Mike Artell

Three little pigs—Trosclair, Thibodeaux and Ulysse—must each build themselves a house in this Cajun retelling of the classic English tale from author/illustrator team Mike Artell and Jim Harris. Observed by that cunning alligator Claude, who also starred in Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood, the pigs build houses of straw, sticks and bricks, respectively, and when the gator comes calling, the younger two find their new domiciles destroyed. It is only the oldest and wisest, Ulysse, whose house can withstand the gator's onslaught—even when he climbs down the chimney...

Like the earlier Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood from this team, I found Three Little Cajun Pigs quite entertaining, appreciating both its rhyming read-aloud text in Cajun dialect, and its expressively humorous illustrations, done in watercolor and pencil. The added search-and-find elements, in which a mouse must be located on each page, adds to the reading fun, and I think young picture-books readers, especially those who enjoy folk and fairy-tales, will enjoy it. I do wonder, as I often do in cases such as this, whether this represents an actual Cajun variant of a well-known folktale, one that has been around for a while, or whether Artell simply adapted a story from another tradition, giving it a Cajun "skin." I do see that fellow Louisiana author Berthe Amoss has retold a similar tale, in her The Three Little Cajun Pigs, but not having read that volume, nor any other Cajun folklore, it's difficult to say. I did appreciate the inclusion of a Cajun glossary here, and would recommend the book as a read-aloud for audiences which enjoy folk and fairy-tales.… (mehr)

When her grand-mère has the flu, young Petite Rouge is dispatched by her mother with some hearty gumbo in this Cajun retelling of the classic European fairy-tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Warned to make her way across the swampy bayou with no delay, Petite Rouge sets out with her feline companion TeJean, only to find her way blocked by Big Bad Gator Claude. Fortunately, our heroine is able to outwit this alligator foe, both in the bayou and at grand-mère's house, where he has disguised himself as her relative...

With an entertaining text in rhyming Cajun dialect from author Mike Artell and delightfully expressive watercolor and pencil artwork from illustrator Jim Harris, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Red Riding Hood is a fun picture-book romp. I am not always a fan of transplanted tales of this kind, as I often find myself wishing that the storyteller had retold some traditional tale from the culture in question, rather than choosing to give a new "skin" to a well-known story from some other people or tradition. That being said, as the Cajun people do originally come from French-speaking settlers in what is now Canada, and as French fairy-tale author Charles Perrault is one of our original sources for this tale, perhaps it could be said to be part of their cultural heritage as well. I would be interested to know whether there was a traditional Cajun variant of this story, or whether Artell simply took the European tale and reclothed it, as it were. In any case, I did appreciate the introductory note about the Cajun people, and the inclusion of a glossary of Cajun terms. I think this one would make an entertaining read-aloud, especially for audiences that enjoy fairy and folktales, and it is for that purpose that I would recommend it. For myself, I finished it with a desire to seek out some traditional tales from the Cajun tradition itself.… (mehr)