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| HURRICANE CHARLIE Hurricanes are a feature of Caribbean experience. Every year when the hurricane season is officially declared open in June, islanders hold their breaths and sigh with relief when the season is officially over in October. This little jingle is often trotted out to remind us of the possibilities of the hurricane season. June - too soon July - stand by August - come it must September - remember October - all over Here is an extract from 'Hurricane Charlie' one of the stories in Tilly Bummie. The 'eye' of the hurricane is now passing over the island and during the period of calm people get a chance to try to protect themselves from the fury which will soon start again. ............ "As Father was about to close the door, they heard a shout. Hurrying to the door came Uncle, the man who kept the little shop down the road. "A glad fi see you light. A didn't know which way a was going!" He was followed by Mac, the boy who helped in the shop. "Lawd, Beatrice," he exclaimed when he saw her. "A glad you safe! So much water pon the road, me nearly wash way." Uncle's forehead had a gash in the middle with bloody water oozing from it. A limb from a guinep tree had split the shop in two, and he had been cut by a piece of board. "Lawd have mercy!" Mama exclaimed when she saw him. There was now almost total confusion in the drawing room. Cynthia and Lorna were helping Beatrice unwrap the baby from the wet blanket. Mama seemed flustered. Kenneth saw her hesitate and realised that she was having a small argument with her 'station in life'. But only for a moment, then she took Beatrice and the wet children into her bedroom. Soon she was back with a towel and two dry shirts for Uncle and Mac. She couldn't find anything to put on Uncle's cut except Thermogene Medicated Rub. Kenneth stared in fascination at Uncle. He knew how Thermogene could burn. How could Uncle stand that on his cut? But Uncle was too distracted at the loss of his shop and his brush with death to care what was put on the cut. Mama put on the thermogene and a weird thing happened. The flesh around the cut suddenly began to swell. Just like a balloon right before their eyes, poof it went, up and up with the gash in the middle like an eye - a red eye. Kenneth stared and stared and wondered if it would burst. |
| This is me and two of my grandchildren. I have four so far, and they are the main reasons I now write for children. It started somewhere in my adult life when I suddenly realized that I had not made the time to tell my children about my childhood experiences, nor had I passed on the traditional stories which had enlivened my childhood and fired my imagination. My mother used to tell me stories; Anansi stories, 'duppy' stories and the things that happened in her village when she was a child. So I wrote the stories in 'Tilly Bummie' to try to make up for this grave omission. I have four published collections of short stories for children - Tilly Bummy and Ramgoat Dashalong, a Chapter Book - Miss Bettina's House and Juice Box and Scandal. Please read about them. |
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| Ramgoat Dashalong is the name of a 'bush' used to make tea in Jamaica. In the title story Errol's grandmother, Ganje, makes tea with seven kinds of bushes to help them through their early morning dangerous journey in one of Kingston's inner city areas. Every morning they drink this tea with surprising results. Things go well for a time, but one morning Ganje doesn't have one of the recommended 'bushes' and makes the tea with only six of them. The result is both terrifying and amusing. The stories in this collection deal with the special divide between what we call reality and the surreal. The dividing line is sometimes obscure and so we talk of magic. Magic means different things to different people. Many traditional Caribbean stories deal with 'bad' magic- obeah and so on, and some have really devilish and frightening characters. I was interested in bringing magic into the world of the modern child who perhaps has a different definiton (or no definition ) of magic. The children in these stories are ordinary, everyday children caught up in expereinces which beg the question - what really happened? These are contemporary stories. I really enjoyed writing these magical tales.This collection won the National Literary Vic Reid Award for Children's Literature in Jamaica in 1997. Suitable for age group 8 -12 Published by LMH Publishing Co., Kingston , Jamaica |
| Extract from Ramgoat Dashalong �Ganje and Errol reached the place where the magic usually wore off. They waited a few minutes, but the strange half and half disappearance continued. They were now in serious trouble. They couldn�t go into the market, and, as more people were now walking on the streets, they couldn�t go back home. Then Errol had an idea. �If we could stop the hiccups, maybe the magic would stop,� he said. �Good idea,�Ganje answered. She was getting more and more confused. �How you stop hiccups, again?� �You frighten me an I will frighten you,� Errol volunteered. �You think I can frighten any more than how I frighten already?� Ganje asked. �Well, drink some water and stop you breath.� �All right,� she said breathlessly, between a change from top half to bottom half. �See the igloo here. You first. Drink the water quick an hold you nose.� The invisible half of Errol put the igloo to his invisible mouth and drank. He put his invisible hand to his invisible nose to help him to stop breathing. Ganje�s visible top half stared at him impatiently. Would it work? �HIC CUP!� exploded from Errol, and his top half came back into view, while his bottom half disappeared....� |
| CARIBBEAN CHILDREN'S BOOKS HAZEL D. CAMPBELL |
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| It's here!! Miss Bettina's House by Hazel D. Campbell Can animals adopt people? Who or what is a dundus? What's wrong with Miss Bettina's House? "What we need is for somebody to come live in the house and take care of us," Dog said. "What a fool-fool idea!" Donkey brayed. Fool-fool indeed. Whoever heard of animals adopting people? But, can the animals survive on their own? Will the homeless boy,Ernest, agree to live with them? And what of Curry Dan, the village rascal, who wants Miss Bettina's house for himself? A Chapter book for age range 8-10 years. Fantasy. Published by Carlong Publishers (Caribbean) Ltd. |
| Also available from Amazon.com |
| It's here!! Juice Box and Scandal by Hazel D. Campbell THREE ENTERTAINING STORIES ON THE ENVIRONMENT Juice Box and Scandal - Litter bug-Valdeen has a scary dream which teaches him a lesson Riddle Me Dis - Inner city open areas don't have to be depressing Willy's River is Dying - Can Willy and her Grade 3 friends save their river with their crazy plan? |
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| COMING SOON A GOATBOY NEVER CRIES BY HAZEL D. CAMPBELL LMH PUBLISHING CO. Jamaica |