Sonja Dumas' Avocado and Zaboca now a book

The appeal of Sonja Dumas’ children’s story Avocado and Zaboca has taken it through several incarnations including an audio recording, a short film, a theatrical production, and now, a book.

The writer, dancer, educator, choreographer, filmmaker, and curator of Zum-Zum children’s museum in Belmont wrote the children’s story many years ago to teach children the alphabet, conflict resolution and tolerance.

“Through these two characters, Avocado and Zaboca, they come to an understanding about how much they have in common as opposed to how much they think they are different,” Dumas told WMN.

The story was first an audio track on her children’s story album Once Upon a Caribbean Time. It had 12 tracks of original stories she wrote, narrated by her and veteran actor Albert Laveau.

“What I found were that my stories, the actual recorded ones that were in CD form, were most popular in the diaspora because people have children and grandchildren and nieces and nephews that they want to have understand something more about the Caribbean culture from which their family came. It's actually available through streaming now. So you can get those stories on iTunes and Spotify and those types of platforms.”

Also, she said, when Trinidad Theatre Workshop was located in Belmont, her dance company, Continuum Dance Project, produced a story time in which some of the children in the audience were able to participate in theatrical performances of several of her stories, including Avocado and Zaboca.

Many years later, she got funding from the Film Company of Trinidad and Tobago to do one of her audiobooks in film form. In 2014 she release Avocado and Zaboca, a short film combining stop motion and live action.

She had nothing but praise for the team of very enthusiastic young people who worked on the film and helped her make a set comprising paper plates and cups, old earrings and other items people tend to discard.

“That is something that I always try to instil in the children, that you can reuse things and be creative. And that's what Zum-Zum tries to do as well. It tries to show them that you can take something that is supposedly discarded and make beauty out of it.”

Dumas told WMN she decided to turn the story into a book because educator Dr Patricia Dardaine-Ragguet and others encouraged her to do so as well as to write more stories because “we need more local stories for children in book form so they could go into schools and libraries.”

In addition, before the pandemic, she read some of her stories to the children at Zum-Zum for story time and they kept asking where they could buy the book.

So she started with Avocado and Zaboca which is geared towards children ages four to eight.

“Because we haven't been getting a lot of income I had to be very strategic about which ones I put out first. And because we had pictures of the stop motion version of the set, we used that. I didn't have to pay anybody to do that and I didn't have to create new characters.”

She praised the book’s graphic artist Tricia Duhkie who came up with a layout Dumas loved, based on stills from the film and photos of the set taken during production.

“It's also because when I say avocado and zaboca people do a double take. ‘Isn't that the same thing?’ And I'm like, ‘Yeah, so come and read the book and find out what is in the story.’ So it's something that prods people into thinking, ‘What does she mean?

“For the younger ones, it's interesting because, a lot of the time, the word zaboca isn't used anymore so it would read differently to them. But they would then learn what the word zaboca is so that, even if they're not using it in their day-to-day lingo, they will now know that's an alternative, not only in TT but also in other islands of the Caribbean.”

There was also a mini glossary in the back explaining a few words.

She printed 100 books for the initial run but, she said, if it sold well, she will print more.

“And the reaction! I only launched it on Friday (June 30) on Facebook and already I've gotten several calls and orders for the book. So that's to tell you that we really do need those types of learning and entertainment materials for our children.”

Since there were 11 other stories from Once Upon a Caribbean Time and 12 more new stories she has yet to publish, she hoped to do one or two more children’s book this year, tentatively Dan The Crab and the Dumpling Ghost, and Indra The Caterpillar, depending on funding.

In addition, she planned to have more story time sessions at Zum-Zum later this month and already invited several people to read their own stories or that of her and others. She also hopes to do another interactive theatre production of her stories later this year.

“I love the whole process of creating, and then sharing it with the children and then letting them reinterpret it.”

Avocado and Zaboca is Available at Paper Based Bookshop, St Ann’s, and at Zum-Zum in Belmont. She will also be at the JAVA Market and Fun Fair at the Lion’s Cultural Centre, Woodbrook, on July 9 from 9 am – 5 pm, selling the books and arranging activities for the children.