Reviewed by Jean S. Sahai, Guadeloupe
TRINIDAD, October 20, 2005: Caribbean Indian Folktales was written by Kumar Mahabir and illustrated by Angali Dabideen and Preddie Partap. It is a collector’s item for personal pleasure and as a textbook for secondary schools. It is an interesting, authentic and useful book. It is the first and largest collection of its kind to be written in the original English dialect of the storytellers. Each tale is also accompanied by a Standard English translation which has been sensitively written so as to retain the spirit and rhythm of the original narration. The book consists of a collection of 25 stories which have been passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth from India to the Caribbean for over a century and a half. The tales were tape-recorded from tradition-bearers in Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica, St Lucia and Grenada since 1980. The book can be used as a textbook for language and literature courses in secondary schools, as resource material to learn more about the Indian culture in the Caribbean and to enhance multicultural understanding. The book includes stylized drawings and questions requiring discussion, analysis, group activities and individual work. Dr. Frank Birbalsingh, Professor of English, York University, Canada, said, “Dr. Mahabir continues his brave effort in collecting, restoring and preserving artifacts of Indo-Caribbean culture which may otherwise have disappeared.”
Available from Chakra Publishing House, US$18 (including shipping), 164 pages, website is http://www.geocities.com/chakrapub/Contact.html, (though we don’t see this book listed yet on it). E-mail: mahab@tstt.net.tt. Address: Chakra Publishing House, Swami Avenue, Don Miguel Road, San Juan, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Phone 868-675-7707. ISBN 976-95049-2-0