Cajun Home

by Raymond Bial

Overview

The Cajun people have a long history of having to leave their homes: first in France, then later in Canada, and even in America, families were broken apart by exile and were scattered across the continent. They were pushed farther and farther south, finally into the swamps and marshes of southern Louisiana. Here, deep in the bayous and backwaters, they have created a home for themselves that is unlike any other place on earth. In beautifully composed photographs and lucid text, Bial illuminates the spirit, resiliency, and warmth of the Cajun people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547995007
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/30/1998
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	48
File size:	64 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

Raymond Bial is an acclaimed photoessayist for children. Four of his books were chosen as Notable Books in the Field of Social Studies by the NCSS. He lives in Urbana, Illinois, with his wife and children.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 3-6Adding another title to his excellent series of photo-essays about distinctive American cultures, Bial uses his lens to illuminate the Louisiana Cajun lifestyle. Through stunning full-color pictures of little thingsa boat, a chair, a washboardhe meticulously builds a portrait of a fascinating people. The readable text is as illuminating as the photos, starting with an informative but concise discussion of their history and migration from the northern coastal regions of France to the bayous of Louisiana where they now reside. In spare prose, Bial offers essential facts and also covers a broad spectrum of the Cajuns' daily life, past and present, including their food (with a recipe for jambalaya), their music, and their own particular brand of Mardi Gras. The book provides an excellent look at this unique culture and is by far the most informative and accurate children's title on this subject. A short, useful list for further reading contains both fiction and nonfiction. All together, a quality production.Judith Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA

School Library Journal

Bial's exquisite photography glorifies Cajun life, past and present, in a format similar to his other books, including Shaker Home (1994). After a note on dialectþBial includes many French phrases, with meanings and pronunciations, within the textþhe launches into the origins of Cajun people, sketching in a historical framework and telling how their lot as refugees inspired Longfellow's "Evangeline." Customs, homes and land, household objects, cooking, music, tangled blood lines, and rich language are all clearly described, appearing with striking photographs of quilts, wooden shoes, textiles, furniture, and shops. The book is accessible and inviting, but few readers will know how to discriminate between Bial's introduction to the Cajunsþ"Deep in the woods and swamps of Louisiana live the Cajuns" and "the Cajuns were driven deep into the Atchafalaya Swamp, [which] teems with fish, alligators, crawfish, and other wildlife. It is the heart of Cajun country"þand his later blasting of a stereotype of the Cajuns as "coarse people who lived in the woods and swamps thick with alligators and snakes." He then provides another kind of oversimplification by uniformly praising Cajuns as "delightful people known for their hard work and generosity." Readers who can get past these minor points of confusion will close the book with a sense that they, too, have traveled to Cajun country. (further reading) (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

"Attractive and compelling. As well as being informative, the photographs create a mood through which readers enter another lifestyle." School Library Journal, Starred

From the Publisher