Additional information
by Sharon Doucet (Adapted by), Scott Cook (Illustrator)
Full of sly wit and Cajun Spice.
--Scholastic.com
Chosen as a title for use in the Core Curriculum category of folktales and adaptation for grade set 3.5, this series of trickster tales, stemming from African folklore, bears remarkable resemblance to the Deep South's Brer Rabbit tradition. The Louisiana version of Brer Rabbit, Compere Lapin, is a mischief maker determined to get the best of Compere Bouki. In a trio of stories that praises brains over brawn, this rascally rabbit seems to come out ahead no matter what.
Front Jacket
"Cook fully captures the action and humor as well as the impish nature of that rascally rabbit, Lapin."
-BookPage
"Full of sly wit and Cajun spice"
-Scholastic.com
"Colorful vocabulary . . . and peppery idioms . . . season each page."
-Publishers Weekly
"Valuable lagniappe."
-School Library Journal
Lapin can't resist playing tricks on Bouki any more than he can turn down king cake at Mardi Gras. Never mind that he's just a puny, penniless rabbit, while Bouki's as big as a bayou barnyard.
When the smarts were handed out, Lapin got himself an extra helping. So it's guaranteed that when gumbo, bread pudding, and rum cake are on the menu, tricks will jump into Lapin's head like popcorn in a hot pan as he tries to make sure he gets his fair share-and more.
And as for Bouki, he's determined to finally get the best of Lapin-and maybe even a little rabbit cooked in sauce piquante. This time, it just might turn out that Lapin has tried one trick too many!
These three lively trickster tales from Louisiana's Cajun country serve up laughs faster than you can say merci beaucoup. Lapin may be small, but, as fans of the picayune prankster know, "size ain't everything in this world. It's what you do with what you got that matters!"
Sharon Arms Doucet is the author of several books and has served as a writing instructor, judge, and literary panelist on numerous occasions. She holds an MA in French and an MFA in creative writing. Doucet spent four decades in Lafayette, Louisiana. She resides in Allenspark, Colorado.
Scott Cook is an acclaimed children's book illustrator whose work has been chosen as a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Editors' Choice, and a Parenting Magazine Best Book. He has been praised by the New York Times and Southern literary icon Eudora Welty. His original oil paintings are included in major art collections throughout the country. A Mississippi native, he lives in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
