Extra Reading Diary: Jamaican Stories

For the extra reading diary this week, I decided to read the first half of the Jamaican Stories unit. I chose this unit because it seemed interesting and I had never heard of any Jamaican stories like this before.  The first story I read, Tying Tiger was extremely different from the other stories I've read in other units because it was written the way that a Jamaican would talk so it was kind of difficult to understand at times.  It took me a while longer to read these stories just because I wasn't used to the way the words were written.  I particularly liked the first story of the Tying Tiger because Tigers are one of my favorite big cats and also mangoes are one of my favorite fruits so it was like this story was made for me. 

I also really liked the Eggs and Scorpions and The Christening stories.  Again, it was sometimes difficult to follow but I think it’s cool that the stories are written this way.  For this unit in particular, the text at the beginning of the stories was extremely helpful in understanding what was going on and also what certain words meant like gub-gub peas meaning peanuts.  So it was helpful to have that before the stories so I could follow along better. 

Overall, I liked these stories but wished they were a little bit longer.  They were only about 400 words or so each and I’d like to read a longer Jamaican story.  

Tiger and Mango Tree