Mary Alice Fontenot (April 16, 1910 – May 12, 2003), born in Eunice, Louisiana, was a noted author of regional children's books, best known for the Clovis Crawfish series published by Pelican Publishing, a collection of eighteen books featuring animals from the Louisiana bayou.
The books are written in English and sprinkled with Cajun words, with an explanation of their pronunciation and meaning (several titles are also published in complete French versions).
She authored several children's books outside the Clovis Crawfish series, including "Mardi Gras in the Country" which tells the story of how Mardi Gras is celebrated in rural Acadian areas as opposed to the large, glamorous New Orleans carnivals, and "Star Seed," a telling of Christ's birth.
Fontenot worked over three decades as a journalist beginning in the early 1940s, writing features and book reviews for several Louisiana and Mississippi newspapers, including a period as women's news editor for one paper.
In her senior years, Fontenot concentrated on her career as a book author and was quite prolific penning new volumes from her seventies into her nineties.