This image is the cover for the book Petite Rouge

Petite Rouge

Sheila Hébert Collins retells the story of Little Red Riding Hood—Cajun style—in PetiteRouge, featuring illustrations by Chris Diket.

Little Red Riding Hood lives in the hearts of many, instilling in children everywhere a fear of cloaks and big, bad wolves, of course! Way down south in Louisiana, there lives a girl named Clotilde, but everyone calls her Petite Rouge because of the beautiful cloak she wears.

One day, Petite Rouge hurries through the swamp on her pirogue to bring her sick grandmère some soothing shrimp étouffée. Along the way she meets a friendly gator, the one her mother always warned her about: Taille-Taille. Polite and well-spoken, Taille-Taille’s behavior belies the fact that all he wants to do is gobble up Rouge, and her hood, too!

Petite Rouge and her grandmère are both fooled, but they come out whole and unharmed when the local shrimpers cut open dat der gator belly. What do they do with Taille-Taille? They cook him into a sauce piquante and faisdo doing the night away! Sound fun? You can make your own Alligator Sauce Piquante. Just follow the recipe at the end of the tale and bon appetite!

Full of Cajun words and phrases, accompanying definitions, and a pronunciation guide, Petite Rouge: A Cajun Twist to an Old Tale will teach children a petite peu about Cajun culture.

Sheila Hebert-Collins, Alison Davis Lyne

A former teacher who makes frequent school appearances, Sheila Hébert-Collins proudly claims a heritage that is completely Cajun. A native of Abbeville, Louisiana, Hébert-Collins combined her love and pride of her culture with her love of children's literature to create unique, Cajun fairy tales. Because of her talent, she is featured on the Louisiana State Artist Roster as an author and Cajun storyteller. She has also written Cendrillon: A Cajun Cinderella, Blanchette et Les Sept Petits Cajuns: A Cajun Snow White, Jacques et La Canne à Sucre: A Cajun Jack and the Beanstalk, Jolie Blonde and the Three Héberts: A Cajun Twist to an Old Tale, Les Trois Cochons, and 'T Pousette et 'T Poulette: A Cajun Hansel and Gretel, all published by Pelican.

Pelican Publishing