ABSTRACT

Soon Come Home to This Island traces the representation of West Indian characters in British children's literature from 1700 to today. This book challenges traditional notions of British children's literature as mono-cultural by illuminating the contributions of colonial and postcolonial-era Black British writers. The author examines the varying depictions of West Indian islands and peoples in a wide range of picture books, novels, textbooks, and popular periodicals published over the course of more than 300 years. An excellent resource for any children's literature student or scholar, the book includes a chronological bibliography of primary source material that includes West Indian characters and twenty black-and-white illustrations that chart the changes in visual representations of West Indians over time.

chapter 1|20 pages

This Island for England

Early Depictions of the West Indies

chapter 2|19 pages

The Black Man's Lament

Enlisting Child Readers in the Fight Over Slavery

chapter 3|21 pages

A Small Corner of the Empire

The West Indies in Literature of the Victorian Era

chapter 4|28 pages

School on an Island

Geographies, School Stories, and Comics in the First Half of the Twentieth Century

chapter 5|25 pages

The Winds of Change

The West Indian Comes to Britain

chapter 7|25 pages

This Island for Me

Black British Writers

chapter |2 pages

Conclusion: The Avenging Caribbean

Black British Writers