Jacques Et La Canne à Sucre [Hardcover]

Sheila Hébert-Collins (Author), Alison Lyne (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2004 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Poor Jacques and his mother are barely making do in their little houseboat on the bayou, when a mysterious stranger offers Jacques some magical sugarcane cuttings.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

In this retelling of the classic tale Jack and the Beanstalk, Sheila Hébert-Collins gives the story a spicy Cajun twist. Poor Jacques and his mother are barely making do in their houseboat on the bayou, when a mysterious stranger offers Jacques some magical sugarcane cuttings. Soon Jacques is off on an exciting quest featuring an evil giant, an enchanted fiddle, and a very valuable chicken. Children will love following Jacques's adventures, and the whole family will enjoy a recipe for delicious crawfish étouffée, just like the dish Jacques's mother prepares for him! Definitions and pronunciation guides for Cajun-French words are also included. Sheila Hébert-Collins, a native of Abbeville, Louisiana, has a passion for children's literature and enormous pride in her Cajun heritage. She currently works as a school media specialist in Naples, Florida, and often makes appearances in schools throughout the state. Her other books include Jean-Paul Hébert Was There, Blanchette et les Sept Petits Cajuns: A Cajun Snow White, 'T Pousette et 'T Poulette: A Cajun Hansel and Gretel, Cendrillon: A Cajun Cinderella, Jolie Blonde and the Three Héberts: A Cajun Twist to an Old Tale, Les Trois Cochons, and Petite Rouge: A Cajun Twist to an Old Tale, all published by Pelican. Alison Davis Lyne is a freelance illustrator who lives and works on a small farm in south-central Kentucky. She also is the illustrator of Kudzu Chaos, Evangeline for Children, Easter Day Alphabet, and Halloween Alphabet, all published by Pelican. To see more of her work, please visit her Web site at www.lyneart.com.

About the Author

Alison Davis Lyne is a freelance illustrator who lives and works on a small farm in south-central Kentucky. She has done spot illustrations, magazine covers, greeting cards, traditional portraits, portraits in the style of medieval icons and also paints for the fine-art market. Her love of historical illustration comes from wanting to see history as a child.

Sheila HÈbert Collins is listed on the Louisiana State Artist Roster as an author and Cajun storyteller and often appears in schools throughout the state. She also has written Cendrillon: A Cajun Cinderella and Petite Rouge: A Cajun Twist to an Old Tale, both published by Pelican.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Pelican Publishing (September 30, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1589801911
• ISBN-13: 978-1589801912
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,596,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings French- Cajun Culture and Bi-lingual French Education Alive, September 17, 2005

By 

Juliana LHeureux "Maine Writer" (Topsham, Maine United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jacques Et La Canne à Sucre (Hardcover)

Children of all ages love stories, especially when there's an element of fantasy. Meeting up with writer Shiela Hebert-Collins at a breakfast table while we were both guests at an inn in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, showed me how some writers are working hard to keep North America's French culture alive through stories. Hebert-Collins uses her own French-Acadian heritage to teach children about the Louisiana French-Acadian heritage by writing Cajun fairy tales.

Usually, it's difficult to explain the English translations of French words to children unless they learn and use the words in familiar ways. But writer Sheila Hebert-Collins, a native of Louisiana living in Naples, Florida, has one clever way of bringing French heritage and language to children. Her Cajun fairy tales are spattered with a variety of French words intertwined into the storytelling. Franco-Americans who grew up speaking French will enjoy these clever bi-lingual children's stories.

Hebert-Collins and I happened to sit at the same breakfast table when we were visiting Annapolis Royal, in Nova Scotia. We were staying at the same Victorian bed and breakfast mansion which was loaded with antique furniture and several crystal chandeliers hanging from the breakfast room ceiling. Hebert-Collins was wearing a sweatshirt with the screen print image of a blue, white and red French-Acadian flag printed on the front. We immediately struck up a conversation about the children's books she writes for Pelican Publishing Company, in Gretna, Louisiana.

For example, "Jacques et la Canne a Sucre" is a Cajun version of the Jack and the Beanstalk children's story. In the Cajun version, Hebert-Collins writes about a sugar cane pole instead of a bean stalk. Moreover, the Cajun version uses many French words in the dialogue mixed with sentences written in a vernacular English common to the Cajun culture.

Most important, the French words Hebert-Collins uses are given phonetic pronunciation and an English translation in the footnotes of every colorful and beautifully illustrated page of the story. In this retelling of the familiar tale, poor Jacques and his mother struggle to survive by living on a houseboat on the Louisiana bayou. Jacques and his mother earn a meager living by selling crawfish.

The story starts when Jacques mother tells him to "Dépêche-toi, before other crawfish farmers get to market!"

In other words, she wants Jacques to sell the crawfish they caught before competitors take away their small business. At the end of the page, the French words "dépêche-toi" are phonetically written as "day-pesh-twah" and the English translation is "hurry up". Later in the story, an old Cajun sees Jacques and asks, "T garcon. What you got in dat sack, dere?" Again, at the bottom of the dialogue, the French colloquial "t garcon" is given the phonetic pronunciation "tee gahr-SOHN" and the meaning is "little boy".

Although other Cajun writers write entertaining cultural folk tales, Hebert-Collins' books stand out because of the familiar uses of French colloquial words in her characters' dialogues, intertwined with vernacular English phrases commonly used by bayou people.

Hebert-Collins signed a copy of "Jacques et la Canne a Sucre" while the two of us visited over our delicious breakfast. She writes in her inscription, "What luck to meet you here in Nova Scotia! Enjoy this Cajun tale and remember me."