Cajun Folktales

by J.J. Reneaux

Winner of Anne Izard Storytellers' Choice Award & Selected as Outstanding by the Parent Council

Nationally acclaimed storyteller J.J. Reneaux grew up Cajun for true, surrounded by the stories, music, food, and culture of rural communities in southeastern Texas and southern Louisiana. Cajun Folktales serves up a spicy gumbo of more than twenty traditional Cajun animal stories, fairy tales, ghost stories, and humorous tales. A traditional storyteller who collects by word-of-mouth, Reneaux has developed her repertoire over years of collecting―on front porches, school playgrounds, and her beloved fishing trips. She has refined her work in performances nationwide, including the National Storytelling Festival, where she has appeared numerous times. These stories of Cajun treasure and lost jewels will teach readers the importance of resourcefulness, courage and responsibility. Publishers Weekly wrote, "While the tales of African Americans and Native Americans have been much anthologized, the vibrant oral folk tradition of the Cajun has been more or less neglected by American publishers. This excellent anthology by Reneaux helps plug that inexplicable gap. Reneaux, a noted storyteller and a Cajun herself, retells 27 tales she heard in childhood from relatives or has heard since from fellow Cajuns. Their folklore is as spicy and interesting as their famed food and reflects a variety of flavors and influences."

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Folk Tales, Mythology, Fantasy

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1955

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it, pelase!
You will have a lot of fun!
Although French words are in the text you can understand all.
I heart the most of the stories in my childhood read by my grandfather.
Fairies, alligators, all, what makes Southern fairytales and bedtime stories so wonderful!

A nice little book best for a short time of relaxing - but I believe: you will not put it away until you have read it all!

[Judith Leipold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having benifitted by a live JJR performance years ago, eyeing this on a shelf was an easy decision. The book is written with dialect in tact for a knee slapping read aloud around a bonfire, or the family kitchen table. In addition to a variety of tales (fairy tales, folk lore, animal tales, myths, etc) JJR included the historical migration of people from Acadia who found themselves deposited in the Louisiana swamps. They brought their language, music and culture with them, but most of all their "grit" that allowed them to assimilate and thrive among gators and skeeters as "cajuns."

[Jonn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read. While the books claims these stories to be Cajun Folktales, I have heard the majority of these stories while growing up in South Carolina.

Still, this would be a good book to read with or to a young child; so I do recommend this as a children’s book…although, it really is not so bad for adults, either. These may remind you of some childhood stories you have forgotten about- that is what it did for me.

[Kathryn Best · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounding up. I was hoping for stories to tell my young boys to keep up Cajun traditions, but most of these stories are dark or dated in ways that make them odd to retell now. I suppose some of it comes from how hard the lives were for Cajuns of old. I’m
Interested to check out the author’s book on Cajun fairy tales.

[Carmen Agustin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lived in Louisiana for awhile, I didn't know about these tales. I'm so glad I picked up this book. A very entertaining read.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did a search for "Cajun" in the Lawrence Public Library catalog, and this is one of the items I came up with. It was an ok book. I had never heard any of these stories before, even though I grew up Cajun in the heart of Cajun country.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories, some really cracked me up, plus quick french lessons.