraged those of us who were budding authors and illustrators to do more and to think big. She was like a Fairy God Mother to so many! I am grateful to have had her in my corner. I will miss her laugh and her strong embrace and I will look forward to the day that I will see her again. I am sure she will have a whole new barrage of stories waiting to be told!!

By: darqfuture

darqfuture — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:50:53 +0000

Ruthie the duck girl. Queen Colleen. Not to mention various friends and family. We’re dropping like flies.

If I wasn’t such a cheery optimistic bastard, I might be depressed.

I don’t think I ever had the pleasure of hearing her tell stories. Then again, I do remember a quite riveting telling of “Boa Constrictor” at a NOLA public library years ago. May or may not actually have been her, but I’m approaching the age where I can remember it how I want to, so there’s my good memory of her. As well as the authentic memories of the Krewe of Colleen.

By: Day 1117: La Reine Est Morte! Vive La Reine! : Maitri’s VatulBlog

Day 1117: La Reine Est Morte! Vive La Reine! : Maitri’s VatulBlog — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:57:31 +0000

[...] Rest in peace, Queen Colleen. [...]

By: Loki

Loki — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:34:46 +0000

From the book tent at Jazz Fest to the idle conversations on Magazine St. she leaves a hole in the city’s fabric behind her.

Another joyous and intelligent voice silenced. Children and adults throughout the NOLA have suffered a tremendous loss.

The Former employees of the Children’s Hour Bookstore salute our lost compatriot.

By: David Winkler-Schmit

David Winkler-Schmit — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:50:24 +0000

Colleen took me under her wing when I was a young children’s librarian for the New Orleans Public Library. I always knew if I need a little encouragement, I could call Colleen and get an excited “Hey Dawlin’! Her knowledge of children’s literature was unmatched and she taught hundreds (maybe thousands) of librarians and teachers while she was at UNO.

Colleen was the grand dame of New Orleans storytellers. Anyone who ever saw one of her performances was immediately memorized. She’d start with Shel Silverstein’s “Boa Constrictor,” (”I’m being eaten by a boa constrictor), which concludes with “Oh heck, it’s up to my neck. Oh dread, it’s upmymfffff… The kids and parents would be rolling in the aisles.”

New Orleans will miss this great lady.

By: Possum Heaven « Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans

Possum Heaven « Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:37:19 +0000

[...] Possum Heaven September 17, 2008 Posted by Wet Bank Guy in Toulouse Street. Tags: children’s literature, Colleen Salley, Epossumondus, New Orleans, possums, Queen Colleen, story telling trackback Colleen Salley has passed away. [...]