Displaying 1 of 1 2018 Format: Book Author: Downing, Johnette, author. Title: Mademoiselle Grands Doigts : a Cajun New Year's Eve tale / written by Johnette Downing ; illustrated by Heather Stanley. Publisher, Date: Gretna : Pelican Publishing Company, 2018. Description: 1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 29 cm illustration Summary: Long ago, when a young woman's beauty made other girls jealous, they cursed her with ugliness but on New Year's Eve, she comes out of hiding to reward good children with treats. Includes glossary of Cajun words and information about the legend. Subjects: Child mental health. Beauty, Personal -- Juvenile fiction. Jealousy -- Juvenile fiction. Blessing and cursing -- Juvenile fiction. Cajuns -- Juvenile fiction. New Year -- Juvenile fiction. Louisiana -- Juvenile fiction. Other Author: Stanley, Heather, illustrator. LCCN: 2017040664 ISBN: 9781455623938 1455623938 * 9781455623945 (ebook) Other Number: 994091371 System Availability: 3 # System items in: 3 # Local items: 3 # Local items in: 3 Current Holds: 0 Place Request Add to My List Expand All | Collapse All Availability Large Cover Image Trade Reviews Kirkus ReviewA humanizing origin story for the Louisiana New Year's Eve folk figure Madame Grands Doigts.Mademoiselle Grands Doigts is a young, white maiden known for her beauty, her generosity, and the long fingers that lend her her name. As suitors line up, a jealous bunch of Cajun mean girls gets in the way and cooks up a gris grif. After a night of dancing, Mademoiselle Grands Doigts awakens cursed, her fingers covered in warts and her skin "scaly like a crawfish sack." Confining herself to an attic, she lives on, giving gifts on New Year's Eve to good children. In an afterword, author Downing says she wanted to offer a less-scary take on the story, one that focuses on the Madame as a young woman who remains unchanged on the inside despite her curse. Stanley's hazy, deep-hued painted illustrations are appropriately moody. But modernizing the story to emphasize the cursed woman's generosity doesn't overcome a problematic, perhaps unavoidable plot point. With only her physical appearance having changed, Grands Doigts goes from sought-after maiden to a shut-in. More effective, and much creepier, is the last readers see of the curse makers: "Into the swamps they fled, such a wolfish horrid sight, / and if you listen closely, you'll hear them howl at night."For those unfamiliar with the Cajun story, this update may be a welcome respite from the flood of Santa Claus and snow-fairy books crowding the holiday shelves. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission. Summary A curse is no match for a generous heart. Once upon a time on New Year's Eve night, hundreds of suitors lined up to kiss the graceful hands of Mademoiselle Grands Doigts. Jealous of the lovely maiden, the other girls cast a terrible gris gris turning her into a creature with long gnarled fingers and warts. Ashamed, she vanished, never to be seen again. The resentful girls turned as green as their hearts and fled to the swamp. Now, every New Year's Eve, Mademoiselle Grands Doigts finds nice children and fills their shoes with treats proving pretty is as pretty does. Johnette Downing deftly weaves this slightly scary Cajun morality tale accompanied by the moody colors of Heather Stanley's luscious illustrations. Librarian's View Syndetics Unbound Displaying 1 of 1
