Bayou Suzette

American Regional

by Lois Lenski

Book by Lenski, Lois

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Classics, Young Adult, Juvenile, Middle Grade

250 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1943

About the author

Lois Lenore Lenski Covey was an influential American author and illustrator whose work reshaped twentieth-century children’s literature through its combination of artistic skill, documentary realism, and deep empathy for childhood experience. Beginning her publishing career in the late 1920s, she went on to write and illustrate nearly one hundred books, ranging from picture books and historical novels to regional fiction, poetry, songbooks, and literary essays. She is best known for the Mr. Small picture book series, her meticulously researched historical novels, and her groundbreaking Regional books, which portrayed the everyday lives of children across diverse American communities.
Born in Ohio and trained formally as both an educator and an artist, Lenski studied at Ohio State University, the Art Students League of New York, and the Westminster School of Art in London. Although she initially aspired to be a painter, exhibiting work in New York galleries, she gradually turned to illustration and then to writing, encouraged by pioneering children’s editor Helen Dean Fish. Her early books drew heavily on her Midwestern childhood, while later works reflected extensive travel, field research, and close observation of family and community life.
Lenski achieved major critical recognition with her historical novels Phebe Fairchild: Her Book and Indian Captive, and with her Regional novel Strawberry Girl, which won the Newbery Medal. These works were notable for their commitment to authenticity, incorporating dialect, material culture, and social realities often avoided in children’s books of the era. She believed that literature for young readers should neither sentimentalize nor sanitize life, but instead foster understanding, tolerance, and empathy.
Alongside her own writing, Lenski illustrated works by other major authors, including Watty Piper’s The Little Engine That Could and the early volumes of Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. Her influence extended beyond publishing through lectures, teaching, and advocacy. In 1967 she established the Lois Lenski Covey Foundation, dedicated to providing books to children facing social and economic disadvantage.
In her later years, Lenski continued writing while living in Florida, publishing her autobiography Journey into Childhood shortly before her death. Her legacy endures through her books, her educational philosophy, and ongoing efforts to expand access to literature for children.

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this right now to the older girls. They beg to read it every night. Wonderful portrayal of childhood on the Bayou in Louisiana. It's leading us on some great reading rabbit trails...Louis Armstrong, Pirate Lafitte, etc.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another Lenski family whose basic form of communication is scolding. This "award winning" story is just one big old cultural stereotype after another, from the shiftless father involved in a clan feud to the houseproud mother and wild children. One minute they are speaking Bayou dialect, the next (in the teachy bits about animals and plants) they speak formal schoolbook English. Suzette's warm wonderful mama's love for all mankind doesn't quite reach as far as the Indian girl her daughter wants to take in--until of course they find out that she understands the healing properties of plants and is an "Indian princess" in disguise! Even then, she sleeps out in the shed, not in the house.

I refuse to believe that Suzette, Bayou born and bred, would be unaware of how dangerous alligators are, and how very fast they can move. Throwing moss to stop a hunting gator--and succeeding? That in itself was a starkiller, right there. Topped with Lenski's ugly illustrations, I cannot in good conscience put it on my "children" shelf.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I made shoofly pie recently, which made me think of Lois Lenski's "Shoofly Girl". I discovered she wrote a series of books focused on children in different regions of America, and I thought I might like to read them all. This was the first. The library copy may have been an original edition from 1943. The book was of substantial weight, and had a tough sewn in binding. The story didn't really appeal to me but I decided to continue with #2 in the series, "Strawberry Girl", which was a Newberry award winner. Lois Lenski also illustrated the Betsy-Tacy books and I loved those.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read from this series. Only quibbles--I cringed every time the term "Sabine" was used and I found Suzette' mother to be unendingly annoying. She whined, she groused, she panicked, she emoted like a bad actress. I guess it's the mark of a good writer when you can make a character seem real enough to make a reader wince. The dialect took a bit of getting adjusted to, but it wasn't that distracting.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these regional stories!

I love Lenski's writings and artwork, and this is about the third regional story of hers that I've read. Bayou Suzette is a story of a Bayou girl who befriends a Native American girl . The book covers their adventures and describes in detail the happenings of Suzette's family and community.
An excellent read for both kids and adults!

[Becca Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lois Lenski's books may not be very appreciated by today's generation, but I think her heart was to endear children of her generation to their country. In my opinion, she did a beautiful job of telling a part of our history in an honest way. People said things at that time that we would not consider appropriate or kind today just like people will say and do things now that future generations will undoubtedly decide are wrong. That's part of history.

I loved the character development in this book and look forward to reading the series and learning more about different parts of earlier America, perhaps with my 9 yr old.

[Richoblivion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good job.

[Nellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm binge-reading Lois Lenski's regional series. This is set in south Louisiana in early 20th century.

[Douglas S Capps]

Hard to read

[Deevena Jemima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked it.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt like an anthropological ethnography!! My inner sociologist was fascinated. If I were a kid, I'd have thought it weird or alien.

[Stasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As seems to be continually happening after I read any of Lenski's stories, I know I'll be remembering snippets of this for awhile. Another piece of American life I didn't really know about.

[Francesca Forrest · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating glimpse into the past and attitudes of the past. I read it for a picture of bayou life: I knew I could count on Lois Lenski to have really done her research (she was alway very thorough, even living with families in the various locales she portrayed, in some cases), but what I found intriguing in reading this 1943 story were how attitudes have changed. The plot of this one centers on Marteel, a Sabine Indian who befriends the titular Suzette. Marteel wants very much to join Suzette's large Cajun family and become a white girl. You can see how this plot wouldn't fly nowadays.

Lenski portrays Marteel as a resourceful, brave, determined girl and is sympathetic to Indian culture: Marteel feeds the family alligator tail at one point, to everyone's amazement, and Papa Jules remarks, "Marteel, she smarter'n I t'ink." And the main conflict-producing plot element--Marteel's stealing of a doll that belonged to Suzette's dead sister--is explained in terms of Indian culture: "[The Injuns] believe that when one person dies, another can come and take his place. Marteel was only carrying out an old tribal custom. She thought she was taking Tit-tat's place and so Tit-tat's doll rightfully belonged to her. Taking it was not stealing. Taking it was not doing wrong. Poor Marteel, she'll find it hard to be a white girl, yes. Mebbe she better off with her own people."

In the end, Suzette's mother's prejudice against Marteel is overcome, and Marteel does end up living with Suzette's family. The other Indians in the story are shown as abusive and glad to be rid of Marteel, and there seems no question in Lenski's mind that this outcome (the story ends with Marteel saying "Marteel, white girl now") is a happy one. Definitely a story that's limited by the era in which it's written: Lenski can approve of elements of Indian tradition, but she can't keep herself from assuming that "becoming white" is a happy outcome.

All the same, it's a charming story, with lots of adventure, and both Marteel and Suzette are wonderful characters, as are the supporting characters. And although dialect writing isn't popular these days, I enjoyed Lenski's representation of Cajun speech (which she gained through time spent in Bayou Barataria.)

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bayou Suzette is the first in Lois Lenski's American Regional Series. Between 1943 and 1968, she wrote 17 books for readers aged 8-12, covering many of the major regions of the United States. Her purpose was to tell children how other children lived in various areas of the country. In today's world of cookie cutter towns with all the same eateries and shops, Lenski's books give the flavor and essence of regions in our country when they were unique only 60 years ago. (Link to her bibliography.)

Suzette is the irrepressible daughter of a large Creole family living in a small town amid the Mississippi Delta. When the story opens, her father is bedridden from a gunshot wound that failed to heal after a shooting competition. All the children in the family contribute to keep money and food coming in. Suzette's job is fishing.

Eventually she meets and brings home an orphaned Indian girl named Marteel. Indians (which is what they were called in the 1940s, not Native Americans) were considered the lowest class of people in the Delta: dirty, untrustworthy and even dangerous. But Suzette's big-hearted though tough-minded Maman is eventually won over, especially after Marteel helps the family in important ways.

The Creole community is rambunctious and somewhat wild with family feuds, feasting days and hard times that include the flooding of the Mississippi. Lenski's children are not goody-goody or examples of correct behavior. Suzette has plenty of strong willed gumption which alternates between adventure and defiance.

I was captivated on every page of this lively story.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with Lenski's other regional books, this one was interesting, surprising, and rather heartbreaking. This story illustrated life in a very poor community where life is not easy, floods are all too common and judgement runs rampant. Suzette makes friends and eventually becomes "sisters" with an orphan native American girl who no one wants-- not even the members of her own tribe. I would say this was an enjoyable read but it was enlightening.

[Stacy Allbritton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you loved Lenski's Strawberry Girl or Indian Captive as a child, you will love Bayou Suzette. Lenski accurately portrays early twentieth century Cajun life, culture, and dialect through the story of a young girl living on a bayou in coastal Louisiana. I thoroughly enjoyed Suzette's adventures - alligator hunting, surviving a flood, and spending All Saints Day in the cemetery with her family, among others.

A must-read for children (and adults, too) who love historical fiction! And while I'm on that topic - if you like reading Louisiana history, check out The Diary of Marie Landry, Acadian Exile. :)

[Lea Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Long before "Swamp People" Suzette Durand and her family were scratching out a life in Bayou Barataria. Lenski's look at the joys and dangers of Louisiana life is fascinating. Some of the attitudes in this book are dated, but that just makes it all the more interesting to read. At first I found the dialogue a little tough to read because of the dialect, but I found myself adapting quickly to the speech and rooting for Marteel, the misunderstood Native American girl, that Suzette befriends despite the misgivings of her family.

[Mckinley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not like this one as much as others in this series of life around America.

[Nann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm binge-reading Lois Lenski's regional series. This is set in south Louisiana in early 20th century.

[Ginnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a special friendship Marteel and Suzette share. Good historical read from Lenski, the master of well researeched childrens nooks.

[Shira]

And I read this one!!! Such cozy feelings associated with these books.