Books with author Sharon Arms Doucet

Although it is 1914 and the world is changing all around him, Felix LeBlanc feels trapped on his Louisiana farmhouse, where nothing ever happens. When he hears his uncle, ’Nonc Adolphe, play the fiddle for the first time, he knows there’s music in his blood, and he’s determined to be a musician, too. However, he’s too poor to buy his own fiddle, and to make matters worse, Maman has forbidden him to even touch one, fearing that he’ll choose the wayward life of a fiddler. And so Felix begins to build his own fiddle out of a crude cigar box and a piece of cypress wood, keeping it a secret from his family and even his best friend, Chance. It is a solitary journey that will require all of his ingenuity—and place at risk the relationships that are dearest to him. Set against the colorful backdrop of the Cajun bayous, Fiddle Fever relays an important message about the universal need for self-expression and the compromises we must all make in our search for individuality. Glossary of French terms.

Although it is 1914 and the world is changing all around him, Felix LeBlanc feels trapped on his Louisiana farmhouse, where nothing ever happens. When he hears his uncle, ’Nonc Adolphe, play the fiddle for the first time, he knows there’s music in his blood, and he’s determined to be a musician, too. However, he’s too poor to buy his own fiddle, and to make matters worse, Maman has forbidden him to even touch one, fearing that he’ll choose the wayward life of a fiddler. And so Felix begins to build his own fiddle out of a crude cigar box and a piece of cypress wood, keeping it a secret from his family and even his best friend, Chance. It is a solitary journey that will require all of his ingenuity—and place at risk the relationships that are dearest to him. Set against the colorful backdrop of the Cajun bayous, Fiddle Fever relays an important message about the universal need for self-expression and the compromises we must all make in our search for individuality. Glossary of French terms.

This series of trickster tales, stemming from African folklore, bears remarkable resemblance to the Deep South’s Brer Rabbit. That’s because Compere Lapin is his kissing cousin. In one form or another Lapin and Compere Bouki have been harassing each other for more than two centuries. Doucet’s retelling of these popular stories is flavored with all the spice of a Cajun gumbo.Compere Lapin came into the world with nothing but a cypress splinter, and he never misses an opportunity to talk himself out of work. The only thing he does better is playing tricks on the large, dim-witted Bouki. Whether he becomes a parrain three times in one day, trading crops for roots and leaves or begging to be thrown into a fire, Lapin always has something up his sleeve, and Bouki is just gullible enough to believe it.

Winner of the 1998 Carnegie Medal< It is 1914, and the world is changing in front of Félix Leblanc's eyes. But nothing ever seems to happen on the quiet Louisiana farm where he lives. Then his uncle, 'Nonc Adolphe, sweeps into town, captivating everyone with the sweet sounds of his fiddle. Félix wants nothing more than to learn how to play the fiddle, but Maman forbids it, fearing that he will follow in his uncle's footsteps and choose the wayward life of a fiddler. But Félix can't deny the music in his blood.p>An Accelerated Reader® Title

"All you can do is be who you is."Suzanne Marie Sabine Chicot Thibodeaux (called Sue for short) lives on a houseboat deep in Louisiana's Atchafalaya Swamp. One lazy summer afternoon when the air grows heavier than a catfish's bath towel, a hurricane swoops Sue up -- only to drop her like a hot patate into the swamp below. Sue finds herself nose-to-snout with a queen-sized, prickly-backed mama Alligator. Luckily, Mama Coco is no ordinary gator. She invites Sue into her family and teaches her all she knows. Sue tries hard to be an alligator; still, every once in a while, she recalls a wisp of a familiar song and begins to wonder: Who am I -- a Gator or a Girl? How this spirited heroine claims her identity and her name -- Alligator Sue -- makes a funny, affecting, and wise tale, illustrated with irresistible joie de vivre.

Nobody is as good at being bad as Lapin!As long as there are fools to be fooled, Lapin figures he might as well do the fooling. He can’t resist playing tricks on Bouki any more than he can turn down King Cake at Mardi Gras. As for Bouki, he is so tired of being hoodwinked by this do-nothing rascal of a rabbit that he is determined to get the best of the puny trickster once and for all (and maybe even get a little rabbit cooked in sauce piquante on the side). As always, however, little triumphs over big and brains bewilder brawn in three new larger-than-life Lapin tales full of sly wit and Cajun spice – perfectly captured in Scott Cook’s impish, irreverent pictures. Lapin may be small, but when the smarts were handed out, he got himself an extra helping. As fans of this picayune prankster know, “Size ain’t everything in this world. It’s what you do with what you got that matters!”