Suggestions for books for 3-6 year-olds

Following my post of Sep 23, 2014, on How to Help Kids Become Skilled, Passionate, Habitual, Critical Readers, I'm making suggestions about appropriate books for children to choose from. They can learn to love books from as early as Kindergarten/ Basic School. The purpose of this post is to be a guide to parents, teachers and well-wishers of Jamaican children aged 3-6 in Basic Schools and Kindergartens, who would like to buy books for children but don't know where to begin. See also my blog of March 1, 2014 for books by Jamaican authors for young children.  I used the list of books recommended by children, on CTL's website to find many of the others. Because most of the authors listed live in the USA, and have a bias towards that culture, I haven't recommended books about baseball, football, or the seasons, especially winter and snow which Jamaican children are unlikely to have experienced. I've highlighted one book per author, but together they have hundreds of other books in print.
A comment here about reading: reading means gaining meaning from words and from pictures. The illustrations in children's books are equally as important as the words.  Children build some key reading skills when they read wordless books, or books with very few words. These include comprehension, sequencing, inferring, predicting and reading from left to right and top to bottom in English.  Many of the books listed are for fluent readers to read aloud to children. The importance of reading aloud,  and for the children then to have the books in their hands, cannot be overemphasized.
Authors are listed in alphabetical order.

1. Atinuke and Lauren Tobia: Anna Hibiscus Series, set in modern Nigeria. Delightful books for the enlightenment of people not living in Nigeria, and for the entertainment of those living there.

2. Molly Bang:  When Sophie Gets Angry . Sophie gets really angry but has her own way of calming down. Minimal text, but the pictures also tell the story.
There are several other titles by this author.

3. Eric Carle: The Very Hungry Caterpillar. In this children's classic, the caterpillar eats his way through the book.  A teacher or parent would need to read this to younger children, but there's plenty of room for discussion along the way. Eric Carle has over forty children's books in print.

4. Donald Crews: Flying Minimal text. Children would need guidance the first time they look at this book, but afterwards would be able to 'read' the story on their own by looking at the pictures. Donald Crew has many books about transport, including Truck which is a wordless book. Useful in Jamaican basic schools, except for the setting which of course is in the USA.

5. Lois Ehlert: Top Cat . Top Cat rules the house until a new kitten arrives. At first he doesn't want to share but then finds that 2 can be more fun than one. The text is in large print but the vocabulary is beyond most basic school children. Suitable for read-aloud and discussion.

Lois Ehlert has written and illustrated more than 25 children's books, many of them about the natural environment in the USA, so the birds and plants she mentions would not be familiar to Jamaican children.

6. Ed Emberley: Go Away, Big Green Monster! Kids can turn the pages and watch the monster grow then disappear. Pictures provide clues for the simple text.
 Ed Emberley is the author and illustrator of over 80 books.

7. Ian Falconer: Olivia Have fun with Olivia, dressing up, singing songs and wearing people out. Pre-readers can 'read' a story from the delightful pictures, and, with some help, the text is manageable for emergent readers.
Ian Falconer has written and illustrated 10 more Olivia books.

8. Denise Fleming: In the Tall, Tall Grass  - what a caterpillar would see. A few words of simple text in large letters on each page. Children would soon learn to recognize these words. I would like to see this book in every basic school in Jamaica.
Denise Fleming is the author and illustrator of 15 picture books.

9. Mem Fox: Koala Lou A delightful book for parents or teachers to read aloud to younger children and for older children to read for themselves.
Mem Fox had written dozens of children's books and promotes literacy. She gives good advice in her 10 commandments for reading aloud.     

10. Kevin Henkes: Chrysanthemum Text good for reading aloud and discussion.
Kevin Henkes is the author and illustrator of close to 50 picture books.

11. Jarrett J. Krosoczka: Peanut Butter and Jellyfish - a story of friendship. This is another read-aloud book, but non-readers, after hearing it, would be able to tell the story from the pictures.

12. Bill Martin, Jr.:  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - the letters of the alphabet race one another to the top of the coconut tree. Another book I would like every basic school to have. The rhythmic text would soon be memorized by children. It is available as a board book which would prolong its life when handled by

children. I also recommend Chicka Chicka 1 2 3, by the same author.

13. Jerry Pinkney: The Lion and the Mouse and The Tortoise and the Hare  Children who are struggling with letter recognition can successfully read well-known fables in these two beautifully illustrated wordless books.

14. David Shannon: No, David  I say 'yes' to this book, which highlights all the things David mustn't do. "No, David" is written on every page. There are other suitable books by this author illustrator.

15. Rosemary Wells: Yoko  Yet another read-aloud book, but I included it because of its cultural diversity. Although Yoko is disguised here as a cat, from her name and the text she is unmistakably Japanese. Rosemarie Wells has written other books

about Yoko which would also be well-worth purchasing.

16. Mo Willems: Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus  Teachers, when you read this book to children, they will answer the questions! As children become more fluent readers they will be able to read the simple text for themselves. There are several more pigeon books.

My final comment is a plea to make more books available to Jamaican children, especially in Basic Schools. If you are Jamaican, living abroad, paying a visit to Jamaica, why not purchase a few of these books to donate to a Basic School near to where you will be staying?

Books for Young Children by Jamaican Authors

   In October 2012, I wrote a blog post about Books by JamaicanAuthors for Children aged 8-14. I have at last completed  a follow-up post about books for younger children.  Thanks to members of the Jamaican Author’s Group for their input. All the books listed below have delightful illustrations. Although I've not included the illustrator's names, applause is due to them for adding to the Jamaican flavour of the books.

Probably the best known are Kellie Magnus’s Little Lion books, available on the Jackmandora website   and on Amazon. They are:

1. Little Lion goes to School
2. Little Lion at Bat  and
3. Little Lion Goes for Gold

She has also published two board books ‘A Book for Baby’ written by herself, and ‘Trixie Triangle’ by Michael Robinson for a Ministry of Education Project.

Jana Bent’s company, Reggae Pickney(TM), has produced a series of CD Storybooks  - the CD's have the full narration and reggae songs to help tell the stories:                

1. Shaggy Parrot and the Reggae Band
2. The Reggae Band Rescues Mama Edda Leatherback
3. Brave Turtellini and the Reggae Band

‘Shaggy Parrot and the Reggae Band’ by Jana Bent and Friends is also available on Amazon.

You can like them on facebook under the name Reggae Pickney

Sharon Martini has written three delightful stories:

1. ‘Max and Me’;
2. ‘Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! I Love Bugs!’; and
3. ‘Uh, Oh! Where Did Baby Go?’

all available on her website. 

LMH publishers lists 28 children’s books on their website.

The following seem appropriate for young children.

1. Dale’s Mango Tree by Kim Robinson
2. Patrick the Proud Parrot (activity book) by Kellee Merchant
3. Ptolemy Turtle by Melisande Potter Hal
4. Soon Come by Melisande Potter Hal
5. The Adventures of Lumi and Twizzy By Gina Harvey Lewis
6. When the Sun and the Moon Ran Away by Maizle Goulbourne
7. Saving Joe Louis by Isabel Marvin
8. The Beautiful Blue Shirt on Barry Street by Isabel Marvin
9. Lucille Travels at Christmas by Jasmine Ntoutome
10. Drog: A Dreggen Story Bk 1 by Hazel Campbell

BlueMoon Books has two titles for young children:

1. Pumpkin Belly and other Stories by Tanya Batson-Savage (who is also the publisher) and
2. Bolo the Monkey by Jonathan Burke.
   

Arawak Publications has published several books for children, two of which would appeal to the younger ones. They are:

1. Little Meeta by Jean Goulbourne and
2. Every Road Leads to School by Kelly Griller

Olive Senior's Birthday Suit  is a most entertaining picture book, available on Amazon, but unfortunately not in bookshops in Jamaica. They claim that there would be a resistance to the price, hence will not stock it.

Irie the Caterpillar by Latoya Wakefield, an up and coming children's author, living in Montego Bay, is available as an e-book on Amazon. You can link with her on facebook if you would like a hard copy.

Prayers for School Days by Carolien Aiken is also available on Amazon.

Nancy and Grandy Nanny by Rebecca Tortello, published by Stationery and Office Supplies, is the story of our only national heroine, Nanny. Rebecca also wrote "My Jamaican ABC" which is a colouring book with text. This is one of the few books I have seen consistently in bookshops. 

Gwyneth Harold Davidson recommended

Aiden and the Apple Tree by Johnathon Kelly, which she bought as an ebook app on Google Play 
     Most of the above books are designed for adults or older children to read to young children, while they look at the pictures. The reader may also stop and discuss the story with the child. The child who has heard the story many times may begin to point at the words as they are read, or even take up the book and retell the story as though they are reading, all valuable pre-reading experiences.
   However, few of the books can be read independently by emergent readers. Books in that category are carefully written to include vocabulary the readers would be expected to know, or be able to decode. One of my most tricky assignments in a course I took on Writing for Children was to write a story using only the hundred-word list supplied, and words rhyming with words in that list. The Ministry of Education has produced a set of such books in the series Literacy 1-2-3, but these are not available for sale in bookshops.
Also for young children are some books which have gone out of print, a topic worth considering in a future post.
     If you know of any other books for young children by Jamaican authors, please could you let me know. 

The Value of Summer Reading

   Having taken a break from blogging to concentrate on my work-in-progress, (now out of the way, entered in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s Creative Writing Contest), many bloggable topics are crowding into my brain. One which has grabbed me with great urgency is Summer Reading. We are well into the summer holidays, a time when children can gain an academic advantage simply by immersing themselves in story books. One a week would be a good number for them to read. (See my post on Summer Reading - Some Surprising Findings.) Simply put, children who read for pleasure during the summer do better in school the following year than those who don’t.

   A challenge for many parents is to find suitable books which children will enjoy. The easiest option is to fall back on the books which they read as children - Enid Blyton, Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. But what is the effect on Jamaican children of reading nothing but ‘foreign books’? Diane Browne has written extensively on the importance to children of reading about characters like themselves in books. In October 2012, she wrote "Books allow them (young people) to work through their fears, their sources of joy, their experiences, to try on various selves. It would seem a good thing if these selves could be related to their own lives.” On June 17, 2013, she revisited this theme in "Making the case for children's literature - the Doctor Bird Series: Part 3."


    Books about Jamaican children by Jamaican authors are available. In my post on October 18, 2012 ‘Books by Jamaican Authors for children aged 8 - 14’ I listed forty-three books for that age-group. In addition, there are many books by other Caribbean authors for that age group.
Another challenge is to find these books in the bookshops, except for the Sand Pebble Series, available in Sangsters. The ‘foreign book syndrome’ is a system of positive feedback. Foreign books are displayed, therefore sell, therefore the ones which are most stocked. They are also cheaper than Jamaican books, because of their mass-production. The parents’ argument is that they can get two foreign books for the price of one Jamaican. What do they do with these books after their children have read them? Usually, they give them away. I would therefore encourage parents to form book clubs for their children. If each child in a group of three were to buy two Jamaican books, for example from the Sand Pebbles Series, when the children have finished reading one of the books, they can swap.

I will soon prepare a list of books for younger readers for them to read or for someone to read aloud to them. One such book, recently published is “Bolo the Monkey” by Jonathan Burke, published by Blue Moon. I had hoped to have a copy to review, but unfortunately I can’t get it in Montego Bay. This book, like many others is a victim of the ‘foreign book syndrome’.

While I’m currently emphasizing Summer Reading, I’m also questioning how much reading happens in term time in our Primary Schools, especially in the lower grades. A blog I like to read is “A Year of Reading - Two Teachers Who Read. A lot”. Not only do Franki and Mary Lee read a lot, they also write a lot of worthwhile information.

I make no apologies for quoting from Franki’s most recent post. The highlighting is mine.

“I've spent lots of time this summer catching up on series books that I think my new third graders will be reading when school starts next month. Catching up on these transitional books is key to supporting their reading development. I'm also looking for stand-alone books that help readers understand the power of story and that help them build conversation to understand character, see the world differently, and laugh and learn together. 3rd grade is a challenging one when it comes to book choice because it is tempting to choose books that are just beyond what kids are ready for so they don't quite understand them. They are 8 year-olds so their life experiences are not quite ready for the depth of some middle grade novels. And I am a firm believer that if we give kids great books too early, we take away the joy of experiencing an amazing book later, when they are able to fully enjoy and love it. But, I also know that third graders are brilliant people who have lots to say and need books to help them think through life. It's just that finding books that match the stage of life is not as easy as it appears.”

I would love to hear from a Grade 3 teacher who can say the same as Franki. I'm sure she has a much more difficult time accessing books than Franki does.

If you come across a child who appears bored with the summer holidays, suggest to him/her that he/she could read a book. Better still, look in your book collection for titles you could lend to him/her.

Books by Jamaican Authors for Children ages 8 -14

Please see the updated version of this post, August 2014

Children who read for pleasure improve their word knowledge, grammar and reading comprehension far beyond what is taught in formal classes. This holds true whether they are reading stories about children like themselves or different from themselves. Why then should we be concerned that books about children like themselves are available for their reading pleasure?

In her blog of October 16, 2012, Diane Browne wrote
“But where is the embracing of the Caribbean literature by the education system so that we may read about ourselves more often than we do, not only in set books, but just in the library at school? Do we think that our children can learn anything from the books being written now? Have our adult gatekeepers read the books and recognized their worth, not only as entertaining stories, but also as self validation, points from which discussion may arise in a young people valiantly searching for themselves , as all young people do? Books allow them to work through their fears, their sources of joy, their experiences, to try on various selves. It would seem a good thing if these selves could be related to their own lives.”

In relation to Diane’s observations, I will comment on a few school libraries I’ve seen. The best prep school library was spacious, full of books and had lending facilities, but the only Jamaican novel was ‘White Witch of Rosehall’. Most of the books in the library had been donated, so the school didn’t actually choose the books. Another prep school had no library. One primary school has a new purpose built library. They are gradually putting up shelves and unpacking boxes of N. American books which will fill the shelves. The school itself has neither a budget for library books nor for a full-time librarian.

I have therefore prepared a list of books by Jamaican authors for Children ages 8 -14. In addition to posting it on my blog, I will make the list available to any teacher librarian who is not aware of these books, especially the more recent titles. The prices of these books range from about $700 to $1,000. Supposing the price is $1,000, the cost for 1 copy of each of the first 25 books listed would be $25,000. For a school with 500 students, a donation of $50 from each child would cover the cost. The age range given for the readership is an average and there will be children above and below those ages who can read and enjoy the books.

Here’s the list:

1. Flying with Icarus by Curdella Forbes 2003 (Walker Books)

Carlong Sand Pebble Series available in Sangsters Book Stores
2. Jojo’s Treasure Hunt by Cherrell Shelley-Robinson 2003 (10-12)
3. Freedom Come by Jean Goulbourne 2002 (10 -12)
4. Island Princess in Brooklyn by Diane Browne 2011 (10-14)
5. Bernie and the Captain’s Ghost by Hazel Campbell 2010 (10-12)
6. Tek Mi! Noh Tek Mi by C. Shelley-Robinson et al 2008 (10-14)
7. Every Little Thing will be All Right by Diane Browne 2003 (8-10)
8. Little Island - Big Adventures by Maria Roberts-Squires 2007 (12-14)
9. Jenny and the General by Jean D’Costa 2006 (8-10)
10. Miss Bettina’s House by Hazel Campbell 2004 (8-10)

By Hazel Campbell, published by LMH,
available at outlets supplied by Novelty Trading.
11. Juice Box and Scandal                                                                                                                               
12. Tilly Bummie
13. Ramgoat Dashalong
14. Goat Boy Never Cries

By Diane Browne

15. A Tumbling World - A Time of Fire                                       
16. Cordelia Finds Fame and Fortune
17. The Ring and the Roaring Water (Available at Bookland)          

By Linda Gambrill (Beenybud Stories)
18. Miss Tiny (7- 9)
19. A Boy Named Neville (7 - 9)
20. Croaking Johnny and Dizzy Lizzie (7 - 9)





Island Fiction Series (Macmillan Caribbean 2009) available at outlets supplied by Novelty Trading

21. Delroy in the Marog Kingdom by Billy Elm 2009 (9-14)         

22. Night of the Indigo by Michael Holgate 2009 (12-15)

Scholastic
23. Blue Mountain Trouble by Martin Mordecai 2009 (8-12)

By Cedella Marley
24. The Boy from Nine Miles
25. One Love

LMH
26. A Jamaican Storyteller’s Tale by Lorrimer A. Burford ( 2005)

The following stories were written longer ago (‘70’s,’80’s; and ‘90’s) and are probably better known than more recent publications.

By James Berry
27. A Thief in the Village and Other Stories 1987 (12-up)
28. Ajeemah and His Son – Harper Collins1993 (8-up)

By Everard Palmer
29. A Cow Called Boy 1972 (6-10)
30. The Sun Salutes You (Republished by Macmillan Caribbean 2007) (8-12)
31. My Father Sun-Sun Johnson 1974 (8-12)
32. Cloud with the Silver Lining 1987 (8-12)

By Jean D’Costa
33. Sprat Morrison
34. Escape to Last Man Peak

By Andrew Salkey
35. Drought
36. Earthquake
37. Riot

By Vic Reid
38. Sixty-Five (1960), London: Longman.
39. The Young Warriors (1967), London: Longman.
40. Peter of Mount Ephraim (1971), Kingston: Jamaica Publishing House.
41. The Jamaicans (revised edition 1978), Kingston: Institute of Jamaica.
42. Nanny Town (1983)
43. The Horses of the Morning (1985)
For a comprehensive list of Jamaican and Caribbean books for children see www.anansesem.com

If anyone reading this post knows of, or has written other stories for 8 -14 year-olds, I would be most grateful if you would let me know.

Added in March, 2014, four books by Suzanne Francis Brown

The Mystery of the Golden Table (Arawak Publishing)

Searching for Pirates. A Port Royal Adventure (Arawak)

Marcus Garvey. (Suzanne Francis-Brown/Jean-Jacques Vayssieres)(Ian Randle Publ)

The Mermaid Escapade (E-Published, Kindle, 2013)