I have loved books and stories for as long as I can remember. One of the memories that recently resurfaced for me from my childhood in Jamaica was the first time we visited the local library.
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The biggest bookworm
I learned to read at age 4. My mom always said that she taught me to read so that I would have something to do other than talk to her and ask her questions nonstop!
Whatever the reason was, I was an avid reader before I got to kindergarten. I read everything that I could see: cereal boxes, billboards, my parents’ open bills on the counter… not on purpose, I just read so fast that I saw things before realizing they should be private.
I remember being frustrated because my kindergarten teacher was patiently sounding out “Caps for Sale” with the class. Meanwhile, I had already finished the entire page and wanted to know what was next!
Getting my library card
When I was 5, my mom took me to the Hill Avenue library to get my very first library card. It was such an exciting moment! I loved libraries as a little girl because there were so many books to read and borrow for free.
I promised the librarian to take good care of my library card and always be careful with the books I took home. NO bending pages, ever!
Books were a joy and delight to me. I could fill my mind with stories and escape everyday reality to a world of unicorns, ogres, princesses in disguise, friends, and learning.
I’m sure I don’t need to tell any millennials how much I adored the BookIt! Pizza Hut program, or the annual Scholastic Book Fair! Only my parents’ limited financial resources kept me from coming home with armloads of new books.
Moving to Jamaica
At ten years old, my parents announced to us children that we were considering moving to Jamaica to become missionaries. It was summertime 1992, and as Dad took care of travel plans for the trip, Mom trucked us four children to our local library.
She helped us find books about Jamaica – all two of them! The only thing I remember learning from those books was that sports were important in Jamaica, especially soccer (which was called “football”) and cricket. At least the books were correct about that, LOL!
Nothing to read
We moved to Jamaica in October and began settling into our new life. After getting uniforms and starting school locally, we began to adjust to the new routines. I soon found myself with nothing to do in the afternoons.
My small library of books was in the shipping crate that had not yet arrived from the United States. I quickly read through the few child-appropriate books that were at the camp manager’s home (our new residence) – read them multiple times, in fact!
Mom was busy learning the organizational procedures at camp, and had little time. However, after several weeks, she finally set aside a day for us to visit our Southfield library (about 2 miles from the campground).
The Southfield Library
I was super excited to finally visit the library! It was near the edge of our tiny town. I say “town”, but Southfield consisted mainly of a gas station, bank, grocery store, bakery, post office, feed store, hardware store and haberdashery.
(The video below shows the town of Southfield in 2020. At the 10 minute mark, you can see the original buildings that existed when I lived in Jamaica from 1992-2000. The Southfield Library was located behind what is now the Southfield bus stop, the purple and yellow structure you can see around 10:40.)
YouTube video drive through of Southfield, St. Elizabeth, Jamaica
https://youtu.be/UoKSgNRVY4s?si=dHs-Gk5y2OZRVRWv
As I walked in for the first time, my heart sank. It was a plain room with bookshelves around, not much larger than my school classroom.
There were no colorful posters, and no pictures, only a map or two. The collection was mostly books with white covers and plain black print on the spines.
Looking for a book to read
Mom asked the librarian where we could find the children’s section, and she pointed it out. I saw a few dozen children’s books of the primer variety, but no picture books.
The teen books were mostly inexpensive paperback teen romances, and a few old, hardcover Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. I kept looking around to see what else was available.
I found lots of Caribbean history books and local adult fiction novels. The titles included “The White Witch of Rose Hall”, “A Brighter Sun,” and other works that I had never heard of before.
I also saw a few encyclopedias that were at least twenty years old.
Nothing is free
After extensive searching, I found a few books to borrow and we went to the front desk. All of us were astonished to discover that we had to pay a rental fee for the books, and we could only keep them for a week!
In California, our library only charged fees for late books, and we could keep them for three full weeks. Thankfully I was a quick reader, but I was truly flabbergasted by the difference.
I tore through the new books within hours, and reread them several times before we returned them to the library. We went back to the Southfield library a few times after that, but quickly stopped visiting because of the lack of interesting reading material.
Another solution to the reading problem
My parents recognized that the lack of good reading material was a problem for me. The nearest major town was Mandeville, an hour away, but it offered more shopping variety.
Mom discovered that a Mandeville shop sold new Nancy Drew hardcovers for a reasonable price. My parents bought me one whenever they could.
However, even that was disappointing, because I read so fast that I could finish a Nancy Drew book in a couple hours. Then I was immediately on the lookout for something new to read.
This frustrated my mom no end, because she couldn’t source me enough new material to keep me out of her hair. With only one television channel available to watch, and that rarely showing child-friendly content, Mom was stumped.
Christian literature and romance novels
Thankfully another solution presented itself before long: the Ocean View Bible Camp bookstore.
Much of the bookstore material was doctrine books, hymnals and calendars. The camp bookstore was the only source of Plymouth Brethren literature available in Jamaica, and was run at a financial loss as an additional ministry of the camp.
A couple of years after we arrived in Jamaica, my mom started sourcing more modern Christian literature from ChristianBook.com. This included lots of Janette Oke Christian historical romance, Gilbert Morris’ American history fiction books, and more.
Mom permitted me to read anything I was interested in, as long as I was careful not to damage the books. I read through them so quickly that they were usually returned less than 24 hours later!
This had the unfortunate side effect of me consuming a great deal of romance literature, as well as Christian teen purity culture books. These books shaped my thinking about romance, sex and intimacy more than any influence from my parents.
The school “libraries”
The other source of books was at my schools. Munro Prep School had a small library, and occasionally I had the chance to read some of the books there. But the most frequent source of new reading material was other students.
Whenever another student had any sort of book or magazine, it was passed around from student to student while each one read it.
Cultural differences
In Jamaica, it is expected that you will loan and share any possessions you have that a friend needs. I was viewed as a “rich American” by everyone else, so the expectation for me to share my things was even higher.
Most of the books being passed around were Sweet Valley High books, or the Babysitters Club books. I had a decent collection of the latter and I reread them often.
As an enterprising young person, I soon recognized a business opportunity. I could charge a small fee to loan out my books to my classmates, then buy new books with the profits. It seemed like the perfect solution for me to get more books!
However I soon discovered the hole in my thinking. When one of my classmates paid to borrow a book, they would read it themselves, then other students would borrow it from them to read it. So I would get paid once, but everyone would read it for that single fee!
I quickly learned not to bring any of my own books to school to read, because they would disappear as soon as I loaned them out.
Problematic materials
The Sweet Valley High books were not Mom-approved because they were full of racy teen romance and drama. Teens sometimes slept together without being married, murdered other teens, and got involve in drug issues.
These books gave me a glimpse of (what I thought was) a typical American high school experience. While I was often uncomfortable, and felt guilty reading the books, they fascinated me with stories of how my American counterparts lived.
The official Hampton School library
Finally, when I was in 4th form (10th grade), Hampton hired a new school librarian and the school library was reopened after a long closure. We had previously had library science classes in 1st form, where we learned the Dewey Decimal system and how to properly break in a book.
As a senior student I was allowed to access the library in my free hours and study in there. I often finished my work early, so I would sit in the library and read whatever I could find that interested me.
That’s how I was first exposed to The Hobbit, Animal Farm, and many Shakespeare plays. My English literature courses also piqued my interest in new kinds of books, and I began to truly appreciate the local Caribbean authors.
Why were books so scarce?
After living in Jamaica for a few years, I finally understood why books and libraries were relatively scarce. The two main factors are hurricanes, and shipping.
Books were one of the biggest casualties of hurricanes. I found this out as I was looking at our beat-up hymnals one day.
Our local church had a library of secondhand printed hymnals that had duct-taped spines. When I asked my mom about them, I learned that had been donated from an American church after the previous supply was destroyed in Hurricane Gilbert.
Of course, anything that arrives in Jamaica must be shipped. That also means it takes a long time to replace things that are destroyed in a hurricane, especially books.
Still a book lover
Despite the challenges of finding reading material, I never lost my voracious appetite for books. Even now, there are few things I enjoy more than an excellently written story, and we have an extensive home library.
My years in Jamaica taught me just how valuable books are, and gave me a profound appreciation for the blessings of the American library system.
More of Jenn’s “Fishbowl Tales from Jamaica”
- Taking Jamaica’s Common Entrance Exam
- The most Irie Jamaican Christmas ever!
- Red Ant Invasion!
- When in Cottage, Look out for Ghosts!
©️ Copyright Jennifer D. Warren, 2025.
