JACQUES AND DE BEANSTALK

Artell and Harris (The Three Little Cajun Pigs, 2003, etc.) once again attempt a Cajun twist on a familiar folktale, beginning as usual with a glossary of Cajun words and their pronunciations along with guidelines for reading the story aloud. The advice is necessary because the entire text is rendered in a highly formulaic though somewhat inconsistent representation of Cajun dialect. The author updates and truncates the original English fairy tale; in this version, Jacques only makes a single trip to the giant’s castle, and he rescues the hen who lays the golden eggs out of compassion rather than avarice. While the story is entertaining, copious use of dialect and substituting Cajun names and foods does not “A Cajun Tale” make. The watercolor illustrations, while detailed and dynamic in their execution, are frustratingly vague and generic, failing to evoke the Cajun milieu. Try Feliciana Feydra LeRoux, by Tynia Thomassie (1995), or Chicken Joy on Redbean Road, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (2007), instead. (Picture book. 5-8)