106 pages 3 hours read

Tracey Baptiste

The Jumbies (The Jumbies, #1)

Fiction | Novel | Published in 2015

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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.