Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood

by Mike Artell

Book Overview

Big Bad Gator Claude will do anything to have a taste of Petite Rouge...even if it means putting on a duck bill, flippers, and frilly underwear. He presents no match for the spunky heroine and her quick-thinking cat TeJean, though, as they use some strong Cajun hot sauce to teach Claude a lesson he will never forget The combination of hilarious rhyme and exaggerated art creates a highly original retelling of the classic fairy tale. A pronunciation...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803725140
• ISBN13: 9780803725140
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Dial Books
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 11.3" x 8.6"
• Age Range: 5 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Kindergarten to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Great Cajun Book for kids

Will take adults to read and explain some ..but awesome book of my culture and a keepsake..beautiful done

Fun Story, Outstanding Illustrations, Good Way to Learn the Dialect

I've had to read this damn thing every night since I got it about a month ago. My 3 1/2 year old boy adores it. Fortunately, it's fun to read aloud when you get the hang of it, and the illustrations are absolutely top-notch, so detailed and dynamic and just as funny every time I see them. The dialect represented here is not as heavy and opaque as Cajun Night Before Christmas (which is where my son's strange passion for these odd Cajun stories begun), and the rhyme scheme does a tremendous amount to give clues as to how it's meant to be read. After a few readings it comes surprisingly naturally and it gets easier to do different voices for each character, which is something the kids really seem to respond to. As for the story itself, I love that the problem is solved in a truly Cajun way -- with spicy food -- and lacks the various gruesome calamities that befall each character in most other versions. (Don't get me wrong, I love those ghastly old Grimm tales as much as the next guy, but they get tough to explain to the kiddies after a while.) I'll probably keep picking up the Sheila Hebert Collins books but I really wish they were more like this one.

A Great Fractured Fairy Tale

As a classroom teacher, I am always looking for new, entertaining books for my class. This book is well-written in the Cajun dialect and exposes children to the Cajun culture while entertaining them with a different version of Little Red Riding Hood. It is best read aloud, and is just as fun for the adult to read as for the child. I would (and have) recommended this book for anyone looking for a new twist to the traditional Little Red Riding Hood story.

Dat book, it be fonny!

This book is truly beloved in our household. It's everybody's favorite. If I'm reading it to my kindergartner, my middle-schooler will drift into the room to sit on the bed and listen, even though she's heard it a hundred times. It's a hilarious, affectionate re-telling of the fairy tale, and it's as southern as the Spanish moss and shrimp etouffee, gumbo and gator-filled swamps that sprawl across its pages. Petite Rouge (a duck) turns out to be quite a bit feistier than her traditional fairy-tale counterpart. She stands up to Claude (a gator) and manages to outwit him in a thoroughly southern denouement. The illustrations are warm and expressive and every bit as funny and delightful as the text. A book like this is a gift; enjoy it!

I like dem story!

This is the most wonderful of books! You can't read the book outloud without magically developing a Louisiana accent, for the phonetic system devised by the author is so easy to use. I love to make ole Claude, the alligator, have a rough, raspy voice. My four-year-old son absolutely loves this book, and his pre-school teacher read it to the whole class. It's fun, it's funny, it gives you a taste of Cajun culture and of the French language, and the illustrations are delightful! I've read it to my adult friends as well-- everyone loves it!

Witty dialog and exceptional illustration

This book is a Cajun version of the classic Little Red Riding Hood story. In this version, Red Ridding Hood is a clever little duck and the wolf has been replaced with a sly looking alligator named Claude. The story is sassy and fun and the dialog is written phonetically so you actually start sounding like a Cajun. But what is truly exceptional about this book are the illustrations. They are expressive and witty and the detail is amazing. Every time I read the book, I find something new hidden in the picture (a cup propping up a window, a duck faced Mona Lisa picture, bunny slippers on the floor, etc). It also became a game for my son to find the mouse hidden somewhere in (almost) every picture. Even if you don't have kids, this book is worth having just as a conversation piece.