When asked why she chose to write children’ s books, she responded,“ Because it’ s so much fun!” Carol actually began writing children’ s books to fulfill a need she identified in the Caribbean children’ s publishing arena. Carol said,“ We need many, high quality books in which our Caribbean children can see themselves reflected in an authentic way, as valuable citizens in the world, worthy of being featured in a book. Those books need to be written and edited by Caribbean people who have the best understanding of what it is like to be from our islands. We need to tell our own stories, and we have to start by telling them to our children.”
So began her journey, and when she started writing children’ s books, Carol discovered that she enjoyed the freedom of creativity that writing for children brings, and the joy she derived from the many author’ s visits and workshops she currently facilitates.
Carol’ s books are entertaining, but they are also educational, providing glimpses into many aspects of Caribbean life and history. She explained the reason she chose that route.“ Growing up I was exposed to many wonderful Caribbean books. If you went to high school in the Caribbean you know the books I mean. I read them as a part of my school curriculum and they have helped to shape the writer I am today.” But she considered those books to be ones she would never have picked up on her own.“ Scholarly texts with complex language and themes have their place, but we also need books
that are entertaining so children are drawn to reading them even outside the classroom setting, the sort of books that foster a genuine love for reading. That’ s the niche that I would like to fill.” Carol noted when kids talk to her about her books, they focus on the characters and how they made them feel. She hears how they love Chee Chee’ s mischievousness, Kyle’ s sense of humor in the Caribbean Adventure Series, and Stein’ s loyalty in Barberry Hill.“ Don’ t get me wrong, our books are educational and include important themes about friendship, diversity, perseverance, family, love, dealing with change, and more. There’ s history and information about places and animals. I know we aren’ t fooling our young readers, they know we’ re trying to teach them something but they will give us a pass if the book is entertaining on its own.” Clever!
Every author possesses a writing- idiosyncrasy and Carol is no exception. She describes her writing process as“ Odd, perhaps a little too organic and therefore not as productive as I would like but it’ s what works best for me so I stick with it. I live with my stories in my head for long periods of time before I put pen to paper. So, if I am working on a book, as I move through my day I am almost always living with a character or a scene in my head, visualizing and getting really intimate with it so when I do put‘ pen to paper’ the words flow. Once that starts all bets are off, I can write for several hours at a time, abandoning everything else- dinner is burnt, laundry piles up, baths are less frequent … you get the picture.”
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