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Allan Wolf

Home Featured Authors & Panelists Featured Participant Lineup 2025 Allan Wolf

While visiting schools in Southern Louisiana, North Carolina writer Allan Wolf became obsessed with the story of the Lake Peigneur Texaco drilling disaster of 1980. He now has two new books on the topic: a nonfiction graphic novel titled The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur and a middle grade historical fiction novel titled Junius Leak and the Spiraling Vortex of Doom. Wolf’s many picture books and novels celebrate his love of history, science, and poetry.

Schedule

10:30 am to 11:30 am
A.Z. Young Park, Author Tent D
Beyond Words: Middle Grade Graphic Novels
Jesse Byrd, Dream Warriors: A New World
Johnnie Christmas, Gamerville
Allan Wolf, The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur: A Graphic Novel Based on a True Story
(ages 8 to 14)

11:45 am to 12:30 pm 
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

1:00 pm to 2:00 pm
A.Z. Young Park, Author Tent D
Secrets, Swashbucklers, and Spooky School Nights: Middle Grade Mayhem
Delilah S. Dawson, Ride or Die
Marti Dumas, Nina and the Keeper of the Keystone: Secret Society of Rebel Girls
Cari Galeziewski, Mirabell and the Immortal Pirate Black Sam Bellamy
Allan Wolf, Junius Leak and the Spiraling Vortex
(ages 8 to 14)

2:15 pm to 3:00 pm
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

Junius Leak and the Spiraling Vortex of Doom

"Wolf's latest weaves a dazzling tale. . . .Considering the vividly depicted events, the strong cast, and the young protagonist’s personal triumphs, there’s wow-worthy content aplenty here." —Booklist (starred review)

Part mystery, part fantasy-adventure, part riveting real-life disaster, this deft tale-within-a-tale blends the history of the 1980 Lake Peigneur drilling accident with a fateful quest for pirate treasure.

When thirteen-year-old Junius Leak—expert on waterbodies and creator of the encyclopedic Amazing Waterbodies of the World—steps foot on Uncle Spot’s rickety dock on Lake Peigneur, the truth assails him: he may love waterbodies, but that doesn’t mean they love him back. The latest in a long line of Junius Leaks, he’s the first to be doomed to ten days of awkwardness and boredom on a houseboat with a relative he doesn’t know while his parents “work on” their marriage. Delcambre, Louisiana, where Junius was born, is awash with unwelcome surprises. He determines to learn why his mom left town when he was a baby—and to conquer his fear of water at the same time. But the lake has other plans for him, plans tied to a hundred-year-old family feud and a swashbuckling mystery. When disaster strikes, Junius must dive deep within to emerge an unlikely hero. Alternating viewpoints spin the perceptions of a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP)—and the wry voice of a lake with a long memory—into an inventive tale of sunken treasure and buried secrets anchored by a dramatic true event.

The Vanishing of Lake Peigneur: A Graphic Novel Based on a True Story

"A riveting page-turner that will have readers eager to learn more about the topic." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The strange, true tale of a Louisiana lake that vanished—taking with it every fish below and every boat and barge above—told in a gripping and accessible graphic format.

Home to catfish and crawdads, shrimp and spoonbills, even a gator or two, Lake Peigneur—pronounced “your pain,” only backward—bustles also with human life. Each day, the bean-shaped freshwater lake and its shores hum with folks going about their work: a devoted gardener’s apprentice and his dogs, fishermen, oilmen drilling at Well P-20, and the fifty-one miners employed by the Diamond Crystal Salt Mines. For most, November 20, 1980, began as “just another day on the lake.” But as the lake itself reflects, humans had, over time, left behind a honeycomb of salt highways deep beneath its surface, and water and salt mix all too well. Bracing, suspenseful, and packed with dramatic illustrations and dense end matter, this story of a catastrophic accident—narrated with the homespun voice of a “tall” tale, but true nonetheless—will amaze science and history buffs alike.