Sabne's Review of the Three Novels

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*** Professional Review of BOOK I ***

"Do You Believe?
Mary Lynn Plaisance, The Land of Sha Bebe, Book I: In the Land of Sha Bebe (BeBs Publishing, 2004), 80 pages, folklore, $19.95 U.S.

Plaisance created a kind of Cajun muslin doll she calls Sha Bebe and copyrighted them in the 1990s. This is the first book of a trilogy about the dolls- a world she made up just for them. Part folklore and part fiction, the idea of both the dolls and the books is a charming one that is full of distinctly Cajun flavors.

This first volume is written in simple, sometimes repetitive sentences and has the feel of a bedtime story meant for young audiences. It is clearly introductory to a much richer and fuller story as presented in the second and third books. It is almost entirely one conversation between Emily, who is enduring a particularly stinging grief, and the Sha Bebe dolls that come to comfort her, Beau and Jolie. In it they tell her all about the land of Sha Bebe and teach her The Sha Bebe Waltz.

The book is accompanied by many photos of the dolls participating in various activities within their world which help one to visualize the explanations offered in the conversation. The dolls themselves are absolutely adorable.

I look forward to discovering their world more fully as I read the other volumes."

Review by: Sabne Raznik
From Word Weavers
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*** Professional Review of BOOK II ***
 Mary Lynn Plaisance,
The Land of Sha Bebe, Book II: Cajun Fairies,

Plaisance originally meant for this book to be entitled Chaos, but when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and Mississippi in August 2005 that word became synonymous with the fabled City of Music, the Big Easy. The association was painful enough to Plaisance that she adjusted the title accordingly, so that we now have Cajun Fairies.

This second installment of the In the Land of Sha Bebe series allows us to actually enter the enchanted world of the dolls as if we were Sha Bebe dolls ourselves. Initially, we are given a first person view of that peaceful, happy world. Then things begin to go wrong as if a glitch in a TV screen. The land is threatened by the mean Cajun Fairy Robes Pierre who has a longstanding grudge against Queen Faustina. The trouble is that no one in the Land of Sha Bebe can remember Robes Pierre or the events that inspired his vendetta. We are then taken along for the ride as the resident dolls of Sha Bebe fight to save their land.

This book takes to extraordinary places, from the sugarcane fields that cradle the Land of Sha Bebe to the swamps beyond the bayou to the French Quarter of the city of New Orleans in all of its pre-Katrina glory. The writing is still obviously directed at children, but is more interesting over all. Some of the finer details are muddled and some things are overstated, perhaps even repetitive. However, the book moves quickly enough to keep you reading. One has the feeling that these books would make better animated movies than they do books. Who knows whether that just may come about?

The real charm of these books and their muslin doll characters is that rare and wonderful glimpse of the Louisiana Cajun culture. There should be more written and preserved about this colourful, unique little world.

Review by: Sabne Raznik
From Word Weavers
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Professional Review  of BOOK III

Salleau Prie!

Mary Lynn Plaisance, The Land of Sha Bebe,Book III: The Wizard of Swamp Alley, (Authorhouse, 2007), 200 pages, teen/adult fiction, $18.70 U.S.

In this third installment of the The Land of Sha Bebe series, Plaisance offers us a slightly more complicated plot that is clearly influenced by the horrors of Hurricane Katrina and the nightmare weeks that followed.

This book also takes us inside the Land of Sha Bebe, and beyond it. We are introduced to the parallel dimension where everything is opposite of Sha Bebe Land and to a Cajun wizard with diamond-shaped eyes whose fiddle-playing keeps the balance between the two dimensions. The evil dolls in the Land of Lackluster, known as The Unruly, have kidnapped him, interfered with that balance, and are now terrorizing New Orleans by taking over human bodies. The good dolls of Sha Bebe must somehow rescue the wizard to set the balance right, save the good humans of New Orleans, and save the Land of Sha Bebe from being invaded and destroyed by The Unruly.

Though listed as teen/adult fiction, this is still clearly written for a somewhat younger mind. It still feels much like a drawn-out bedtime story. The details are more organized, except for the issue of time. I couldn’t figure out how to place it in time at all, but perhaps Plaisance desired the timeline to be fudged since the dolls themselves seem not to care about accurate time keeping as long as the run-of-the-quilts is on schedule.

There was a bit too many references to spiritism in this particular book for me. I stayed far away from the Harry Potter craze for reasons of personal taste, and this book borders the limits for me. I’m not too sure if I look forward to the next book as a consequence, but I hardly think that would be much of an impediment to the average reader.

Plaisance’s story-telling methods improve with each book as do her dolls.

Review by: Sabne Raznik
From Word Weavers