Jamaica Tag-Along

1986 children's book author Juanita Havill introduced readers to a young African-American girl named Jamaica in her first published picture book, Jamaica's Find. In addition to the "Jamaica" books, Havill has also authored a number of stand-alone picture books. In Jennifer, Too she introduces a tag-along seven-year-old sister, who decides to prove herself as brave and adventurous as the older boys who play with her big brother. For older children, Eyes like Willy's also prompts questions, this time with regard to the meaning of friendship as two young friends-one Austrian and one American-grow up and find themselves on the opposite sides of the battlefield in World War I. "In a sense, even before I could print, I began to write," Havill once told Something about the Author. "I dictated stories to my mother and she wrote them down for me.... When I went to school, I learned to print, then to write in cursive, and I experienced all the frustration of not being able to get the words down as fast as I thought them. I began to write down stories and ideas and poems."In high school Havill wrote for her school newspaper, contributing editorials, articles, and even poetry. "I learned how to be straightforward and factual and how to argue in print, and I loved it." Following college, she found a job as a typist, then worked as a teacher and a translator. "I traveled and married, and when my children were born, I settled down to write. When I took a course in Minneapolis taught by Emilie Buchwald, I discovered my audience: young people, and I have been writing for them ever since."Discussing her craft, Havill once explained: "I write to find out what I think, to give form to thought. That is why I have stacks of journals on my office floor. The act of writing helps me to get what is hidden out in the open so that I may examine it, study it, describe it, remember it, perhaps understand it."Juanita Havill lives in Cave Creek, Arizona.Havill, Juanita is the author of 'Jamaica Tag-Along' with ISBN 9780395549490 and ISBN 0395549493.