SINT MAARTEN (GREAT BAY) - The new printing of Ti Koko and Kush Kush by Patricia G. Turnbull is at Van Dorp bookstore, Simpson Bay, just in time for Literacy Month, said publisher Jacqueline Sample.
Here’s one for home, school, library, community center, babysitting, or Sunday school, said Sample. “Patricia Turnbull magically weaves this precious work for our children” about the importance of nature for our future, said Tadzio Bervoets, a leading St. Martin environmentalist.
The “brilliantly crafted story” is “about a happy little coconut tree and a friendly, wise yam and the power of friendship,” working together to save their Caribbean Island beach community, said Dr. Nicole Phillip-Dowe, UWI, Grenada.
The hardcover, color illustrated storybook, published in St. Martin by House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP), is also available at Arnia’s Bookstore, Zagersgut Road/Bush Road.
“Our children’s books, like Ti Koko, are for the joy of reading at home. And they are ‘cross-curricular resource’ titles, with richly illustrated stories set in St. Martin and other islands, perfect for our classrooms,” said HNP president Sample.
Talking about storybooks and literary texts for improving literacy and supporting the curriculum, HNP books have been busy here in September for Literacy Month. The month’s activities are inspired by International Literacy Day, observed annually on September 8.
Several St. Martin writers, government officials, and other guests have read at primary schools on the island. HNP authors have been in the mix, with performative readings to school children. Our indie press writers have read from their own books and from books by other St. Martin authors and writers from around the world.
“It was exciting to see social media posts of Faizah Tabasamu read from her poetry book Tangle to a packed assembly of attentive little ones at Asha Stevens Hillside Christian School,” said Sample.
“At MAC primary, Dr. Rhoda Arrindell read kids-accessible hurricane poems from the literary/earth science textbook Disaster Matters. She then performed selections from Lizzy Lizard’s storybook journey around the Great Salt Pond, for Teacher Elisia Lake’s class at Martin Luther King, Jr. Primary school,” said Sample.
Lizzy Lizard by Robin Boasman was also a selected book for guest reader Hon. Anna Richardson at Teacher Amanda James-Nicholas’ Grade 2 class at the MAC, said Sample.
“The writing quality, and the book design and production of these books also make for a competitive fit for classrooms anywhere that are seeking original St. Martin stories and fascinating Caribbean experiences,” said Sample.
