Wyetta is a little girl who was born in St. Lucia and lived there until she was ten years old. She then moved to the United States, as many families did back in those days. The first set of stories is based on some of the common experiences St. Lucian children have, as reflected in the adventures of Wyetta. The stories also relate many of the unusual experiences that this inquisitive, honest, impulsive, bothersome, annafè, little girl had in St. Lucia. I believe each child will find a little bit of him or herself in Wyetta. Wyetta at The Sulhur Springs is the first of this series of stories. It captures her first visit to one of St. Lucia's famous natural wonders. The story places the reader in the vantage point of this sincere child, whose thoughts, questions, and mishaps reveal the unvarnished excitements, disappointments, and triumphs of childhood in the Caribbean Islands. There are many elements and layers to Wyetta and her St. Lucian family. Her stories will generate nostalgia, discussions and debates, lessons for life, appreciation for the beauty of island life and culture, and hopefully, a love for reading in children.The author also hopes that parents and grandparents of Caribbean children in the diaspora will use these books to help their children and grandchildren connect or reconnect with the things of interest and value in their Caribbean cultures.
About the Author: Claudette Ubekha Charles was born in St. Lucia, lived there in her early years, then moved to Brooklyn with her family. She has been a teacher for the past eighteen years with a deep interest in reading and literacy. Ms. Charles has a huge sense of adventure, has traveled the world, and taught in several countries. She has a keen interest in local cultures and in literature that reflects those cultures, especially children's literature. She believes that the world of literature should be open to all children, and that writings and stories that reflect local cultures and experiences generate more interest in reading, leading to greater access to the wider world of books. The Wyetta project is her first contribution to the literature of her own island culture. It was inspired when she had difficulty finding children's books for her own two children, that reflect her own cultural background. She decided then that her time and resources would be well spent developing such books. She used her own experiences, and those of others, to create a series of child's-eye-view stories of growing up in St. Lucia.Ms. Charles, or Bekha, as she is better known, now works as a clinical reading specialist and teacher trainer, in the islands of the Eastern Caribbean. She provides services to children, parents, and teachers, in her quest to improve teaching and learning in the area of literacy.