Lapin Plays Possum: Trickster Tales from the Louisiana Bayou - Hardcover

by Sharon Doucet (Adapted by)

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.

Front Jacket

"Cook fully captures the action and humor as well as the impish nature of that rascally rabbit, Lapin."
-BookPage

"Full of sly wit and Cajun spice"
-Scholastic.com

"Colorful vocabulary . . . and peppery idioms . . . season each page."
-Publishers Weekly

"Valuable lagniappe."
-School Library Journal

Lapin can't resist playing tricks on Bouki any more than he can turn down king cake at Mardi Gras. Never mind that he's just a puny, penniless rabbit, while Bouki's as big as a bayou barnyard.

When the smarts were handed out, Lapin got himself an extra helping. So it's guaranteed that when gumbo, bread pudding, and rum cake are on the menu, tricks will jump into Lapin's head like popcorn in a hot pan as he tries to make sure he gets his fair share-and more.

And as for Bouki, he's determined to finally get the best of Lapin-and maybe even a little rabbit cooked in sauce piquante. This time, it just might turn out that Lapin has tried one trick too many!

These three lively trickster tales from Louisiana's Cajun country serve up laughs faster than you can say merci beaucoup. Lapin may be small, but, as fans of the picayune prankster know, "size ain't everything in this world. It's what you do with what you got that matters!"

Sharon Arms Doucet is the author of several books and has served as a writing instructor, judge, and literary panelist on numerous occasions. She holds an MA in French and an MFA in creative writing. Doucet spent four decades in Lafayette, Louisiana. She resides in Allenspark, Colorado.

Scott Cook is an acclaimed children's book illustrator whose work has been chosen as a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a Booklist Editors' Choice, and a Parenting Magazine Best Book. He has been praised by the New York Times and Southern literary icon Eudora Welty. His original oil paintings are included in major art collections throughout the country. A Mississippi native, he lives in Sandwich, Massachusetts.