Mardi Gras: A Cajun Country Celebration
Grade 3-5?Told from the point of view of Joel, a young Cajun fiddle player, this book offers interesting, accurate, lively information on how Mardi Gras is celebrated in the area around the small town of Eunice in South Louisiana. In the process, Hoyt-Goldsmith also intersperses fascinating general facts about Cajun culture, including a two-page history of the Acadians. Instead of the overwhelming atmosphere of glamour and frenetic gaiety associated with New Orleans' Mardi Gras, the Cajun Courir de Mardi Gras radiates a real sense of community and down-home fun that will appeal to children. To celebrate, revelers and musicians gather at dawn in their homemade costumes, travel by horseback around their town, and entertain residents in exchange for donations of food for a huge communal dinner later that evening. The full-color photographs are clear and informative, following Joel and his family from their holiday anticipations and preparations to the morning after, Ash Wednesday. Books on Mardi Gras for children are rare and usually contain little or no mention of this tradition. An excellent offering.?Judith Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LACopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.