Patois Tales is a heartwarming and exciting book that evokes excitement from children and nostalgia from adults. Using stories that exude the rich culture of Jamaica, Marsha Wade has managed to create a book of humorous stories each of which contain a valuable moral. Weaved into the book are a set of worksheets which tests the readers' literary and comprehension skills while prompting them to explore their own creativity. Utilizing authentic Jamaican patois (complete with a glossary for non speakers), this book is one that unashamedly displays the culture of Jamaica in a way that is engaging, enjoyable and educational. **A new bar has been set for Jamaican children's stories told the Jamaican way.**

Underpinned by common Jamaican themes, A Jamaican Storyteller's Tale is the story of a young man intent on saving an aspect of his heritage that is dying - storytelling. Heavily influenced by his father's skill at relating these stories, he comes face to face with the possibility of losing his heritage when his family migrates. Lorrimer Burford merges traditional Jamaican tales with the story of this young man to create a unique synthesis.

Tales of Jamaican Mongrel is about a tar black mongrel called Blackie. Amongst the issues of mistreatment of the dogs by the residents of the Common Vill innercity community; Blackie has to deal with the death of his entire family and becoming an alpha dog. On his quest for revenge Blackie soon come to learn some harsh lessons. This book celebrates self worth and advocates that animals should be taken care of no matter their breed. It also speaks of adolescence lessons of self awareness and maturity. So come and be thrilled, angered, frightened, experience a gamut of emotions as you read about the Tales of a Jamaican Mongrel. Punchy and entertaining in all its part, young adolescence will love to read this book. This book also include a jamaican patois glossary so as you read along you see how patois is used in context.

Patois, patwah, patwa or whichever other way it is spelt, is a dialect, a mixture of a least four different languages, mainly English, French, Spanish and Dutch. It is the(de facto) national language of Jamaica, sometimes referred to as Jamaican English. Most of the words are not pure from any of these languages, but they are easily understood particularly by people and/or their descendants of Caribbean islands. Patwa originated in the early days of slavery in the region and served as the principal way of communication between the slaves. This communication was very essential as the islands had many small plantations, and the slaves were from different parts of Africa with multiple tribal languages. However, even before the Africans were brought to the islands, there were English, Irish, Spanish and Dutch slaves who became slave-drivers of the Africans and taught them enough of their respective languages to enable some form of communication.

The Caribbean islands have a vibrant oral folklore. In Jamaica, the clever spider Anansi, who outsmarts stronger animals, is a symbol of triumph by the weak over the powerful. The fables of the foolish Juan Bobo, who tries to bring milk home in a burlap bag, illustrate facets of traditional Puerto Rican life. Conflict over status, identity and power is a recurring theme--in a story from Trinidad, a young bull, raised by his mother in secret, challenges his tyrannical father who has killed all the other males in the herd. One in a series of folklore reference guides by the author, this volume shares summaries of 438 tales--some in danger of disappearing--retold in English and Creole from West African, European, and slave indigenous cultures in 24 countries and territories. Tales are grouped in themed sections with a detailed subject index and extensive links to online sources.