A likkle Miss Lou : how Jamaican poet Louise Bennett Coverley found her voice / written by Nadia L. Hohn ; illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes.
Material type:
TextPublisher: Toronto, Ontario : Owlkids Books, [2019]Copyright date: ©2019Description: 1 volume (unpaged) : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 29 cmContent type: - text
- still image
- unmediated
- volume
- 9781771473507
- 1771473509
- How Jamaican poet Louise Bennett Coverley found her voice
| Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Materials specified | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Children's Book
|
Main Library | Children's Biography | Bennett, L. H719 | Available | 33111009540903 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
A Kirkus Reviewsmost anticipated picture book of fall 2019 by Nadia L. Hohn, named one of CBC's "6 Black Canadian writers to watch"
Louise Bennett Coverley, better known as Miss Lou, was an iconic poet and entertainer known for popularizing the use of patois in music and poetry internationally--helping to pave the way for artists like Harry Belafonte and Bob Marley to use patois in their work. This picture book tells the story of Miss Lou's early years, when she was a young girl growing up in Jamaica.
As a child, Miss Lou loved words--particularly the Jamaican English, or patois, that she heard all around her. As a young writer, Miss Lou felt caught between writing "lines of words like tight cornrows," as her teachers instructed, and words that beat more naturally "in time with her heart."
The uplifting and inspiring story of a girl finding her own voice, this is also a vibrant, colorful, and immersive look at an important figure in our cultural history. With rich and warm illustrations bringing the story to life, A Likkle Miss Louis a modern ode to language, girl power, diversity, and the arts.
End matter includes a glossary of Jamaican patois terms, a note about the author's #OwnVoices perspective as a Jamaican-Canadian writer, and a brief biography of Miss Lou and her connection to Canada, where she lived for 20 years.
Includes bibliographical references.
""Miss Lou" is widely credited as having helped Jamaican Patois recognized as a "nation language." Thanks to her writing and her work in TV and radio, Jamaican Patois was embraced internationally and she created spaces for poets like Mutabaruka and Linton Kwesi Johnson and singers like Bob Marley and Harry Belafonte to centralize and popularize Jamaican English, Creole, patois in their work. This picture book manuscript focuses on a young Miss Lou who is struggling to find her voice, caught as she is between writing "lines of words like tight cornrows" or writing the words that beat "in time with her heart." On one level, this is a wonderful story of an important figure in Jamaica's cultural legacy. On another level, this is a universal story of a child finding and trusting her own voice. End matter includes a brief biography of Miss Lou, covering her life and influence following this story--including the fact that Miss Lou spent the last 20 years of her life in Canada. There is also a glossary to help readers less familiar with Jamaican patois."-- Provided by publisher.