I would love to stand corrected. We left the golliwog concept behind, didn't we!

Breaking news: I saw Dreams Beyond the Shore come into my inbox about 3 times recently as one of the books recommend for me by Amazon. I do not know if that was because of my post or because of the publisher’s/author’s promotion. The mystery of algorithms! However that's why it's headlining my blog again. 

 I am glad that Bocas Lit has added a prize for Children’s Literature. As we also consider the enthusiasm of the young publishers and writers now, I feel as if all we have done over all these years is bearing fruit,  

However, we still seem to be out in the wilderness with Young Adult (YA) Literature. I have noted previously the importance of the Burt Award, and that if it was withdrawn from this region to be given to First Nations in Canada, one could not but honour and respect  that.

You may recall that as part of the Burt Award process 2,500 copies of each book were to be subsidized and given to schools across the Caribbean. Has this happened? If so how come we haven’t  heard anything about these donations, seen pictures of beaming school children and principals  with book donations, book covers splashed across front pages of regional newspapers, or if that is too much to ask, tucked away somewhere inside. I am told that with very little fanfare they were given away to charitable organizations,  and not  so much to the schools. I would love to stand corrected on this. Surely we couldn’t let that opportunity  for exposure pass us by. If we did indeed print 2,500 of each and give them out with no fanfare, nor recognition of their significance,  then we deserve to have Enid Blyton (now dark-washed for modern consumption) get up out of her grave and write her golliwog stories all over again. And yes, I read them and so did my first daughter, who couldn’t understand why the golliwog was always getting into trouble. That’s when I realized I had to start writing, so by the time the second daughter came along there was other material. We were no longer left to wonder about the connection between ourselves and golliwogs. Subtle racism and  colonial indoctrination.       

Now it is possible that in the last 2 years we’ve all been made distraught by the pandemic. I may not have heard anything.  Therefore I could be wrong about donations of books. Please tell me if I am. However this award had been running since 2014; that was from before covid.

Of course, the students in secondary schools have set books. Why should we care whether they read additional books or not. Why should we care whether  young adults  read anyway? We did our best with them in primary/prep. The set books in secondary, many of them classics, whether European, American or Caribbean, cover a range of human emotions and experiences. They will soon be adults, and readers will read and the rest won't. 

Of what value is the reading  our own books to the young adults of our region? Well a clue might be that the same overseas publishers who sell their books to us are also filling the needs of their own target audience. Aha, guys, aha!

I'll look at this further in my next blog.

Books from the Caribbean: A new book from Barbados

I often wish that I could highlight more books from the wider Caribbean, but it seems that we often do not know what is being published in the other territories. And so I'm delighted when I can.

This book is Turtle Tracks: the tale of  a nesting hawksbill turtle, a picture book, written and delightfully illustrated by Sue Trew, published by Best of Barbados, 2013. The book gives interesting facts about the nesting of hawksbill turtles, but in a way that makes the turtle the protagonist and the reader a participant in this journey. It's therefore educational, supporting of  the environment and the cherishing of all the things which are valuable on our planet, as it deals with a topic in which children can become engaged. Most of all, for me, the language is charming. It draws the children into the wonders of nature, reinforcing the author's illustrations by the magic of words. In addition, there are discussion facts in the back of the book, and in keeping with the technological world in which our children interact, there is a website for them to check out. The dedication also leads us to the website of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project.

This book was purchased at the airport in Barbados, and since I try as much as possible to be balanced in my comments on this blog, and many of them might appear to be critical of my own island's approach to the stocking of local children's books in our bookstores, I must give the following  information.  I visited a leading bookstore in Barbados and confidently asked for Barbadian children's books. I was led to the usual collection of Caribbean literature for CXC books. So had I not got the opportunity at the airport I would not have seen this delightful book. And now I recall that all the Barbadian children's books I have bought over the years, have been obtained at the airport in the Best of Barbados store.

Consequently, one might conclude  that the fact that  our local children's books are in some of our stores, is due to the constant work by our authors and the Book Industry Association of Jamaica. Therefore,  I must take back all my harsh comments about Jamaicans and reading. Well, just some. I guess we all face the same challenges in this region.  Our authors just have to be persistent and vigilant in their socialization of our people about local children's literature.

Despatches: Of passing and going forward

 

Last week the renowned Jamaican writer of children’s books, C. Everard Palmer, passed away in Canada where he had been living. For many of us he was the consummate Caribbean and Jamaican children’s writer in that he had succeeded in entering the imagination of our children of successive generations. In a country, Jamaica, where reading is not considered a viable use of time, he had entered the lives of many children. I suspect  that  some of them will remember, for example, A Cow Called Boy  or The Cloud with a Silver Lining. My favourite was My Father, Sun-Sun Johnson.   Was Everard Palmer an influence in my wanting to write for children? I don’t know, but I do know that when I would sit and stare adoringly at my shelves of books ( I am inclined to look at my books as one might look at collections of exquisite jewels), the sight of that particular book, My Father, Sun-Sun Johnson, filled my heart. I know that the work of any writer encourages other writers, especially when it comes to children’s writing. He has left behind a strong legacy. Nuff respect C. Everard Palmer! I hope that you know how much you were loved and admired.     

And since we must go on, it is good to celebrate Tanya Batson-Savage winning the first prize for Best Storyboard/Script at the Kingst00n Animation Festival. Congratulations to Tanya, whose publishing house Blue Moon had a launch of a children’s book (my previous post) last weekend. Multitalented young lady! The judges for this festival included big names in animation in the world, so clearly it was no ‘little, little festival’. (See report in The Gleaner for June 25).

 And so in a way, as we mark the passing of a giant in children’s literature,  we also welcome the future. The future is not just books and publishing by young writers and entrepreneurs, but the new technologies like animation. Yes, animation has always been with us courtesy of Walt Disney , but it appears that more and more we might be seeing a marriage between books and animation. The future awaits us.

 

 

Photo of Tanya Batson-Savage taken by Emma Lewis at launch of Bolo the Monkey