Nine original short stories eloquently convey contemporary Jamaican culture from the fictional perspective of children of poverty. Details express sounds, aromas and sights; the cadence of the written speech suggests authentic language. (Age 14-adult)

A collection of nine short stories about life in contemporary Jamaica, on such subjects as a young boy's desire to buy shoes for the cricket team and a girl's adventures on a coconut plantation. Nenna and her brother Man-Man sneak from shadow to tree trunk in the dead of night, concealing themselves while tracking a coconut thief. Gustas barely survives a violent hurricane, trying to save his fruit-laden banana tree. Becky begs her mother for a bicycle, and Fanso longs to know his father who walked out of his life thirteen years earlier.