Volume took on a new meaning at this year’s installment of Festivals Acadiens, when authors Zachary Richard and Sharon Arms Doucet celebrated the release of new books for children and adults.

Cajun/zydeco rocker Richard has long been known for the artistic statements he’s made during the annual Cajun Fest. Whether appearing on the schedule with a full band or in a cameo with a small combo, he has regularly presented his music and message on stage at the Festival de Musique Acadienne. This year, the staunch proponent of cultural revitalization spread his message with his pen and his unaccompanied French poetry.

Faire Recolte is Richard’s second book of poetry, The 131-page volume, published by Les. Editions Perce-Neige of Moncton, New Brunswick, is the first. in a new series called “Collection Acadie Tropicale” featuring Louisiana authors. A compact disc containing 23 readings by Richard is part of the paperback book’s packaging.

“You can reduce the whole volume to two things: the weather report and the French experience in Louisiana today,” Richard said during a recent interview. “It’s not very convoluted thought. It’s just a relatively simple expression of relatively simple things.”

The book includes several three-line haiku poems, and, though no English translations are included, Faire Recolte, Richard’s new “crop” of poems, is designed to be accessible to a wide audience.

Most readers of French poetry can be found outside Louisiana, so Richard’s work with editor and poet Gerald LeBlanc focused on the biggest obstacle to getting the writing to its audience.

“There’s son of a fine line between the exotic nature of the Cajun idiom and comprehension to an international French audience,” Richard said. “(LeBlanc) helped me a lot, because my sense of grammar is not that strong in French.”

A glossary of terms unique to Cajun and Creole French is also part of the book/CD package: “I think that’s an effort we’re all making to make our French accessible without compromising the beauty of the language and the unique aspects of the way we speak here, “Richard said.

The CD, recorded in the studios of Radio Canada in Moncton, offers a chance to hear the poems in the author’s voice. The recording can also be used as a guide to pronunciation.

Being part of the French culture of Southwest Louisiana, Richard said, is a very bittersweet experience. “There are things that are really beautiful, but certain aspects of the culture are dying. ” he said, adding. “I think I’m stubborn enough to believe that there’s a future for the literary and the linguistic culture of French Louisiana.”

Poetry is a necessary first step on the road from oral to literate traditions, he said, explaining that the medium offers him more compositional freedom than his work as a writer of contemporary pop songs.

The French immersion students in school today, Richard said, may be the best hope for Cajun and Creole cultural preservation. “The (Louisiana French) experience is not without its charming aspects,” he said, “but when you see the actual condition of the French language, there’s no point in pretending that we don’t have a problem. A lot of the longer poems deal with that same thing.”

“The poet,” Richard said, “sees himself as being on the edge of the abyss and not, being able to stand back from the fall. There are those people who are lucky enough not to have to think about it. It’s really much easier not to have to do anything about it.”

In the 17 years since his first book, the poet estimates he’s improved. “I think I’m better,” Richard said. “Voyage de nuit, a lot of it was written in transit. There’s a lot of poetry that deals with movement and a lot of poetry that was written in other places. It was more the journal of a voyager. Faire Recolte is more the journal of a farmer, in a way. There’s much more of a sense of place. In Voyage de nuit, there’s more of a sense of distance.”

For more on Richard’s book, which retails for $25, call (318) 269-9926.

Amoral tales? Not all children’s stories have a moral. Some, like the ones Lafayette author Sharon Arms Doucet has adapted, offer a chance to cheer for a mischievous underdog. Or under-rabbit.

“You find trickster tales among cultures that are subservient to someone else,” Doucet said, “(and) that’s why they appeal to kids, because kids are the little people in the world.”

Why Lapin’s Ears Are Long and Other Tales from the Louisiana Bayou (Orchard books, $18.95) is a 64-page collection of pourquoi? Tales accompanied by rich illustrations by award-winning illustrator and editorial cartoonist David Catrow of Springfield, Ohio. Crescent City readers can meet Doucet and her hornswoggling, French-accented Lapin at a book signing at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15 at Children’s Hour, 3308 Magazine St.

“The Lapin tales came over to Louisiana with slaves from Gambia and Senegal, probably in the Wolof language,” Doucet said, noting that the illustrious Br’ er Rabbit is her Lapin’s cousin.

Doucet’s colorful writing mixes stories of gris-gris, snapping turtles and alligators with amusing Louisiana metaphors, and the book’s illustrations; originally done in watercolor and gouache, add layers of humor to the trio of tales. The collaborators work in such good concert that it’s hard to believe they never met face to face until they got together last month at a book convention in Nashville.

Catrow’s day job as an editorial cartoonist requires him to capture irony and subtle layers of meaning, and his skills add depth to the volume.

“The thing that I think he did was capture the humor and the zaniness of the characters,” Doucet said. “That’s what I really wanted. I didn’t want it to be cute. He’s talked up to (the kids).”

The book has tested well with Doucet’s son and his third-grade buddies, the author said, noting that the tales are also designed to be read aloud to younger children.

This summer at the Oregon Festival of American Music, Doucet incorporated a reading from the book into her program of Louisiana French music for children.’

An original tall tale called Alligator Sue and a sequel to Lapin are among the writer’s future projects.

, Endnote: A book signing and All Souls’ Day party for Robert Florence’s book New Orleans Cemeteries: Lift in the Cities of the Dead will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2 at Le Monde Creole, 624 Royal St. Cajun balladeer John DuBois and accordionist Bruce “Sun pie” Barnes will perform, and cemetery folk artist Arthur Smith will also be on hand to sign copies of the book. For more info, call 568-1801.