Tales from the Caribbean

by Trish Cooke

A collection of favourite tales gathered from the many different islands of the Caribbean, one of the world's richest sources of traditional storytelling. From the very first Kingfisher to Anansi the Spider Man, these lively retellings full of humour and pathos, are beautifully retold by Trish Cooke.

The book includes endnotes with a glossary, additional information as well as ideas for activities that children can do to explore the stories further.

Genres: Folk Tales, Mythology

256 pages, Paperback

Published June 12, 2025

About the author

Trish Cooke is a British playwright, actress, television presenter, scriptwriter and children's author who might be best known for being a presenter on the children's series Playdays. She also wrote under the pseudonym Roselia John Baptiste.

Reviews

[Temi Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trish Cooke looks at traditional Caribbean tales that are told across the different islands and countries in the Caribbean. It was great to read tales (in more detail) that I had heard when I was a child. As an adult, I am now able to understand the moral of the tales that have been written. What is great is that our Year 5 school pupils are currently reading this book as their guided reading text. I read this book, ahead of the class, to ascertain an overview of the writing style and the type of tales in the book.

In addition to this, our class has been looking at the Caribbean and the Americas in Geography. I delivered a presentation on Grenada, which included: showcasing my carnival headdress to the children, bringing in spices that originate from Grenada (so they could touch and smell them), enlightening them about Spicemas carnival, the Port Louis Sailing Festival and popular traditional Caribbean dishes. This lesson provided me with the fantastic opportunity to integrate my maternal Caribbean heritage into both geography and literacy lessons.

I would definitely recommend reading this book to broaden your knowledge on folk tales of the Caribbean. You will be engrossed in the humour and moral inputs provided from a range of Caribbean folk tales.

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I may have preferred the Tales from Africa for its rich writing and broad palette of story place and space, Trish Cooke still does a wonderful job in collating a range of traditional tales from places such as: the Commonwealth of Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica and Trindad (among others). The idea of each story connected to a place, for me, brings out this sense of the pervasiveness of traditional tales and broadens children's concept of culture and space too.

The collection of stories are broad in their topics too. We have some pourquoi stories alongside fables and folktales. Some are short and others longer but, again, all able to be read or told in one sitting. What I like about Cooke's choices is that they marry well with those traditional stories. Some are gruesome, bloody and others celebrate wit and cunning. I'm a huge fan of the Anansi stories and those in here were particularly well chosen.

[Raji · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is obviously more of a YA book but I couldn’t resist.

I grew up on the Panchatantra, animal fables from India. Maybe that’s why folk tales have always appealed to me. I found this one to be a lovely introduction to Caribbean tales which are as delightful as any.

[Nasra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read to the children during our English unit but continued as our class book and they loved it. The short stories were funny but meaningful and they loved knowing which Caribbean country the story originated from.

[Emily Cannings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming soon!