106 pages • 3 hours read
Tracey BaptisteThe Jumbies
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Background
Literary Context: The Jumbies Series
Baptiste’s supernatural series for middle-grade readers includes three titles: The Jumbies (2015), Rise of the Jumbies (2017), and The Jumbie God’s Revenge (2019). The series’ first novel unfolds on an unspecified Caribbean Island, where supernatural creatures live side-by-side, in an uneasy truce, with humans and wildlife.
Corinne La Mer, the series’ protagonist, is a young part jumbie girl who plays a central role in preserving her island from supernatural wrath. The Jumbies exemplifies this when Corinne harnesses her mother’s magic and saves the island from Severine. Severine is “the mother” (166) of the island’s jumbies, and is therefore an ancient, powerful creature. She returns in the series’ third title, The Jumbie God’s Revenge, amid a deepened literary mythos and higher-level supernatural conflicts.
The series’ second installment, Rise of the Jumbies, further develops Corinne’s key role in the protection and preservation of her island, when she undertakes a deep-sea adventure to save some lost children. This arc is extended in The Jumbie God’s Revenge, in which Corinne faces down an ancient, jumbie god named Huracan to save her island. As the series progresses, Corinne fully discovers her true jumbie identity and the depth of her magical powers.
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