Danielle Dowie

Waa Gwaan Jimi Danielle Dowie

Join the adventure for cool jungle rhymes,

lions, giraffes, and swinging tree vines.

Meet all the animals in the forest sunshine.

Waa Gwaan Jimi! it's Jungle fun time!




Jamaican boy Jimi is on an adventure in the jungle, far away from his island home. To his huge surprise, his new animal friends decide to make him feel right at home by using a delightfully familiar greeting: "Waa Gwaan Jimi!" This means "Hello!" or "What's up?" in Jimi's native Jamaican language. This familiar greeting signals a warm embrace of Jimi's Jamaican culture by his new animal friends and encourages him on his quest to explore their jungle home.



Waa Gwaan Jimi: Welcome to the Jungle is a fun story for children 3-9 years old, which encourages social awareness through celebrating different, unfamiliar cultures and environments. You will encounter a fearless and plucky boy named Jimi, thirteen jungle animals, bilingual English-Jamaican text that rhymes, and a bonus alphabet guide to the Jamaican language.

In this beautifully illustrated story, Jamaican boy Jimi goes on an adventure in the jungle for the first time, where to his surprise, the animals greet and welcome him in his native Jamaican language.



When the jungle animals welcome Jimi with a Jamaican greeting, it makes Jimi feel right at home in the jungle, and underscores for child readers how crossing the language barrier can enable us to be friends with all types of people from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds.



This book promotes tolerance towards diversity among young readers while engaging them in a fun imaginative world with jungle animals who know how to speak the Jamaican language.



Do you want your children to learn how to interact positively with people who are different?

Do you want your children to learn to speak other languages?

Do you want your children to learn about other cultures?

Do you want your children to learn how to be confident in their skin?

Do you want your children to develop better communication skills?

Do you want your children to be socially aware of the world around them?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then Waa Gwaan Jimi: Welcome to the Jungle is just the right book for you.