My picks for Class Libraries Grades 3-4 in Jamaican Schools

This is a continuation of my blog postof September 7, with suggestions for books for grades 3-4. Many of the children in these grades are reading below grade level. 
I’m starting with books by Jamaican authors, most of which are available in Jamaica and on Amazon. 

Published by LMH

By Hazel Campbell:   Juice Box and Scandal   

                                    Tilly Bummie

                                    Ramgoat Dashalong

                                    Goat Boy Never Cries

By Isabel Marvin:       Saving Joe Louis

Published by Carlong in the Sand Pebble Series

            Every Little Thing will be All Right by Diane Browne

            Jenny and the General by Jean D’Costa

            Miss Bettina’s House by Hazel Campbell

Beenybud Stories by Linda Gambrill published by Ian Randle

            Miss Tiny

            A Boy Named Neville

            Croaking Johnny and Dizzy Lizzie

By Cedella Marley

            The Boy from Nine Miles

            One Love

            Every Little Thing

By Everard Palmer published by Macmillan Caribbean

            A Cow Called Boy

            The Sun Salutes You

            My Father Sun-Sun Johnson

            Cloud with the Silver Lining

Books from the wider Caribbean. Many are listed on Anansesem’s website.

Examples:       My Two Grannies by Floella Benjamin

                        My Two Grandads by Floella Benjamin

                        Boysie and the Kiskadee by Britta Rajkumar 

Books in Macmillan Caribbean Hop, Step, Jump Series

            Sally's Way (Paperback) by Joanne Johnson          

The School that Sank by Sherry North

Sailing Days by Sherry North

The Angry Mountain by Charlotte Megan Adams

Gary the Smartest Gecko by Thalia Bell

Shauna’s Hurricane by Francine Jacobs
and other books in this series.

Books from Africa
See my blog post of April 2015 for suggestions.
I would like to highlight The No 1 Car Spotter by Atinuke. There are 6 books in this series.
and
Circle Unbroken  by Margo Theis Raven - the story of how the art of basket-making was taken from Africa to the Carolinas. Is there a similar story of the way in which the art of basket-making was brought to Jamaica?
The following books were not listed in that blog post:
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain (Rise and Shine)
by Verna Aardema  
Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale by Verna Aareema       There  are many more books by this author.                                                                                                                                                                                                                
Goal! by Mina Javaherbin 

Most of the big publishing houses have series of graded readers.

Harper Collins has “I Can Read” Levels 3 and 4 are suitable for the corresponding grades.

Random House has “Step into Reading”

Scholastic has “Readers”. Levels 2 and 3 are recommended for children who are becoming independent readers.

DK Readers cover a wide range of non-fiction topics. Grade 4 children should find some that interest them in levels 2 & 3.

Penguin Young Readers Level 3

I picked the following books, which are culturally North American, from a list of books enjoyed by children at The Centre for Teaching and Learning. They are all available on Amazon.

Easier, well-illustrated books to encourage struggling and reluctant readers.

1.     Bridwell, Norman     The Clifford series – picture books about 30 pages long, more appropriate for grades 1-2 , but could still be of interest.

2.     Charlip, Remy    Fortunately This picture book might appeal to reluctant readers.

3.     Griffiths, Andy   The 13-Story Treehouse (The Treehouse books). These books are longer, but still have lots of illustrations and not so much text.

4.     McMullan, Kate   I’m Dirty; I’m Smart; I’m Fast and other titles all about vehicles. Text in the books varies in size and there are activities such as identifying tools.

5.     Rey, H.A.   The Curious George series – timeless classics about a monkey who gets into trouble – picture books intended for reading aloud.

6.     Willems, Mo     Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs 

Chapter books for average readers.

1.     Osborne, Mary Pope    TheMagic Tree House books take Jack and Annie to times and places other than contemporary U.S.A. They are ideal for children who are starting chapter books.

2.     Abbott, Tony    The Secrets of Droon books. These fantasies are also chapter books, average 90 pages long.

3.     Barrows, Annie    The Ivy and Bean series. These chapter books, about 120 pages long are available in paperback and Kindle editions. They would appeal more to girls, because the two central characters are girls.

4.     Bentley, Sue    The Magic Kitten series: would also appeal more to girls.

5.     Cleary, Beverly is a prolific author popular with children in the USA. Her Ralph S. Mouse books might be popular with boys in Jamaica.

6.     Kimpton, Diana    ThePony-Crazed Princess series – popular with girls who like to read about princesses and horses!

7.     Krulik, Nancy    The Magic Bone series – stories about dogs, for example Be Careful What You Sniff – might appeal to boys.

8.     Miles, Ellen    The Puppy Place Series 100+ pp Gr 4 should be able to read these, but they are somewhat culture bound. At least 45 books.

9.     Roy, Ron    A-Z Mysteries series: Appropriate reading level but culturally North American.

10.  Rylant, Cynthia   Henry and Mudge books, about a white boy and his dog, but I think Jamaican boys can identify with him.

11.  Silverman, Erica    Cowgirl Kate and Cocoa

12.  Wallace, Bill   The Flying Flea, Callie, and Me
Collections
1. The Usborne collection of fairy tales, folk tales, fiction, and nonfiction
2. The Kingfisher Treasuries: Many books suitable for this age group

Books for more competent readers.

1.     Applegate, Katherine: I love 2 books of hers, not least because of the poetic language. Home of the Brave written in Kek’s voice, is the story of a refugee boy from Africa, adapting to a new life in the USA. The One and Only Ivan is about a gorilla who was kept in a small cage in a shopping mall. I expect Crenshaw is equally good. 

2.     Brown, Peter     TheWild Robot – about how a robot survives in the wilderness.

3.     Dahl, Roald Charlie and the Chocolate Factory;  Giraffe, Pelly, and Me; The BFG; Fantastic Mr. Fox; and The Enormous Crocodile These timeless classics continue to be popular with children. .

4.     King-Smith, Dick  A Mouse Called Wolf, and other books are entertaining stories.

5.     McDonald, Megan    The Judy Moody and Stink series. Lots of titles about a brother and sister, sometimes on their own, other times together. 

6.     Willems, Mo     The Story of Diva and Flea

7.     Watson, Tom   The Stick Dog series – engaging stories and simple illustrations to inspire children who don’t like to draw. 

      Wallace, Bill Trapped in Death Cave

 

Class Libraries for Jamaican Schools

One of the joys of life is exploring new worlds through books. Many children in Jamaica are denied this pleasure because the only books they have are their school textbooks, which hold no particular interest for them. They don’t visit the parish library, and few schools have libraries with a qualified librarian able to assist hundreds of children in the school.

I’m therefore making a suggestion that schools have class libraries. The class teachers know their students well and can select books which they think each child would like and be capable of reading. If the class library had sufficient books, children could browse and make their own choices. Children learn to read better by reading books which interest them at their current reading level.

Then there needs to be a set time each day when the children “Drop Everything And Read” (DEAR), one of the unfulfilled objectives of ESTP (the Education System Transformation Programme).

Where can these books come from? They can be donated, parents could be asked to buy one book (a different book for each child to add to the pool) or money could be given to, or raised by the schools to purchase the books. In this and subsequent posts I’m making some suggestions for suitable books to stock class libraries. I'm starting with books for beginners. 

Little Lion at Bat by Kellie Magnus

Although an enormous number of books available, I've tried to narrow it down to a manageable number. Picture books appear to be an obvious choice, but in many of them the text  is intended for reading aloud by a proficient reader and is too complex for emergent readers. Another important consideration is that children see themselves in books from an early age. Ones featuring Jamaican children are listed in my post “Books for Young Children by Jamaican Authors”. 

There is a good selection of books from the wider Caribbean on the Anansesem website and on Amazon. For example: Coconut Mon by Linda Milstein – a counting book.

A coconut's life for me by Jonathan de la Rosa 

Five Birds on a Wire by Melanie Charlene

In addition, there are several graded readers written specifically for Caribbean children. Here are my picks:

Macmillan Caribbean: Reggae Readers (written specifically for Jamaican children.)

                                    Ready, Go  Series

A book in Macmillan Caribbean
 Ready, Go series

Language Tree Reading Scheme by Leonie Bennett

Cambridge Storybooks I wasn't able to look inside any of these titles, but they are designed for English Language Teaching, which would seem to me to be suitable for Jamaican children in Grades 1 and 2.

Ladybird books Penguin continues to publish new titles in the Ladybird imprint. Many of them are relevant to the Caribbean and are available in Jamaican bookshops.

My story in the
Stepping Stone Series

Pearson’s Stepping Stone Series is another set of readers intended for Caribbean children, but it is hard to get hold of in Jamaica.

The Ministry of Education in Jamaica used to supply schools with the 'Literacy 1-2-3" books and the Doctor Bird Readers, but no longer does so.

Usborne  is a leading UK independent publisher of children's books. They have over 2000 titles in their collection which includes fairy tales, folk tales, fiction, and nonfiction. Their website is organized so that you can choose books for a particular aged child, but not their reading level. You cannot 'see inside' the books so it is hard to gauge the reading level.

There are many books and series written for the American market, most of which have a universal appeal. I compiled the selection below, in alphabetical order of authors, from a list of books enjoyed by students at the  Center for Teaching and Learning.

1. Bridwell, Norman     The Clifford series  Each of these books is about 30 pages long. They are available on Kindle as well as paperback for US $2-4.   
2. Dean, James   Pete theCat series Each about 40 pages. Titles in the Harper Collins 'I can read series'. 

3. Krauss, Ruth    The Carrot Seed 
4. Lakin, Patricia Vroom, Zoom, Bud (Penguin Young Readers, Level 1)
5.  Lobel, Arnold    The Frog and Toad books, Mouse Tales,  and other books in Harper Collins ‘I can read books’
6.  Marshall, Edward    Four by the Shore, Three by the Sea and others. (Penguin Young Readers series.) 
7. Marshall, Edward and James    The Fox books (Penguin Young Readers series.)
8.  McMullan, Kate   Fluffy Goes toSchool (Scholastic Reader).
9. Numeroff, Laura   Jelly Bean’s BigDance  a picture book with simple text.
10.  Parish, Herman    Amelia Bedelia books The original books, by Peggy Parish, about a maid who took all instructions literally, causing her to perform incorrect actions, amuse readers with a good command of English. Jamaican students in grades 1 and 2 might not find them amusing. However, Peggy's nephew has continued the series by writing about Amelia Bedelia's childhood.  
11. Portis, Antoinette    Not a Stick, and Not a Box  - Penguin Story picture books with simple text, could be starting point for discussion or writing. 
12. Rylant, Cynthia   Henry and Mudge series, (Ready to read series) Boxed set – 6 books $12 
13. Seeger, Laura Vaccaro   First the Egg (32 pages). This is an easy read for grade 1 and is also suitable for  Basic Schools. 
14. Stevenson, James    The Castaway,  Don’t Make MeLaugh, These books don't appeal to me, but you can never tell what children will like.
15.  Willems, Mo    The Pigeon books, and the Elephant and Piggie series, 
16. Wilson, Karma    Bear's New Friend and the rest of the Bear books 34pp  These books are actually more appropriate for reading aloud in basic schools and for discussion with a teacher or parent, but the illustrations are delightful and could encourage children to read for themselves.

I hope this list will provide a starting point for those interested in buying books for class libraries or for individual children in Grades 1 & 2 in Jamaican schools.