Check the intended age for children's books before purchasing

Why won't people read the description of books before buying them for what turns out to be the wrong expectation or for the wrong people? My ebook, Mr. King's Daughter, very clearly talks about getting the protagonist a husband. It is clearly identified as a  YA (Young Adult) story. One reviewer had already described it as a good coming of age story. Bedtime story??? Clearly NOT
Yet here is a reviewer's comment. He bought it as a bedtime story for his daughter!!! Cheez!

"I had bought this book to read it to my daughter for her bedtime story. Thankfully I browsed through the book before telling her about this book. I couldn’t even go through the entire book. Never reading any such book to my kid or letting her read it, ever! "

So he gives it a one star rating. I hope he gets back his 99 cents!

www.amazon.com/Mr-Kings-Daughter-Hazel-Campbell-ebook/dp/B00ESEWI6I/

But this brings up the continued confusion in some people's minds about the different classifications for children's books.

I write for different ages from picture story books to Young Adult in what is broadly the children section of literature. There is a vast difference in the books for the age groups and some overlapping in all the groups. As we know, children mature at different rates and books should be chosen to match the level they are at.

In Jamaica, as soon as one mentions children's books, most persons immediately think of picture books. My fellow writers have had similar experiences of promoting a new Middle Grade book and being invited by a book store to read. The announcement that there will be a reading invariably brings out mainly the very little ones. Since the Middle Grade book is not suitable for this age group, we have to do a shift and choose a book suitable for the age group from the shelves. End of promotion. No use telling the store that the book is meant for an older age group.They will say it's not them it's the parents, who think that since the reading is of a children's book, it must be for the younger ones. Very frustrating. 

When YA(young adult) books are projected to cover the age range 12 to 18 years, it is easy to see an immediate problem. There is a difference in orientation/life experiences between a twelve year old and an 18 year old. It is all very confusing. Should a story for an 18 year old be judged in the same category as that for a twelve year old?

Here's a quotation from an earlier post on this blog about this and other challenges relating to classifying children's books  http://jambooks-fiction.blogspot.com/2011/06/revisiting-caribbean-childrens-book.html

0- 3 years –picture books

3-6 years – picture books

6-8 years – picture story books/ early chapter books

8 to 12 years – chapter books/novels

12 to 14 – chapter books/ novels

These age divisions may vary for different publishers. For example, some publishers now use 9 to 13 as a ‘tween age – not quite young adult not completely past chapter books.

These divisions are necessary as guides to writers, illustrators, and readers/purchasers of books. Children's reading readiness, their interests and needs vary from one group to the next, and books should reflect this.

MEET ASH THE FLASH Review by Veronica Blake Carnegie

MEET ASH THE FLASH

Review by Veronica Blake Carnegie

LINK

Ash the FLASH

Hazel D. Campbell & Nattalie Gordon

Sand Pebbles Pleasure Series

Carlong Publishers. 2014

Hazel Campbell, veteran writer of children’s stories and one of her past students, Nattalie Gordon, have come out flashing with a Jamaican superboy whose superman hero is none other than Usain Bolt, the fastest man in the real world.

The writers inspiration is not a comic book hero dressed in red and blue cloak, floating over sky-scrapers and bridges but a hero; decked in T-shirt and shorts and track shoes on seemingly flying feet that race on the ground and who wins gold medals for himself and his country.

This action packed fantasy features boys, Ashton and Kenroi, their all-male team and coaches, fathers, uncles, male teachers, watchmen, and  grounds-men.

The protagonist is a primary school boy, Ashton Longmore, who, with his best friend Kenroi Donaldson, get into big trouble when they disobey orders. Left for a brief while in Uncle Norman’s old lab, despite a warning not to touch anything, they begin to investigate its contents. Ashton opens a suspicious looking bottle with a fragrant, green potion and, as if in a trance, drinks its mysterious contents. In shock, Kenroi is witness to the instant transformation of Ashton who shoots out of the lab like a bolt of lightning.

Eventually, Kenroi and Uncle Norman, catch up with him. Uncle Norman, who is a very absent-minded scientist, explains that the potion was the result of experiments he had carried out on the Trelawny yams that people were saying caused Usain Bolt to run so fast. He had forgotten about the bottle and it seems that the potion had strengthened with age and that was why Ashton could run so fast. But he begs the boys not to tell anybody as it would mean trouble for him. He now plans to try to find the antidote.

But the boys are elated. Ashton's speed now means they can challenge the rival school in athletics and win. A side effect of the potion is Ashton's ability to belch for a long time. Ashton and Kenroi get up to all sorts of antics as they try to capitalize on his spectacular speed. But the long belches are herald to a complication they didn't expect. If the effects of the potion wear off, can Ashton still win the crucial final race at the county games?

His school is depending on him to lift the trophy. As the story progresses, they find out that the rival school's star runner had been unbeatable because his father had been giving him drugs. In the end, an exciting 100 metre race is the spectacular climax of the rivalry.

Ashton's speed, publicized by the news media earns him the nickname Ash the Flash.

Few girls appear in this story. Two of them, as passersby, watch Ashton run and are intrigued by his spectacular speed. Kenroi chases them away. The girls classify both boys as ‘weirdos’ and giggling, point out how Ashton’s ‘foot-dem favour mosquito foot’.

Raquel and Nichole are in the boys' sixth grade class. Raquel is Ashton’s special ‘girl-friend’ and Nichole is the prim and proper tell-tale-tit who runs and reports the boys to the Principal and cause the break-up of a well-planned Belching Contest.

This is a really fast moving, action-filled, often humorous boys’ story. Something exciting happens on each of the101 pages of this book. Can we hope to see this compelling story on the big screen in the future?

Christmas is coming. Get a copy for your son, nephew, etc. Girls will like this story ,too

available at Sangsters Bookstores in Jamaica

AND ebook

Meet Drog the Dreggen

Meet Drog the Dreggen New children's picture story book

Get the book here

https://www.lmhpublishing.com/children/drog-dreggen-story-bk-1

https://www.lmhpublishing.com/children/drog-dreggen-story-bk-1

DROG is here

It's finally here. My latest book, published by LMH Publishing Co. in Jamaica. Drog the Dreggen The Adventure Begins. It's the first in a three book series for 4 to 8 years, my first real picture book. I usually write for the older age group.

https://www.lmhpublishing.com/children/drog-dreggen-story-bk-1

ORDER your copy from this page :https://www.lmhpublishing.com/children/drog-dreggen-story-bk-1

Drog the Dreggen New picture story book

 

A New Picture storybook from LMH

Drog is the first in a three book series about dreggens in Jamaica. Shannon and Grandma have exciting adventures with them, even though Grandma is terribly afraid of dreggens and the dreggens have an unusual way of talking. What is a dreggen? You gotta read to find out.

Published by LMH Publishing Co. in Jamaica

https://www.lmhpublishing.com/children/drog-dreggen-story-bk-1

 

Dear Grade Six Teachers

It's Here! You can buy a copy (or several) 

Ashton becomes the most popular boy at his school when he suddenly acquires great running speed. His friend, Kenroi, tries to help him maintain this speed, so that his school can win vital competitions. However, the boys may be dealing with something which they cannot control. Can Ashton live up to the expectations of his father and school? In the end, he has to make a vital decision. What is the right thing to do? This is a fun 'boy to enjoy book'. Girls will like it too.

Dear Grade Six teachers, 

In this post-exam, waiting-for results- period, here's a book you can use to profitably fill some time with your students

1  It's fiction and a delightful read. The fantasy will appeal both to boys and girls and it's laced with amusing situations.

2. Once they have enjoyed reading the story you can use elements to spark research and debate on several points. For example:

The problem of athletes using drugs to enhance performance

Expectations parents have for their children.

Can close friends lead you astray?

The need to develop one's own integrity and stick to it

Why winning at all costs is not acceptable

You can have a lot of fun with this book. Try it. Ask for it at bookstores. Call the publisher Carlong. Their marketing department can be reached at 876 9609366. You get a discount for bulk purchases.

Above all enjoy reading with the children

Content for animation

 Following my post of yesterday on animating the animators, I want to take a look at the writing aspect of things. Not the skill of script writing so much as the content.

Judging by my grandchildren's response to and use of cartoons and animated series, children are not merely passive consumers of the content. They learn a lot from these sometimes seemingly mindless stories and activities and interactions of the characters. I have seen them pick up their ears at a classical piece because they recognise it from some cartoon. Many of the cartoons do not speak down to them in the way that books sometimes do, so their vocabulary expands very quickly. . I keep repeating the story of how surprised I was when my eight/ nine year old grandson knew what I meant when I used the phrase 'Déjà vu' in conversation with him. When I asked where he had heard it, his answer was  - in a cartoon.(I learned this phrase much later in life)

The interactive nature of some of the more educationally skewed animated programmes introduces them to historical figures and events in an entertaining way  - all of this foreign based at present. But in Jamaica so many things are 'sacred' that if you made a cartoon out of it, if you animated it in an entertaining way to catch the children's interest, some people might very well be offended:  Animated figures can look distorted. Many believe that animations and cartoons are for light entertainment only.  Are we ready to see Marcus Garvey's  story told  in cartoon format? Or any of our heroes, for that matter? Are we willing to touch slavery ? Present politics? Iconic figures past and present? Controversial subjects?  For example - could you animate a story with an environmental message using  the 'two little lizards' contemplating their future in a transformed Goat Island without bringing down the wrath of certain sections of our society. 

Can we just have fun without merely ridiculing sections of our society? It can be done, of course, what I am really asking is would this be popular or merely annoying to some. Remember the controversy around the first erected Bob Marley statue near the stadium? How dare the sculptor, Christopher Gonzales, try something different. 

People are we ready to really explore the benefits of animation both for learning and entertainment using our own stories?

animated figures from http://heathersanimations.com/