NCB Foundation has started off Child Month in partnership with the Book Industry Association of Jamaica (BIAJ) in an effort to position and promote Jamaican authors and create spaces for authentic, educational, cultural stories and content to be shared.

Through a collaborative and strategic approach, Jamaican authors have been highlighted.

The NCB Foundation said that, this year in particular, Child Month is an even more important time to affirm children and provide a supportive and positive environment for them to learn and grow despite the challenges of the pandemic.

“In line with this, spaces for children to still engage, still be inspired, still feel supported in exploring their imaginations and creativity, are extremely important,” the Foundation said.

“On Read Across Jamaica Day, the second execution of the ‘Kids Connect’ webinar hosted by Foundation Board member Emprezz Golding, saw over 40 children participating in an interactive online session on the book Ian Takes Flight.

Ian Takes Flight is written and illustrated by Jamaican author and artist, Richard Nattoo, published by local publishing house Bookman Express.

“Reading is an indispensable and magical life skill that we at NCB Foundation have always felt impelled to emphasise to children. Ian Takes Flight, with its beautiful, surreal, dreamlike images, was the perfect choice, setting the children’s imaginations on fire! I loved how interactive and engaged the children were as we read to them, and was impressed by how intently they listened, followed the protocol to unmute and answer, or nimbly typed in the Zoom chat to win prizes,” said Thalia Lyn, NCB Foundation chair.

“We need to keep that passion alive, develop their potential and empower them to achieve their most extraordinary dreams by instilling a love for reading. NCB Foundation’s mandate is to lead the digital transformation of education in Jamaica, and with events like this, honing the children’s skills, collaborating with partners like Richard, Emprezz Golding and Bookman Express, I am positive we will have the children reading to us instead, on a digital platform, very soon.”

COMMITTED TO ENGAGING CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE TO READ

The BIAJ has been promoting a reading and knowledge culture in Jamaica for more than 30 years.

“We are committed to engaging children and young people to read for leisure to spark their imagination, develop emotional intelligence and nurture a spirit of creative thinking and imagination. We are so grateful for the consistent support of the NCB Foundation over the past three years and look forward to our new, official partnership to create more exciting projects and programmes for Jamaican children and youth, especially those in underserved communities who need an extra layer of support at this time,” noted Latoya West-Blackwood, chair, BIAJ.

Not only is it important to develop reading culture, but it is crucial that our youth are introduced to Caribbean perspectives through relatable, authentic stories that support a balance of representation in the Literature world.

“Initiatives like Kids Connect are very important in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region, where our populations do not necessarily have a culture of sharing space with our homegrown authors, much less knowing their names and faces. It was amazing and fulfilling to see the little ones engaging with a real author, plus an editor and a publisher, who all look and sound like them and share their heritage. They may not have grasped the significance in the moment but this kind of representation will serve them very well as they grow into their full potential,” said Dutty Bookman, founder of Bookman Express and Sapling Books.