Louis, Caliste, and the Games of Many Friends

About the Book, At Camp L'Esperance, beneath towering pines and beside glowing campfires, children gather to share the games they love most. Some games come from woodland trails, some arrive with traders, some are taught by Indigenous friends, and others are carried in the memories of children who have traveled far to find a new home. As Louis, Caliste, Meron, Sophie, Kanati, and the Sneaks teach one another to play, they discover that every game is more than a pastime. Each one carries a story, a history, a lesson, and a piece of the people who created it. Filled with laughter, adventure, friendship, and imagination, The Games We Share celebrates the many cultures that shaped life along the Gulf Coast frontier. Through playful competitions, new words, shared traditions, and moonlit campfire gatherings, young readers learn how communities grow stronger when people listen, learn, and welcome one another. Warmly illustrated and rich with historical inspiration, this story reminds children that friends may come from different places, but kindness, curiosity, and play can bring hearts together in wonderful ways. A Note from the Author History is often told through battles, leaders, and great events, but it also lives in the small moments of everyday life. Children's stories, games, songs, and traditions preserve the memories of a people just as surely as written records. The games children play teach cooperation, creativity, language, values, and ways of seeing the world that have been passed from one generation to the next. In The Games We Share, I use the playful experiences of children to explore the rich cultural history of the Gulf Coast and the many peoples whose lives and traditions met there. By sharing games, the children share pieces of themselves, helping us remember that history is not only something we study. It is something we live, pass on, and keep alive through the stories we tell and the games we play together.