‘celebrate a small island with a big heart, a place that pulsates to music, a place where, if you wait long enough, fruit will fall from a tree to feed you.’
What constitutes our memories and impressions of a place? Whatever else may play a part, the role of the senses is key, perhaps a sound, a scent, taste, a sight or a particular feeling might evoke an instant picture of a place so potent as to make one pause for thought, lost amidst the concentration of contemplation.
Frances Lincoln’s books ‘A is for Africa’, ‘B is for Brazil’, ‘C is for China’ et al, are keenly aware of this and the interplay between poetic diction and photographic recording of the sights, sounds and symbols of countries other than our own open up other lands to us…
‘J is for Jamaica’ is the most recent book which, like its predecessors, features vivacious language and vivid pictures. Performance poet, Benjamin Zephaniah, has written the text here and it positively oozes with his enthusiasm for the juicy joys of Jamaica leading through a description of the savoury and sweet Ackee fruit, up the rainbow-strewn Blue Mountain, along the waterfalls and beaches, into the heart of the market and home safe beneath the protection of a zinc roof.
As part of the key stage two geography curriculum, many children will study the Caribbean, focusing particularly on St. Lucia , ‘J is for Jamaica’ can’t fail to augment their learning and to bring to life the one love of Jamaica.
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