I feel that the Caribbean is an overlooked culture in the classroom. I took a course on consuming Caribbean literature and was overwhelmed by the amount of information I had never encountered until this college course. The text that I read in this course were not exactly middle school appropriate in language or content; however, I fell that by starting out small with a text like The Jolly Mon, I may be able to spark an interest in students to learn more about the Caribbean history and culture.
Summary Courtesy of http://www.epinions.com/review/The_Jolly_Mon_by_Jimmy_Buffett_and_by_Savannah_Buffett_and_illustrated_by_Lambert_Davis_and_by_Savannah_Jane_Buffett/content_137721777796
The story is about a man who lives on an island and plays his magical guitar to woo fish up onto shore. The man is a very jolly and carefree fellow who is always friendly and helpful to everyone he meets. He is liked by all of the island people. Jolly Mon ends up travelling all around the Caribbean, singing his beautiful songs to all of the island people everywhere. Somewhere along his travels he gets attacked by pirates, who take his ship. He gets rescued by a dolphin, who takes him up into the sky. Now all of the island people everywhere look to the sky to find their way by the Jolly Mon.
Buffet, Jimmy and Savannah Jane Buffett. (1988). The Jolly Mon. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 29 pp. ISBN: 0-15-240530-5.
