Petite Rouge (Picture Puffins)

I teach music to elementary students. While this book has nothing to do with music every now and then I surprise my students with a book; especially after a performance or before a holiday. My grandparents lived in the French Quarter for 45 years and my aunt still lives there. When I was young I would stay there every summer with my cousins who insisted I speak like them; "when in Rome"... When I found this book and began sharing it, my students (and several teachers) found it very entertaining. I had their attention with the dialect and even more so with the illustrations. The illustrations are wonderful and fit the story to a T. I'm always trying to promote drawing and painting with my students since we don't have an art teacher. It also gave me a chance to share another view of a familiar tale and how one can make a story their own. I now have the "Three Little Cajun Pigs", also by Mike Artell. Claude de Gator appears again. I sure hope that Mr. Artell creates more of these stories, with the same illustrator. They are great fun!

Mike Artell hit the nail on the head with the cajun dialect from French Cajuns in Louisiana. It's a hard dialect to get unless you've been around it before. The best example that I can give is maybe Shelby Stanga from the show "Swampman" on the History Channel. But the book depicts a even a thicker French Cajun dialect and accent than he does. His is pretty weak compared to some I've heard. The book is very accurate. I know people that speak like that and their parents and grandparents don't speak any English. They only speak French; Cajun French. The 1st generation that speaks English, sounds like the characters in this book. It may be a little hard to pronounce some on the words. It's best to read the book by yourself first to practice and familiarize yourself with the characters and the dialect before you read it to a child. It is too hard to read for the first time to a child. Even for someone who's heard that dialect before. When you do end up reading to children, and act out the characters, they kids love it!!! They crack up and want you to read it over and over again. Really cute book!!!

The story and illustrations are amazing. It’s not just for kids anymore. I love it!!! No matter how many times I read it, the pictures and story never gets old. The humor of the illustrations add a hilarious “Cajun” flavor that is hard to beat. I would also highly recommend “Three Little Cajun Pigs” by MIKE ARTELL illustrated by JIM HARRIS.

Great book to use with the Little Red Riding hood unit. Written Canjin style. Kids enjoyed how different this book was in language and in story from the original. Lots of fun to read

I love that it's written, so that you can read in a Cajun accent! It's a really cute twist on a classic tale, and I got it for reading to my Pre-K class.

Love this book!

Love how this is written. Twisted fairy tales are always fun, and this one teaches Cajun culture and dialect. Super fun to read aloud!! Love that it includes a glossary with pronunciations.

This book is just adorable. The kids loved it! I love the characters and the accent is so fun to do! A bit of a workout for your brain if you're not used to it, but just think of Tia Dalma/Calypso from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Her accent is a bit of what you're aiming for ;).

Cute version of Little Red Riding Hood. Reminds me of our time in Louisiana. The way it's written forces you to use the Cajun accent which is a lot of fun but can be difficult to read if you're not used to it. The kids thought it was hilarious and loved the book.

Las ilustraciones son impresionantes pero el lenguaje que tiene no se sí es americano antiguo, mezcla de frances con inglés.... una algarabía. Este cuento lo veo recomendable para familias inglesas o americanas. Para padres españoles que le quieran contar el libro en "inglés" no es la mejor lectura para el peque.

No problem

I love thos book! So much fun to read! A great spin on the traditional Little Red Riding Hood.

Mike Artell does another Cajun twist on a fairytale classic, Little Red Riding Hood. I bought this for my five year old for Christmas and she absolutely loved it. The writing and the artwork is a great adaptation of this classic tale, mon ami! I'm planning to look for more titles from this authour. No regrets and a different happy ending than the original.