We read for enjoyment, but literature plays an important role in human development, and one of those roles is teaching us about being a good friend. When we read, we live vicariously through the characters, we observe the way they respond to situations and think about how we would respond faced with the same stimuli. In that way, books are a little like flight simulators. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Carol Ottley-Mitchell
Fictional Females of CaribbeanReads
The way women are portrayed in literature has evolved over time and in CaribbeanReads’ books, you find female characters who represent the diversity of characteristics that women, in reality, are. So today we will highlight some of the girls and women who play a role in CaribbeanReads’ literature- the characters. Continue reading
Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week
Happy Independence Day, Jamaica!
Jamaica celebrates its 57th anniversary of Independence today, and we celebrate with all of our Jamaica connections.
CR Author Jewel Daniel and Tanya Batson-Savage at #BKBF 
On the Kingston Bookshop Shelves 
Children enjoying Dance Quadrille
Congratulations to the island for all the strides it has made over the years and best wishes for many to come. We think especially of CaribbeanReads’ authors like Opal Palmer Adisa (Look! A Moko Jumbie, Love’s Promise, Dance Quadrille Play Quelbe) and Juleus Ghunta (Tata and the Big Bad Bull), our collaborators such as Caribbean Cultural Theatre with E. Wayne McDonald, Tanya Batson-Savage at Blue Banyon Books, and The Kingston Bookshop.
We can’t forget Jamaica-set Pirates at Port Royal, the second book in the Caribbean Adventure Series.
#JamaicaIndependence2019 #caribbeanliterature #bkbf
Filed under Uncategorized
E-Picture Books
CaribbeanReads put out our first kindle picture book back in 2012. It was Lion Paw and Oliver: An Unlikely Friendship, the first book in the Living the Beach Life series by Heidi Fagerberg. Way back then…seven years is an eon when it comes to technology…the process for developing picture books that would be read on an electronic device was challenging and the results less than perfect. |
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We really wanted the books to be available in an e-version. We believe that one of the best ways to encourage children to read is ensure that books are visible and always within easy reach. E-books on their devices next to their other electronic activities, can be a way to encourage children to access books over and over again. So we persisted, and ended up putting the text and image on separate pages. This helped with the flow of the text but was not ideal for the beginning readers who love Heidi’s books.
As I’m sure you’ve guessed, the technology has changed and it’s now easier to produce these books in an easy-to-read format, and we’ve updated the entire Living the Beach Life series and some of our other titles. The good news is that, if you’ve already bought an ebook it will automatically update the next time you open it while connected to the internet. If you haven’t got your ecopy of Heidi’s books, check it out. Ebooks are a great alternative for entertaining little ones.
CaribbeanReads picture book titles with e-versions (all books will be converted soon):
- Living the Beach Life Series
- Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure
- Tata and the Big Bad Bull
- The Masquerade Dance
No need to wait for your book to arrive, start reading today!
Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week
2019 (to date) Books in Reviews
It’s July, and while it seems like just yesterday we heralded in an infant 2019 with fireworks and fanfare, it’s almost grown and already has more time behind it than in front.
CaribbeanReads books have received some love from our readers this year and we wanted to share some of the comments with you.
Musical Youth (about to enter its second edition) has a five star rating on Amazon and GoodReads, but its reach is growing beyond those well-trodden paths to include reviews on Instagram and on personal web pages including foreign language pages. Here are two of our favorites:
*Read more on Joanne’s blog. We were kind of blown away by all the great feedback.
- “I first recognized the weight of her work by the response of the teens to her book, Musical Youth , in the Grenada Community Library. It remains one of the most popular books with teens, despite their tendency to shun Caribbean literature when they have a choice because they are required to read it in schools.” – Oonya Kempadoo, author of Buxton Spice
- In April we came across a review in French from a blog titled myinsaeng. You can read the french review here and the English translation here, but this is the last paragraph: “To my knowledge, there is no French translation available, much less Creole, but I hope that “Musical Youth” will become a classic of literature for generations to come. And why not an audiovisual adaptation to immortalize this illustration of our time?”
- “I love the little loving details that go into making a book that much more special, like the musical staff here on every new chapter of #MusicalYouth by @jhohadli . If you’re looking for a great YA summer read that’s also got some depth, check this one out. It’s all about learning to work together, the effects of colourism, coming out of your shell, and embracing your own self worth. I will read this one again at some point!…It’s a heart-warming Antiguan YA that’s pretty quick and easy to get through. 🌴🌺🌊📖Would highly recommend!” –beauty.on.the.bookshelf on Instagram
Greyborn Rising, released in May 2019 has received a lot of reader praise. The main theme seemed to be that the book is impossible to put down.
- An excellent read that I would highly recommend. Well researched and artfully written. I learned a lot while being entertained. Characters are well developed and you will not be able to put this book down.
- Greyborn Rising is a book I truly enjoyed. From the first pages I felt captivated and entertained. The more I read the more I became interested in the characters and their challenges and successes. My favorite character is Katharine the soucouyant and once you read the book you will see why.
Tata and the Big Bad Bull has received great praise from key educators and authors, and also from publications such as the Midwest Review and the Old Schoolhouse Magazine. The review love continued in 2019…
- In an article entitled “Overcoming Barriers to Education in Tata and the Big Bad Bull,” Anansesem contributor, Shanimarie Ogilvie, reviews this CaribbeanReads title by author and poet, Juleus Ghunta. She refers to the book’s protagonist as a “universally relatable character,” and points out how “Ghunta’s use of rhyme…engages the reader.” She describes the narrative as “brisk” and the plot as “spirited.”
Read the full review in the beautifully designed full color PDF edition of the May 2019 Anansesem book review issue.
The Masquerade Dance released in April 2019. Reviews are still in coming in, but we loved this one from one of our own, Joanne C. Hillhouse.
- In summary, Joanne C. Hillhouse comments: “Nicely done; quick (and colourful) read overall and good for classroom or reading club story time.” Read her entire review here.
Filed under Uncategorized
Launch of the Masquerade Dance
Children in St. Kitts-Nevis were the first to experience the official launch of the new children’s book by Carol Mitchell, The Masquerade Dance. Mitchell spent the morning of Friday April 12 at the Charles A. Halbert Public Library in Basseterre, St. Kitts reading her book to groups of children who were there attending the Easter summer camp.
Reading to our young readers
Children in the older group were also enthralled by the story.
Something is interesting!
Student Interpretation of the Masquerade Dance
Student Interpretation of the Masquerade Dance
After the library event, Mitchell held a children-focused launch of the book. The launch, held at Splash St. Kitts, featured arts and crafts, a reading, and a demonstration of the masquerade by a local masquerader, Sylvester Huggins.
The calm before the storm
Children colouring on table-sized print outs of pages from the Masquerade Dance
Making masquerade hats
Colouring is fun for adults too!
I want to dance the masquerade!
Mitchell with her collaborator, Saulo
Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week, Uncategorized
Why YA?
CaribbeanReads will be publishing two YA novels in 2017, bringing our total YA offerings to four. Since CR is a small publisher, this is significant. Three of the four books have been recognised by the Burt Award for Caribbean Literature, Musical Youth was a 2014 winner, The Protector’s Pledge was a 2016 winner, and Barberry Hill was one of six finalists in 2016. So why is YA literature being given such a spotlight on the Caribbean front?
The term “young adult literature” can be hard to define. One would think that it means books that appeal mainly to a particular age range-teenagers. However, with adults being the most prolific readers of YA, it is clear that YA is more than a target age. Young Adult literature has come to mean ‘coming of age’ literature in which the central characters-usually teenagers-are impacted by the events in the book in a way that leaves them a step closer to adulthood.
YA books typically handle issues that are not addressed in the same way in books for younger children or adult literature for that matter. They tackle life complexities with which most teenagers are having their first experiences such as romantic love, fitting in, abandonment, family breakdown, drugs, sex, politics, and more. Often these themes are wrapped within a larger story, but whether the protagonists are embroiled in a fight with mystical creatures (as in The Protector’s Pledge) or in a true-to-life setting (as in Musical Youth, Another Day, and Barberry Hill), when you strip the book down to its bare minimum you should find a teen struggling against adversity to become more.
So, are these books important beyond their pure entertainment value? Definitely. They can play a key developmental role in a teen’s life.
- Having these new experiences vicariously through books can be a safe way for teens to learn about life and to be inspired by the way that other teens overcome challenges.
- Reading these stories can engender empathy for others, a very important skill in our day-to-day lives.
- For children who may be in the midst of situations similar to those being faced by the protagonist, a YA book may provide a sense of comfort and a jumping-off point for discussing their problems with friends and an adult. It is much easier for a teen to present a book to an adult and say: “This is what is happening to me” than to find the words to describe how they are hurting.
- Caribbean YA novels are important to our young people because, while the challenges of growing up are ubiquitous, every culture has a particular spin. Caribbean teens need support in their particular brand of coming-of-age. One example is colourism, a theme addressed in Joanne C. Hillhouse’s Musical Youth. While this problem may be endemic to the Caribbean or to people of African descent, being rated based on a physical feature is a concept with which all teens are familiar.
The world needs to read about how life impacts Caribbean teens and to understand that the Caribbean is a part of the global scene. Books, even fictional ones, play a key role in how the past is viewed. The Caribbean voice must be part of the collection of stories being told.
So how do we adults help this important movement? Write YA novels and share YA novels not just with Caribbean teens but with teens worldwide.
Filed under On Writing
Marvin and Marianne
Kimberly Wallace published an article on Marvin and the Race to the Nest in the Trinidad Express yesterday.
“FLIGHTY, even feisty and adorned with feathers that shine and shimmer like jewels under a hot Caribbean sun — hummingbirds usually don’t have to do much to capture our imagination. Now, these tiny marvels of creation have been transported onto the pages of a one-of-a-kind book Marvin and the Race to the Nest which is specially designed for children ages five to eight….”
Read the full article here.
Filed under Uncategorized
Minister of Education Launches Yerette Readers Series at NALIS
On Tuesday 3rd May, 2016, the Honourable Anthony Garcia, Minister of Education in Trinidad and Tobago spoke at the launch of the Yerette Readers Series on Hummingbirds at the National Library and Information System (NALIS) building and pledged to include hummingbirds in the revised Curriculum.
Filed under Uncategorized
Literary Evening at the Grenadian Embassy DC
Mark your calendars for March 17, 2016. Four Caribbean authors will come together for an evening event at the Grenadian Embassy in Washington DC to discuss their books and literature in general. The evening will feature:
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The Washington DC Book Launch of Force Ripe by Grenadian author Cindy McKenzie |
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Signing and Reading of Dame Hilda Bynoe: The Governor’s Story by Grenadian author Merle Collins |
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Signing and reading of Hurricane of the Heart by Kittitian author, Jewel Amethyst Daniel. |
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Signing and reading by Kittivisian author Carol Ottley-Mitchell |
The Embassy will supply light finger foods and drinks. Come out to enjoy an engaging evening. Thursday 17th March, 2016, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, 1701 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington DC, 20009
Filed under Caribbean Lit News This Week, Uncategorized