Caribbean Children's Book review #2

The Ring and the Roaring Water by Diane Browne
Published by Diane Browne 2008
Pages 228
ISBN978 976 8203 79 3
Time Mill Adventure Series
Middle Grade reader

This is Diane Browne’s second novel about the adventures of two sisters Vanessa and Kerry Barrett. The girls are on summer holidays with their aunt and uncle in rural Jamaica when the discovery of a long lost ring causes them to go back in time in their uncle’s time machine to discover the truth of how the ring was lost or stolen.
The series is an interesting departure from the norm in children's literature from the Caribbean in that it is fits into the genre of historical sci-fi.  In the previous book, A Tumbling World, a Time of Fire, the story takes the girls back in time to the terrifying 1907 earthquake which destroyed Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. These stories give accurate historical information in a way which will entertain readers.
 
In The Ring and the Roaring Water, Vanessa and Kerry meet Ian, a teenager, and his strange family. They are forced to shelter with this family during the disastrous 1951 hurricane Charlie and go out into the night when it seems that this house in past time might get washed away. The tension grows as the girls seem to be in imminent danger from the storm and the fact that they might not be able to return to their own time.

They do find out the uncomfortable truth about the ring, although there is still a problem arising from Time Travel which cannot be solved. The plot intricately interweaves the girls' Time Past and Time Present adventures.

The themes here are family, friendship, trust and loyalty, both in the main plot as well as in the subplot involving the girls’ relationship with the boy, Ian, they meet in the past. 

I particularly liked the development of the characters of the sisters - responsible Vanessa and impulsive younger, Kerry. All the characters in present and past time are well drawn and seem very true to life.


In these stories, Diane Browne has skirted the debate on the use of the creole in children's literature by placing the story in a setting which allows her to use standard Jamaican for the most part. It is quite authentic.  If you are interested in Caribbean children's literature I recommend that you contact Diane to purchase a copy.

This is a five star book. 
email mdianebrowne@yahoo.com

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

              "In every generation, children's books mirror the society
                from which they arise;    

               children always get the books their parents deserve."
             -Leonard S. Marcus

I met this quotation while browsing. I'm still puzzling on the second part.  Do Caribbean children's books acurately mirror our societies? I teach a writing- for- children course and am very often struck by the fact that, especially for picture books, the students' stories are very generic. They could be set anywhere- as if  the writers are afraid of being condsidered parochial; as if they are afraid of their own society.  Of course, these student exercises are not by any means ready for publication, but these are aspiring writers. What Caribbean children's concerns should we be mirroring in our stories? Given the realities of negative situations in countries like Jamaica, ( I shame to mention how many children have been killed in recent times) what can we write for our children? Realism or escapism?  Is it time for Caribbean superheroes carrying the message that good will always overcome? -and that's not a fairy tale

The signing

               Hazel Campbell  Veronica Carnegie  Diane Browne

As I told you last time, three Jamaican authors were planning to host a signing session at the Things Jamaican Shop at Devon House, one of Kingston’s popular spots for liming in the restaurants, eating ice cream and patties in the garden with the resident birds demanding their share of your food, or browsing at a variety of shops.

This was an experiment, in the belief that together we could pull more of a crowd than singly. Veronica Carnegie's book is The Tie Came Back (adult short stories), Diane Browne's - The Ring and the Roaring Water, and mine Bernie and the Captain's Ghost (both for children 8-12 years). I promised to tell you how it turned out.

First, we were competing time-wise with World Cup football, an athletic meet and various other forms of entertainment in the city. However, several persons turned up and we had a good time chatting about our books. Some sales were made and more persons became aware of the existence of our books. We authors held a kind of workshop for ourselves swapping stories and giving encouragement.

Perhaps the best part was that we kept each other company. If you have ever had a signing session, (and you are not J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer) you know how tedious it can be - waiting for persons to show up to buy or, more likely, to browse and not buy your book.

We had fun, and will probably repeat the exercise at other venues.

Book signing

On Saturday, June 26, Diane Browne, Veronica Carnegie and I will be hosting a joint signing session at the Things Jamaican store at Devon House, a popular Kingston venue. Diane will be featuring her latest children's book The Ring and the Roaring Water, the second in her sci-fi historical series for the 10-12 age group. Veronica Carnegie will be featuring her collection of short stories,The Tie Came Back (for adults). My book is Bernie and the Captain's Ghost.(age 10-12)  Together, perhaps, we can draw a larger audience than we could as individuals. Veronica is very keen on getting authors to support one another in promotions and marketing. I'll tell you how this experiment turns out.

MORE ON FICTION FOR CHILDREN

Continuing the discussion on books for children

Easy readers (easy-to-read) books are for children just starting to read on their own (ages 6-8). They have many

illustrations in colour, but the format is often a smaller book size than the ‘baby’ books.

Transition books - sometimes called "early chapter books" for ages 6-9. These are longer, about 30 pages, and broken into 2-3 page chapters. Books are smaller and now have black-and-white illustrations not necessarily on every page.

Chapter books for ages 7-10. Stories usually contain a lot of action. Readers love adventure stories.

Middle grade books (novels) This is the golden age of reading for many children, ages 8-12. Stories are longer and have more complex plots and sub-plots involving several characters. Readers love series books where they can follow the adventures of favourite characters, e.g. the perennially popular Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books. Illustrations in fiction books are now few and far between and are black and white.

Young adult books These are for ages 12 – 16. Books can  go up to 200 pages, plots can be complex with several major characters, though one character should emerge as the focus of the book. Themes should be relevant to the problems and struggles of today's teenagers.

The age divisions overlap and are merely guidelines as many children will be comfortable reading either behind or ahead of their age group. The important thing is for parents or adults buying books for children to be aware of the child’s interests and reading level. Often adults will buy books which appeal to them (from their memories of their own childhood) or books which they think the child should read, and then they wonder why the child is not excited about the book they have bought. Children get enough of the books they should read in school, buy a book which will be pure fun for the child to read– fiction or non-fiction.

     

In the Caribbean  you will find publishers more willing to publish books for the age ranges mentioned above, especially for the middle grade readers. Although stories are longer, the absence of colour illustrations, except perhaps for the cover, makes it cheaper to produce. There will be more sales  - to libraries and if the books get recommended for supplementary readers in schools.

 There is a general feeling that fiction both for adults and children doesn’t sell well in the Caribbean. Some days ago, I was watching a  television interview with a  local publisher who said,  emphatically, that fiction doesn’t sell in the Caribbean  in any numbers to make it viable for a publisher to invest in same. Later, Collin Channer of Calabash fame was on the program disputing this. His point was that the problem was in the lack of adequate marketing and promotion for the books. When last, he asked, have you seen a Caribbean book title (fiction) advertised on television, heard it on radio, seen it on a poster or in the print media? Food for thought.

A mini launch supported by a few committed souls, a newspaper review (if you are lucky) – that’s usually it for promotions, so the general public remains largely unaware of the book. Also, in Jamaica, at least, we seem to have developed a culture that the children should get books. Publishers know they are taking a risk  putting out fiction for children. More on this another time.

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PICTURE BOOKS - challenges in the Caribbean

Mention children’s books and many people immediately think mostly of picture books – books with many brightly coloured illustrations, with rhymes, animals or weird characters - the books they enjoyed as young children.

As we know children go through different phases of development and the books produced for them reflect this.

So, there are books for babies and toddlers, books for children who are starting to read, and books for children who can read.Generally, children’s books are divided into picture books, picture story books, chapter books, easy readers, and novels spanning the age range 0 to 14 years. (Books for young adults take the age range to 16 years.)

What is a picture book?

A picture book is a book in which very colourful illustrations play the major role in telling the story. Picture books can be divided into categories such as:

Baby Books - for infants and young toddlers, these books can be lullabies, nursery rhymes, or even wordless books.

Toddler books - very simple stories for ages 1-3 - are about 300 words in length and tell stories familiar to a child's everyday life. They may be concept books which teach the child things like colours, numbers, shapes, the alphabet and so on.

Toddler Books are short, about 12 pages and can take many different shapes and formats. They tend to have sturdy covers and pages and can have a wide variety of ways of keeping the child entertained. They can have pop-up inserts, lift-up flaps, or make sounds when a button is pressed etc. Some of these books are more like toys taking the shapes of their subject matter like cars and fruits. The stories in these books are very simple and often use rhymes or very rhythmic prose.

Picture story books still depend on illustrations but are longer, about 1000-1500 words, for ages 4-8. Plots are simple, with one main character reflecting a child’s emotions and concerns. The illustrations are still a big part of the story telling. Picture books cover a wide range of topics and styles and can be either fiction or non-fiction.

Picture books with Caribbean content are in short supply. Our publishers have not shown much interest in this area of publishing, perhaps because of the costs involved. Full colour illustrations are expensive. Generally, illustrators in the Caribbean don’t accept royalty contracts, they must be paid up front and the cost of illustrating a book can be high. Also full colour printing is expensive, so publishers are understandably wary as their published costs cannot compete with the many (much)cheaper picture books from metropolitan countries, hence our bookstores carry mainly picture books from overseas publishers. Some overseas publishers put out picture books with Caribbean themes; and some Caribbean writers of picture books self publish, not expecting any great returns; but the challenges in this area mean that there are too few picture books with Caribbean themes for our young children.

Book covers from

http://www.jackmandora.com/
http://arawakpublications.com/inprint/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.browse&category_id=11&28e5bbf660cb545fc854f5c048c7be7c=43173612f669b1ac8e0ab8cafb813eba

A Goatboy Never Cries

My new book A Goatboy Never Cries has been getting good reviews.
Here's an excerpt from the Sunday Gleaner of May 23
'

"A Goatboy Never Cries , a 13 chapter book, tells it all. Illustrations which appear in 10 chapters make the book fun to read and will help push the imagination, especially for those children whose knowledge of the countryside is limited. ....
Although a simple tale, Campbell uses the story to address themes such as family, friendship, love, loyalty and responsibility."

In the story Johnny, who has never owned a pet, is forced to take on the responsibility of looking after a young goat during his summer holidays. His initial rebellion changes as he learns to love the goat- which in turn presents new problems when the summer holidays end and there is no one to take care of it.

Who will support our books?

Why are most of the booksellers in the Caribbean not supportive of Caribbean children's titles? Their shelves will be flooded with foreign titles but ask for a local children's book, chances are the store will not even have heard about the book. They say local books (apart from required text books) don't sell well, so they don't bother to stock them. Is it that the promotion and marketing of children's books are inadequate? Is it that our children are not readers? Is it that where budgets are tight ( too often the case) books won't even get near the priority list? Is it that the local books are too expensive? Is it all of the above? Pity the struggling writer of children's books in the Caribbean.

What marks a children's book as Caribbean?

I have a question today. Apart from settting, what marks a children's book as Caribbean? Is there anything that distinguishes our writing from children's books elsewhere?
Could it be the images of a boy on a donkey? calypso, carnivals/festivals, Jon kunnu, our various ghosts/duppies and folk creatures, Anansi stories, sun, sea and sand - You can add to this list. Are we limited to these images? More on this later. Meanwhile check Diane Brown's blog at http://dianebrowneblog.blogspot.com/

PERHAPS YOU CAN HELP

I am looking for a group/company/individual to sponsor the purchase of copies of my book Bernie and the Captain's Ghost to give to schools for the handicapped and children's homes here in Jamaica. This adventure story is about a group of orphaned handicapped children getting involved in a mystery/adventure which leads to a better life for them. I believe it is empowering for handicapped children since they are rarely the heroes of story books. Here's a comment from a librarian
"This children's story is well-written.The suspense is captivating and the plot realistic. It is a true-to- life mystery that the reader himself is eager to solve. Thank you for this delightful addition to our special collections."
Scroll down this blog to see a description of the book
contact publisher Carlong Publishers(Caribbean )Ltd.
marketing@carlongpublishers.com
Tel 876-9609366#2
OR email me at shandycan@yahoo.com
The cost is US$9.85
Jamaican link
http://www.jamaicans.com/

Support Caribbean Children's Books

Okay - so I'm shamelessly using this blog to promote my Caribbean children's books(and some other Jamaican books). No apologies. How else you going to hear about them? There is not a lot of interest in purchasing Caribbean children's books.Text books aside, sales are sluggish. (Lots of knotty reasons for this) Even the diaspora doesn't support Caribbean children's books. Many persons abroad, conscious of the need for reading material in our schools, collect books and send to the islands- bless them. But, it would be nice if they would collect some funds for purchasing local books produced in the islands- supporting both our culture and our writers. Don't get me wrong - We need the foreign books, but our writers need a well deserved break too. And the children need to see more of themselves in printed material. so, what about it? Buy a book, nuh!



http://www.carlongpublishers.com/book_listing_subject.php?id=32

Mulitcultural Children's Books from Jamaica

HAZEL D. CAMPBELL'S CHILDREN'S BOOKS
published by LMH Publishing Ltd in Jamaica

All LMH books available from amazon.com