Fiddle Fever

by Sharon Arms Doucet

Overview

Although it is 1914 and the world is changing all around him, Felix LeBlanc feels trapped on his Louisiana farmhouse, where nothing ever happens. When he hears his uncle, ’Nonc Adolphe, play the fiddle for the first time, he knows there’s music in his blood, and he’s determined to be a musician, too. However, he’s too poor to buy his own fiddle, and to make matters worse, Maman has forbidden him to even touch one, fearing that he’ll choose the wayward life of a fiddler. And so Felix begins to build his own fiddle out of a crude cigar box and a piece of cypress wood, keeping it a secret from his family and even his best friend, Chance. It is a solitary journey that will require all of his ingenuity—and place at risk the relationships that are dearest to him.

Set against the colorful backdrop of the Cajun bayous, Fiddle Fever relays an important message about the universal need for self-expression and the compromises we must all make in our search for individuality. Glossary of French terms.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780618776825
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/19/2007
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.45(d)
Lexile:	870L (what's this?)
Age Range:	10 - 12 Years

About the Author

Sharon Arms Doucet is the author OF WHY LAPIN'S EARS ARE LONG and LE HOOGIE BOOGIE SONGBOOK: LOUISIANA FRENCH MUSIC FOR CHILDREN. When she is not writing, Ms. Doucet sings and performs in the Doucet Family Band, along with her fiddler husband, Michael, and their three children. She lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Table of Contents

	A Note from the Author	ix
Chapter 1	'Nonc Adolphe	3
Chapter 2	Restless Streaks	14
Chapter 3	Secrets of the Universe	20
Chapter 4	Square Roots	35
Chapter 5	Dreams and Schemes	47
Chapter 6	Joyeux Noel	58
Chapter 7	A New Year	69
Chapter 8	"La Chanson de Mardi Gras"	80
Chapter 9	Mardi Gras Madness	94
Chapter 10	Breaks	107
Chapter 11	Penance	118
Chapter 12	The Chosen Ones	130
Chapter 13	Six Sides to a Brick	142
Chapter 14	Housewarming	156
	Glossary	163

Editorial Reviews

"the langniappe for this [Creole] atmosphere is Doucet's easy use of similes, which stick to the native dialect like gravy on rice." Horn Book

"A book not to be missed." School Library Journal, Starred

"to be enjoyed by those who would follow their own passion no matter what the context" Kirkus Reviews —

From the Publisher

Gr 4-8-A superb story of a boy's coming-of-age in the bayous of South Louisiana in the early days of World War I. In a first-person narrative, F lix Octave LeBlanc tells about the first time he heard his long-absent uncle, `Nonc Adolphe, play the fiddle at a get-together. "The music latched onto something inside of me, as if each note was plucking a string that I hadn't even known was there." From that moment on, all F lix wants to do is play the fiddle, against his parents' wishes. He fashions a violin from an old cigar box, wood, and wire, and secretly teaches himself to play. During the Mardi Gras festivities, he hides behind a costume and mask and joins the Cajun band circling his neighborhood. Unfortunately, made bold by whiskey and pride in his accomplishments, he is unmasked and faces the unpleasant consequences of his actions when he falls from the wagon. Questions of responsibility, obedience, loyalty, self-discovery, friendship, and maturity are all seamlessly woven into the story, underpinned by a sense of the Cajuns' steadfast reverence for church and family. The whole becomes an excellent novel of a boy's growing up, offering a comprehensive historical picture of Cajun life and values, and, most of all, a compelling depiction of the power of music in people's lives. A book not to be missed.-Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

Inspired by the story of the late Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot, Doucet ( Why Lapin's Ears Are Long, 1997) tells of 14-year-old Felix LeBlanc and his passion for music. Told in the first person and set in 1914 in the Cajun community of rural Louisiana, the novel exudes the flavor of the time and place and offers up a smattering of French, defined in a helpful glossary. When Felix hears his Uncle Adolphe play his fiddle, his soul is transported and he determines to become a fiddler himself. Felix's mother, however, forbids her son to take up the instrument or even to utter the word fiddle at home. Readers will feel that the lady doth protest too much though her vehemence is plausible: she fears that her son, like her brother Adolphe, will become a vagabond and reject family and responsibility. The close-knit Cajuns scorn the idea of going against one's family, but Felix knows in his heart that he must play music. In secret he painstakingly builds a fiddle out of a wooden cigar box and a length of cypress wood. After teaching himself to play, Felix disguises himself in costume and mask and joins a Mardi Gras band, but his secret is revealed when he falls off the parade wagon. He suffers broken bones and worse: his fiddle is burned and he faces the continued repudiation of his mother. In an ending that is not entirely believable, he meets up with Uncle Adolphe while both are running away from their constraining lives. Adolphe urges Felix to go back and gives the boy his own precious fiddle. Upon his return, Felix discovers that his mother has undergone a complete change of heart, having realized that her opposition has caused him to take drastic measures. All isforgiven, andshe even encourages Felix to play the fiddle, a family heirloom. This will be a hard sell—too bad because it's well written and Felix is an admirable, fully realized character. Many readers won't relate to the unfamiliar setting or the passion for Cajun fiddling; this remains to be enjoyed by those who would follow their own passion no matter the context. (author's note, glossary, lyrics) (Fiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews