About The Adventures Of Jamal

As an African-American parent with three blossoming readers, I frequently find myself at the library looking for books to help stimulate my children's love of reading. Inevitably, these books will be written by Caucasian authors and will reflect their culture accordingly. This is perfectly fine, as children need to have an active understanding of the world around them. While there is no shortage of books written by African American authors that reflect this cultural point of view, those books are typically for established readers, typically ages 5 and up, or they are books that are intended for parents to read to their children. For new and developing readers, there aren't many series of books that reflect the African American experience, thus I felt the need to create The Adventures Of Jamal.

I think that series like the Bob Books and others are excellent tools for developing readers, and I hope to use a similar concept with The Adventures Of Jamal. I think it's important that children see themselves and their culture reflected in positive ways at an early age, and that's the aim of this series of e-books. Jamal is a typical kid, with two loving parents, good friends, and a pet cat. While I believe the books will certainly present an image not typically seen in books for beginning readers, I think the stories and concepts conveyed are universal and can be enjoyed by all children, regardless of their ethnicity. The goal is help them learn to read by presenting simple concepts like short and long vowel sounds, consonants, blends, long vowel sounds, and counting through a series of fun, progressively more complex stories.

I am not an educator. I'm simply a parent who knows the windows of a child's imagination that can open when they gain confidence in their ability to read. When coupled with images that mirror their culture, I think that process can be accelerated, as children naturally gravitate towards things that they find familiar.

The Adventures Of Jamal is such a medium.

Book One: Jamal Ran (A, J, D R)

Jamal
Jamal ran
Jamal ran home
Dad
Dad sat
Dad sat at home
Jamal ran to Dad
The End

Book Two: Jamal and the Cat (A, C, J, S, F)

Jamal
Cat
The Cat is fat
The Cat sat
Jamal sat
Jamal and the Cat sat
The End

Book Three: Jamal in the Car (A, O, D, J, M, C)

The car is red
Dad is in the car
Jamal is in the car
Jamal and Dad are in the car
The car goes fast
Jamal and Dad are in the car
Mom
Mom in in the car
Dad and Mom and Jamal are in the car
The End

Book Four: Jamal And Tasha (A, O, E, T, J, SM, and PL)

Tasha has a Dog
The Dog is big
Jamal has a Cat
The Cat is small The Cat and the dog play
Jamal and Tasha play
Jamal and Tasha have fun
The Dog and the Cat have fun
The End

Book Five: Jamal Is Sick (A, I, O, J, S, H)

Jamal is sick
Jamal can not go out
Jamal is sad
Mom is sad for Jamal
Mom hugs Jamal
Jamal smiles
Jamal is happy, Mom is happy
The End

Book Six: Jamal And The Ball (A, I, K, O, J, TR, Long E)

Jamal has a ball. The ball is red.
Jamal kicks the ball.
Jamal falls when he kicks the ball
. The ball is in the tree.
Dad gets the ball.
Jamal is happy.
The End

Book Seven: Jamal And The The Red Van (V, X, Z)

Dad has a van, the van is red
The box is in the van
The box is big and blue
Dad and Jamal get the box
A pet cat is in the box
Jamal is happy to have the pet bird
Dad gives Jamal a big hug
Jamal loves his pet bird
The End

Book Eight: Jamal And His 10 Friends (Counting 1-10, rhyming works)

Jamal has one ball
Dot has two pots
Chen has three pens
Pat has 4 bats
Tag has 5 bags
Star has 6 cars
Zack has 7 tracks
Jane has 8 trains
Dug has 9 bugs
Matt has 10 hats
The End