Jamaica

Children's Literature

The largest English-speaking country in the Caribbean, Jamaica is an island of contrasts. Its geography spans rugged coastlines and a mountainous interior. The majority of the population is black, descendants of slaves brought by the Europeans to work in the sugar and cacao plantations as well as free Africans. The rest of the population is of Chinese, Indian, and European origin. The slave-based economy of Jamaica's past created fissures in society and the economy that are not completely healed today. The economy still fluctuates with the world demand for agricultural products and natural resources, such as sugar, bananas, aluminum and bauxite. In the past decade, Jamaica has worked hard to promote tourism; about half of Jamaica's foreign income is now derived from the tourist trade. Still Jamaica remains one of the poorest nations in the Caribbean, with more than one-third of its people living below the poverty line. Its cultural heritage is rich, however, and Jamaica is the birth place of reggae music. One of eleven books in the "Discovering the Caribbean" series, this book provides chapters on the geography, history, economy, and people and culture. A calendar of Jamaican festivals is included, as are recipes, a glossary, index, additional resources, and a section on project and report ideas, which could easily be used in the classroom to augment geography studies. Box texts, photographs, and maps round out the text. 2004, Mason Crest Publishers, Ages 7 to 10.
— Valerie O. Patterson