Book review #1 - Little Island-Big Adventures

Here is a Caribbean children’s book which is immensely interesting as it gives a glimpse of life in the 1960s on one of the tiny Grenadine islands owned by Grenada in the Eastern Caribbean. (You may need to consult a map of the Caribbean) The author deliberately does not name the island which is the setting for the story, and it is my belief that the story is largely autobiographical. Life on this tiny island is both a pleasure and trial. There is no electricity, no police presence, one school, and one church. Children attend school barefooted, but there is no sense of deprivation.

The island is described by someone who is obviously fond of it, and wishes to preserve a bit of its history and the customs peculiar to its culture. In this first person story, Sara-Ann tells us about that last delightful year spent on her beloved island. She and her best friend, Ruben, get up to a lot of antics during a very busy school year filled with a witch, a bad bull, a giant cat, a graveyard adventure, a jealous school friend, a jilted bride and other exciting events. The language might seem sophisticated, in parts, for an eleven to twelve year old, but this protagonist is presented as being precocious, a very avid reader and a highly imaginative child.

Here’s an excerpt from one of my favourite incidents: Sara-Ann and Ruben are in an old crypt in the graveyard at midnight on All Saints' Night planning a prank against a very irritating fellow student – Elsie:

The darkness was complete. So complete it snatched away my breath, smothering me like a thick blanket. I gasped, struggling for breath. I had never been as afraid as I was of that dreadful place.
Suddenly , without warning, a light flickered on.I shrieked and turned to flee, but Ruben caught me by the arm. “It’s only my flashlight,” he said, holding up a small one.
Light … light… light …light …

The style of this novel is episodic, that is, almost all the chapters can stand on their own as short stories. Therefore there is not the kind of cause and effect development of plot, building to a strong climax. Although there is action aplenty as Sara-Ann and Ruben get in and out of scrapes, the story is more character driven as we learn about several of the people who live on the island and their interaction one with another,
This story celebrates family, friendship and community. Its strengths are in descriptive language and characterization. It is a good introduction to the study of literature at grades 6 or 7.

There is a glossary which explains words and phrases which are peculiar to that part of the Eastern Caribbean in which the story is set

Author Maria Roberts-Squires was born in Petite Martinique, schooled in Grenada and now lives in Barbados. This is her second novel for children.

Book link here
marketing@carlongpublishers.com
Sorry I had to re-post this. Something went wrong with the first post and messed up viewing of the blog 

Cultural Differences

When I was writing my last post ‘Humour in Children’s Books’, I realized that two of the situations I was talking about would present problems for some persons outside the Caribbean culture.

In  Naughty Eddie LaRue, most Caribbean children would know and anticipate that with that degree of naughtiness there could be only one outcome - he would have to get a well-deserved spanking. For many of us, spanking is still the accepted punishment for bad behaviour. One of the illustrations in the book shows Eddie being spanked on his bottom and usually raises an outcry from foreigners, who immediately classify this as child abuse. ( I will not post the illustration here)

Similarly, the little girl who insisted that the dog should not be in the house, would probably be thought strange by others not accustomed to our culture. Dogs are very often kept to guard the home. As such they need to be outside or in their dog house, so that they can warn the householder of intruders. Dogs are rarely the pampered pets we see on television.

These are broad generalizations, and they may not apply to all the Caribbean islands. I am not here getting into a discussion of right or wrong. The message for our writers is that if you want your children's book to travel, be sure that it doesn’t offend other people’s sensibilities especially in sensitive areas like these.

Humour in Children's Books

I am one of those who complain that there isn’t a lot of humour in Caribbean children’s books. I guess we think that children should be preached at and moralized as much as possible to keep them on the right path. 
R

In my youth, one of the sayings constantly thrown at me was ‘chicken merry, hawk de near’.  Words like ‘silly’  ‘stupid’  ‘maddy-maddy’ and 'scatter-brain' were often used to describe any child who laughed too easily or too much.  And yet, as a people we like to laugh. ( Ever heard a 'belly laugh' burst forth  from of a true-true Caribbean person?) So, why not put more humour into the children’s books? There are, of course, humourous situations here and there within some of the stories, but few books, that I know of, outrageous enough to cause a child to keep smiling broadly or giggle out loud. (The story-tellers can get that effect - but that's another story)

What makes children laugh?

It is not always easy to know what will make children laugh; so much depends on their individual view of life and their experiences. It is generally accepted that children respond with laughter to the unexpected, as well as the things that subvert order - things that turn the world upside down. 

 
I once attempted to read for a group of small children from one of my books Miss Bettina’s House. In the story, the animals - a dog, a cat and a parrot take over Miss Bettina’s house when circumstances force her to leave it and seemingly abandon them. Older children seem to enjoy the antics of the animals as they try to protect the house from the village ginnal who wants to take over what he regards as an empty house from which he can take things as he pleases. Miss Bettina's House - Book link

Usually, when I read, the children enjoy the session, but on this occasion, a young miss about four years old insisted that the dog should not be in the house. She wouldn’t allow me to continue the story as she kept repeating very loudly “The dog must not be in the house”. Obviously this was the rule in her home. I had to switch to another story.

A book with the title The Dog who shouldn’t be in the House or Do not go into the House! with a clever cover illustration might catch this little one’s interest. She might find it amusing if the story is about how the dog tries several ways of sneaking into the house and gets caught each time. (In another post I will talk about cultural differences and such a subject.

Fractured fairy tales – alternative versions of fairy tales are funny because we already know the story and so the new version, if clever, can be funny. See an example here. http://www.ellenjackson.net/handsome_and_dreadful_61462.htm 

I am not sure, however, if children would find all of this funny – perhaps the older ones might.

Some years ago, LMH Publishing Ltd. in Jamaica put out a series of picture story books for children. The books all contained very good stories. However, feedback suggests that the most popular with the children was one entitled Naughty Eddie LaRue. As you can guess from the title Eddie LaRue got into a lot scrapes, (subverting the natural order of his environment).

Here’s an extract. The author and illustrator have painted damning pictures of the many naughty things Eddie has done, but this one takes the cake:

But the worst thing of all, the worst, by far,

Was the time Eddie painted the Pastor’s new car.

Pastor drove up one day in a car of dark blue,

So shiny and clean it clearly was new.

Mummy said it looked lovely, Sue said it looked great

Eddie wanted a ride, but was told he should wait

For Pastor was busy, he had things to do

The first of which was to see Mrs.LaRue.

He had come to their house to discuss with their mother

Eddie’s constant misdeeds of one kind or another

Mummy said,”Eddie, go do some painting for me.

Pastor, please come inside. Sue, please make us some tea.”

While Pastor is visiting with his Mom, Eddie ends up painting the Pastor’s new car a bright blue and yellow, and pleased with himself, he actually signs his name as the artist. You can guess the rest. (Maybe you can’t. I’ll discuss this also in the post about cultural differences.) When you read this story for children, they eagerly await the next naughty thing that Eddie gets up to, and think it quite funny.

Here’s some more food for thought: an extract from  

Laughing All the Way: Humor in Children's Books

“Thinking is stretched and interest in literature

is extended when children experience comic stories

that present a developmentally appropriate cognitive

challenge (Jalongo, 1985; McGhee, 1979). When a story

line or illustration does not turn out as expected or does

not fit into a standard conception of normality, youngsters

are amused. They may be even more delighted

when they realize where a funny story is taking them:

They love recognizing the "inside joke." With maturity

and experience, young primary-age children gradually

develop an appreciation of verbal humor. Riddles,

rhymes, and silly songs now give them great pleasure.

At the end of the early childhood years, the multiple

meanings of an illustration, a word, or an event become

food for a young child's humorous thought (Honig,

1988)”Pauline Davey Zeece, Department Editory

Early Childhood Education Journal, Vol. 23, No. 2, 1995

Books for Children

So, Caribbean writers for children, what you think?Do we need more humour in the stories?How about a couple of wild and wacky tales to brighten a day for our children

Additional comment on A WE Dis?

I think I need to add something to my comments ( a few posts ago) on Dr. Cherrell Shelley-Robinson’s talk - A We Dis?  It is obviously unacceptable for the books to be printed with wrong information, but when it comes to the images, we are probably as much at fault for perpetuating the stereotypes. Tourism is the main industry in some of our countries. All of us depend on it. In our advertising and entertainment packages we project the images we think the tourists want to see - quaintness, happy-go-lucky ‘natives’, carnival/ festivities, tropical paradise of sea and sun and fun etc. When the tourists arrive we often greet them with mento/calypso music with smiling singers dressed in colourful costumes and head-ties and broad- rimmed straw hats and so on and so on. It is probably therefore not surprising that these are the same images the books 'from foreign', project as our reality.

Reading can be dangerous!!

As a child I read everything I could lay my hands on. Heaven was going to the library on a Saturday to change my book. It was there at the Junior Centre in Half-Way-Tree, that  I discovered William.

http://www.amazon.com/Just-William-Boxed-Set-Conqueror/dp/0330391445

This is what Wikipedia says about the William series:

Just William is the first book of children's short stories about the young school boy William Brown, written by Richmal Crompton, and published in 1922. The book was the first in the series of William Brown books which was the basis for numerous television series, films and radio adaptations.

I spent many a happy hour in company with William and his pals, laughing at their hilarious antics. Recently, I re-read one of the books and wondered why  I found them so very funny.  But, I was a colonial child. The things that happened to British children in books were more real than the things that happened to me in Jamaica. I had no problem rambling over the English countryside with William and his friends. I happily had tea with scones (I didn't know what that was, but no matter), and other 'delicacies'.(There were probably cucumber sandwiches too.)  I wasn’t reading any books about Caribbean children anyway, except in the prescribed reading books for the colonies. 

Here’s how William got me into trouble. Every Sunday afternoon I had to take a nap after lunch, since I had to attend night service with my mother. The nap would prevent me falling asleep and not hearing the sermon - which could mean I was bound for hell. My mother was very strict.

One Sunday, an older cousin was visiting for the day and since she was bored and didn’t have to nap, I gave her a William book to read.  Very soon, she was laughing at William’s antics. My mother came into the room and sternly ordered me to go to sleep and stop giving Gwen jokes. I tried to tell her that I wasn’t giving jokes, but she would not listen. Gwen was probably ashamed to admit that a book could be so funny and didn’t support me. (Is laughing aloud while reading a book akin to a form of madness? - like talking aloud to oneself???)

After my mother left, Gwen continued reading. For a while she only giggled softly, but eventually, one of William’s outrageous antics caused her to snort very loudly. This time Mama brought in the strap and I got a licking for disobedience. My feelings hurt more than my flesh. Gwen quietly left the room, without the book. (She was probably afraid of the strap reaching her, too.)  She still didn’t confess that it was the book causing her to laugh.  My mother would not have believed her anyway. These were the days when a child was often sent to read a book as mild punishment for idleness or mischief.

The ‘good old days’ anyone?

Check this link for a relevant discussion http://geoffreyphilp.blogspot.com/2007/04/colonial-girls-school-by-olive-senior.html

Caribbean Children's Lit - A We Dis?

I attended Dr. Cherrell Shelley-Robinson’s talk A We Dis? at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, yestereve (Thursday, Oct 14^th) It was well attended, and quite stimulating.

She dealt mostly with the images and information in social studies/information books on the Caribbean written for children.  Using power point illustrations she showed how the images were often uncomplimentary and the information sometimes wrong, giving one-sided representations of just who we are in the Caribbean. The images tend to focus on the exotic and old-time situations – cane cutters, market scenes, broken - down houses (huts) zinc fences, the happy –go-lucky ‘native’ and so on. 

This, she said, has adverse influence both on the children in other lands who assimilate this misrepresentation as well as on our own children, who get distorted images of themselves as well as wrong information. She gave several examples of the wrong information in the books.

Most of these books, she said, are published in the UK and the USA to fill the demand for multi-cultural information for their schools. Many are not even distributed in the Caribbean. Sometimes the authors have never visited the Caribbean and obviously are perpetuating the stereotypes picked up elsewhere.

To change this, she recommended that persons can write to publishers and point out the errors. She also suggested that persons can publicly discuss the errors by reviewing books on sites like Amazon which allow reviews. If enough voices are raised, the publishers will have to begin to take notice and be more careful to get their information authenticated by ‘experts’ who really know the Caribbean. Also librarians should be careful not to place such books on their library shelves.

She seemed to have given the audience so much food for thought that very few comments were made or questions asked in the after period.

MY COMMENTS

Some of what she said has implications for the fiction, as well, especially for the younger children, who haven’t yet reached the point of questioning what they read.  This makes it even more important for us to have a great body of literature about ourselves written from our point of view.  Fortunately, there seems to be growing interest among Caribbean writers and illustrators in publishing material for our children. If only we could solve the problems of high production costs, and distribution and access to this material.

Three Blind Mice and Me

The creative process is fascinating. Sometimes I can recognize the inspiration for a story, sometimes not; and a story might present itself at any hour- day or night.

So , here I am, it is 2 o’clock of a morning. I have been awake since 12 midnight with all sorts of thoughts running around in my head and keeping me awake. 

                                              

I don’t know why I am remembering something from my teen years – a very long time ago. I have always wanted to be a writer, and I started writing stories in my early teens. I soon realized that I needed guidance, and being too shy to ask my teachers for help, I nagged my poor mother ( and we were poor) into using some of her partner draw to pay the first installment  on a correspondence writing course out of England, advertised in a newspaper. She must have really believed in me and my ambitions.( I didn’t finish the course so she wasn’t much out of pocket).

I don’t recall much of what I wrote for that course except for this exercise. I was supposed to write a story using a nursery rhyme as reference point.  I chose Three Blind Mice and wrote what I thought was a funny story about the blind mice mistakenly eating soap thinking it was cheese.

My correspondence tutor’s response was that this was not a rational story – no mouse would mistake soap for cheese, their sense of smell would guide them.  It wasn’t only that comment but the mean tone of the other comments that made it the end of my writing career- for a time.

So, here I am thinking, at just past 2 o’clock in the morning, how to make that story rational.

I need a witch. Unfortunately we don’t have witches in my country. We have obeah women, but to use one in the story would frighten some parents into not buying the book since they fraid the word 'obeah' and others would complain that representing  an obeah woman as evil is to disparage our culture. So, I’ll import a witch-she is not ours so it doesn’t matter what I do with her. 

 

Back to the Story (BTTS) 

These three mice – they really should be rats - mice are so tiny, but  rhymes for mice are more fun.Example:

Three blind mice

Who lived in hice (plural of house!!!)

Had one dreadful vice

            FOOD- it was so nice  

(BTTS)    

So, one night, the three greedy mice crept into the witch’s cupboard and ate off the one dukunoo she was saving for her breakfast. They were so full that they fell asleep, same place. Next morning when the hungry witch went for her dukunoo, all she saw were three fat-belly sleeping mice.

She was so mad that she immediately cursed them and took away their eyesight. But, by evil law, one curse was not enough; she had to put a second curse on them. She allowed them to choose which other sense they would lose.

The three mice discussed this and decided that they could not live without the sense of touch/feeling; since they were blind they had to use this sense to guide them. They could not live without hearing, since they needed to hear when the witch started snoring so they could safely go into her cupboard and steal her food. They could not live without the sense of taste -  FOOD was too nice! So they chose to do without the sense of smell.

Ergo (I love that word), as the story progresses the mice can neither see nor smell.( So now they can mistake soap for cheese.)

(BTTS)  

Okay – for the soft-heart children, I might add that the curse was only temporary. The witch tells them that she will lift the curse if they complete a very difficult task. ( I haven’t decided what task yet.  Probably to stay away from her cupboard for twice months - I need my rhyme). To be continued ......

So, Mr/Ms Snarky- Correspondence-Writing Course- Tutor, would that now make it a rational story?

I started off talking about the creative process. Strange isn’t it? I just might write that story one day.

P.S  Over the years I have met two incidents of rats eating soap- one in a bathroom and one in a washroom.

Caribbean Children's Lit - Conversation with a Reluctant Reader of Fiction

One of the concerns of educators in the Caribbean is the fact that the children are so reluctant to read, especially the boys. As a writer of fiction for Caribbean children, I keep trying to discover what would be of interest to our children and give them joy in reading books. Following is a conversation I had with a boy in Jamaica.

Q. Bradley how old are you, and what grade are you in at school?

A.  I am nine and in Grade 5 at school.

Q.  What books do you like to read?

A.  Non-fiction books about science, animals, earth and the environment.

Q. What non-fiction books have you read recently? 

A.  One called Reptiles, and one about chameleons which
      change colour to match their environment or their moods.
      And one about hurricanes in the Caribbean

Q.   Do you read any fiction?

A.   Sometimes in library sessions at school. I prefer non-fiction.

Q.   Do you read fiction by Caribbean authors?

A.   Yes.

Q.   What stories have you read recently?

A.   Caesar and the 3 Robbers by Jean D’Costa and 
       Bernie and the Captain’s Ghost by Hazel D. Campbell

Q.   Why did you choose those books?

A.   My grandmother said I should read them.

Q.   What other fiction have you read recently?

A.   Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

Q.   Apart from books, what else do you read?

A.   Stuff on the computer, like things about world 
       problems in the environment and strange animals, 
       and when there are disasters. I play games on the 
       computer and I watch things on YouTube. 
       I saw something about the White Witch of Rosehall,
       a Jamaican story, on YouTube

Q.   What do you watch on cable?

A.   National Geographic, Avatar, Johnny Test,
      The Suite Life on Deck and funny shows.    

Q.  What would you like Caribbean authors to write about
      in their stories.

A.  Stories with the sea and sea animals, scary stories, funny stories. 
     Stuff like that.

So, Caribbean writers of children's stories, what do you think?  Are we writing stories which will woo and excite our boys into reading for pleasure? 

Came across this relevant discussion.

http://www.k12reader.com/boys-and-reading/

Caribbean Children's Lit - The Gatekeepers

I begin with a quotation:

“It can easily be suggested that children’s literature is not about children at all.  Rather, it is about how adults define children. After all, it is adults who write the literature and illustrate it, they edit and publish it, sell and promote it, recommend and scaffold its reading. They are the ones who decide what is appropriate to be in it, and whether children should or should not read it. 

In other words, as they make all of these decisions, benevolently or paternally, acting as mediators, scaffolders, gatekeepers, facilitators, guardians or whatever they might be called, adults censor children’s literature.” From Introduction – Censorship in Children's Literature by David Beagley
 

Who are these adults censors ?  They are (not necessarily in order of influence):

Author, Publisher, Parent, Teacher, Librarian, Public opinion.  Do the children, the target audience, have censorship powers?
 

The author of children’s books knows that he(she) will only succeed if he manages to please himself, the children and the gatekeepers.
 

Appropriateness for children is always a major concern for the adult gatekeepers and woe be unto the author who singlehandedly decides to write outside of the conventions of his time. 
 

Despite the availability of world news (full of horror stories), questionable advertising, video games and films which seem to glorify violence and other wrongs, there is still a tendency to idealize childhood, to talk as if modern children live in a bubble - uncomplicated and predictable and without opinions and experiences of their own. Therefore, adults can project their interpretation of innocence, which the children are expected to soak up like a sponge.
 

How does this apply to the Caribbean? Some of the life experiences of too many of our children are as traumatic as the adults’.  Can the Caribbean writer of children’s literature be realistic and gain acceptance by the gatekeepers? Outside accepted folklore, can we write our own fantasies and adventures which the gatekeepers will accept? Are there subject areas and themes which we cannot explore in our writing? There seems to be a creeping outcry that Caribbean writers for children depend too much on the idealistic tales of yesteryear; childhood in former times – rural existence with simpler lifestyles.

In the Caribbean, who are our most influential gatekeepers? I would argue that it is the teacher, given the fact that for any book to get reasonable sales it needs to be recommended reading from the Ministry of Education - .in a context where many parents are non-readers, and rely on ‘teacher’ to make the right decision to turn their children into readers and scholars.

Every now and then there is public outcry against certain aspects of book lists especially for the older ones. Recently, in Jamaica, some literature texts were condemned for having ‘bad words’ (curse words). Some recently published YA books might not reach the schools’ reading lists because they contain (bad) supernatural content. In a recent parenting advice column in one of our daily papers a parent asked this question – “Where can I find books for my child which do not contain magic? It seems to me that the books I see all rely on magic.”( not an exact quote) The advice was to check the Christian book stores.

So, what are the children reading when they can make their own choices? Only the librarians can probably answer that question since book buying for pleasure reading is not an important item of expenditure for too many of our parents. 

Our libraries mainly stock foreign titles.  What Caribbean books are the children reading - for pleasure?  Outside of those used in schools, are they reading Caribbean stories? Research is needed to answer these questions. If there is research,  it is not readily available for consideration by editors and publishers.- a very unfortunate situation.

Caribbean children's fiction - Anansi and the Magic Pot

Anansi jester pot by Shannon

Once upon a time there was a great famine in the land. People could hardly find anything to eat.

Anansi and his family were starving. One day Anansi was walking in the forest and his foot kicked over a pot which was just lying on the ground.

“What a pretty little pot!”Anansi exclaimed.

“Don’t call me pretty pot,” the pot replied.

“So what a must call you?”asked Anansi.

“Call me ‘Do mek mi see!’ ”

Anansi feel kinda foolish, but since him never had nothing better to do him call out, “Do mek mi see!”

Immediately the pot begin to cook up a delicious dinner of chicken and rice and peas. The smell nearly kill Anansi who was very hungry. Him eat an eat till him belly nearly burst. But as he was about to wash out the pot in the nearby river, the pot shouted, “No! No! You mus never wash me. Leave me same way you find me.”

So Anansi turn down the pot and hide it under some leaves and went home with a big bellyful. When he reached home his wife and children eagerly asked him if he had brought any food. He gave them two little wingy bananas he had found in the bushes and didn’t tell them his secret.

Next day Anansi returned to where he had found the pot. To his great delight, it was still there so he quickly said, “Do mek mi see!” And the pot boiled up another delicious dinner - yam and salt fish and mackerel and green bananas. Anansi had a feast. Everyday Anansi eat him belly full but him never share the secret with him family.

However, Anansi wife soon begin to notice that her husband seem to be getting quite round, and him was looking very well-fed in the midst of the famine. She couldn’t understand this because nowadays he never bothered to take any portion of the meagre food they could find for the family. He always generously declined to eat anything at home. So one day she decided to follow him when he left the home.

She follow Anansi and see when him tek out the pot and she hear him say ,”Do mek mi see,” And her eyes nearly pop out of her head when she see the big pot of food the pot boil up.. Anansi sit down and eat it all off, licked his lips and turned down the pot and covered it over with leaves.

As soon as he left, Mrs Anansi wasted no time. She ran home and fetched her starving children, then she turned over the pot and said, ‘Do, mek me see', just as she had heard Anansi say it.. The children were overjoyed as the food bubbled up in the pot - ackee and saltfish, dumpling and yam and coco, fry chicken! Food them never see for a very long time. Them eat an eat until there was nothing left.

Now, Mrs Anansi is a very tidy lady, so when the food finish, she tek the pot down to the riverside and even though the pot tell her not to wash it, she still give it a good wash, and then she put it back where Anansi leave it

Next day, Anansi arrive, turn over the magic pot and say,”Do mek mi see!” Nothing happen. “Do mek mi see!” Anansi shouted over and over, but the pot remained quiet. Then he examined it and discovered that it was quite clean. He quickly realize that somebody had found out his secret but had washed out the pot and washed away his luck. He was very vexed. He ranted and raved through the woods and as he walked along kicking everything out of his path he stumbled on a whip.

“What a pretty little whip!” he exclaimed.

“Don’t call me pretty whip,” the whip said.

“So what a mus call you,”Anansi asked

“Call me ‘Do mek me see,’” the whip replied.

So Anansi thinking he would get more good fortune cried out, “Do mek me see”.

Immediately the whip set upon him and give him a good beating.

Anansi plenty vex now, but him see a way to get him revenge ‘gainst the person who wash out him magic pot.

All along him had a suspicion that it was him wife. So him go home and announce how him find a present in the forest but him have to hide it cause somebody might want to take it away.

Mrs Anansi she just as greedy as Anansi so she hide and follow him and see where him hide the whip, but Anansi never do anything him just look pon the whip and go away.

Mrs Anansi she come out of hiding and tek up the whip.

“What a pretty little whip!” she said

“Don’t call me pretty whip," said the whip.

“So what a mus call you?” Mrs Anansi ask.

“Call me ‘Do mek me see’.”

Hear Mrs Anansi, “Do mek me see,”

The whip turn pon her and give her one piece a beating. And Anansi who was nearby laugh and laugh till him side nearly split.

Jack Mandora me no choose none!

(This disclaimer ends all Jamaican folk stories. The story teller wants none of the bad luck to follow him.)

Folktales - Brer Anancy

Shannon's Anancy Anansi (a.k.a  Anancy) the cunning spiderman came to Jamaica with the slaves from West Africa. So his stories contain lions and tigers and even an ‘asunu’ (elephant)  which we certainly don’t have in Jamaica. However, Anansi stories are  part of our cultural heritage. Jamaica embraces Anansi to the extent that some people think that his trickster mentality is a national trait. A prominent educator once stirred up a storm in a teacup by saying that Anansi stories should be banned from our schools since they encouraged the children to think that  ‘trickery’ is the best way to succeed. However, with the advent of round- the- clock televison and cable facilities, and the demise of story time when old folk would entertain by telling and re-telling our folk tales, many Jamaican children now know few, if any, Anansi stories. Anansi stories invariably show hero Anansi getting the better of his opponents by tricking them into doing what he wants. But, every now and then he gets his come-uppance; meets his match. Quite a few of the stories deal with the problem of famine or shortage of food, but often while others starve, Anansi manages to get a bellyful. In his introduction to “Anancy and Miss Lou”  (Miss Lou is the Hon Louise Bennet-Coverley -a famous Jamaican poet and storyteller) Mervyn Morris has this to say: “In many of these Jamaican stories, Anancy is credited with godlike power. He is the prime cause why pig mout long, why rat live in a hole, why mongoose love chicken meat, why fowl eat cockroach, why dog fight cat, why owls hoot, lizards croak and mosquitoes hiss. - Is Nancy mek it.” He is a past master of using the other animals’ vanities to bring about their downfall. Miss Lou herself describes Anansi: “the trickify little spiderman who speaks with a lisp and lives by his wits, is both comic and sinister, both  hero and villain of Jamaica folk stories. He points up human weaknesses and shows how easily we can be injured by our greed, or stupidity, or by confidence in the wrong people and things.” Anansi stories are best told in the ‘patois’ (English-based creole) spoken by most Jamaicans. Writing or reading the stories robs them of  the richness of the patois and the nuances which can only be communicated orally. Like most stories in the oral tradition, the details of the stories change as they pass from mouth to mouth, so although the main storyline will be recognisable, several versions of a story will exist. Also, depending on the teller, the language will range from standard English to deep patois sometimes even in the same sentence. The story will also be embellished in different ways to suit the particular audience at the time of telling. Another time I’ll tell you one of my favourite Anansi stories which my mother told me, and which I have recently had the pleasure of  telling my grandchildren on an night when there was no electricity and, as in the old days, storytelling was the best way to entertain ourselves. Please see my new ebook on amazon Mr. King's Daughter which is a modern folktale referencing Anansi. You can read a sample on the page. Also you can download a free app which allows you to read kindle books on your PC http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=dig_arl_box?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771 Have fun.   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ESEWI6I ,

Caribbean Children's Book Review#4 CRICKET stories

Now that World Cup football fever has subsided, perhaps we can take a look at another very popular sport in the Caribbean – cricket. Not that the West Indies cricket team is doing so well at the moment, but the sport remains popular.

In 2007, the English-speaking Caribbean hosted Cricket World Cup. Matches were played in different islands and a good time was had by all – well nearly all. There were a few unfortunate incidents.

As a lead up to the event Ginn decided to produce reading material, fiction and non-fiction,  for children in their Get Caught Reading imprint,  and my friend and fellow writer, Diane Browne, who was responsible for the fiction section asked me to write two stories for the series. It was an interesting experience for me as this was the first time I was writing for an overseas publisher – working with their editor and illustrator.

Books cover the age range 6-11 years. One of the aims was to “Fire the imagination of reluctant readers, especially the boys in the class.” Diane says that feedback from teachers seems to confirm that this aim has been achieved. Maybe because cricket is still regarded mainly as a ‘manly’ sport, the boys don’t mind reading the stories.

The challenge for me, therefore, was to make sure that the stories featured boys in a way which would engage the readers in  positive interaction - with an appeal both to boys and girls. My stories were The Challenge Match about the rivalry between boys and girls in a grade four class and the cricket match which helped to settle things. The other was Cricket Geeks about four boys who hated sports but were drawn into the sporting world because of  their ‘geekiness’.

Diane Browne wrote most of the stories and they are all delightful – how do a boy and girl twin manage to keep their cool when one bowls for the girls and one bats for the boys at their school match? What to do when your ‘six’ breaks the window of an old grouch?  Can Mickey remain good at bat without the use of his inherited ‘magic bat?’ It’s all about cricket.-  mini versions of the philosophy behind CLR James’ famous cricket book Beyond the Boundary “arguing that what happens inside the "Boundary Line" in cricket affects life beyond it, as well as the converse.“ (quotation slightly adapted by me).

You can get an overview of the series and order books here:

http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/Primary/Literacy/Non-fiction/GetCaughtReading/Try/Try.aspx

You can click on sample pages to get a feel of the series.

Here’s an extract from It’s a Funny Game

Keep on running

In a game in Australia, the batsman hit the ball high

into the air. The ball landed in a tree. The elders

went to nd a gun to shoot the ball down. The

batsmen scored 286 runs before the ball came down.

This one is a lot of laughs. There’s also a bio of Brian Lara .check it out.