The Blessing of Charlie Sand

by Amanda Smyth, Colin Bootman (Illustrations)

Best friends Sirus and Bubba fit together like saltfish and bake. That is until Charlie Sand moves into town. All of a sudden Bubba is doing exciting things with a new friend and Sirus doesn't fit in. Can Sirus find a way to share Bubba's friendship with Charlie Sand? Set on the island of Trinidad and aimed at children aged six-ten years old, The Blessing of Charlie Sand is a heart-warming story of friendship. Praise for The Blessing of Charlie Sand "Kids will love both story and pictures in this warm tale of friendship and magic." -Olive Senior, author of Anna Carries Water and many other titles. "The Blessing of Charlie Sandwillinspire children to trust in the wisdom that comes from both beyond and within. The emotionally measuredtext and the immediacy of Bootman's understated illustrations draw the reader in." -Summer Edward, children's book editor and founder of Anansesem.

28 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2014

About the author

Amanda Smyth is Irish Trinidadian, and author of four novels, Black Rock, A Kind of Eden, Fortune and Look at You, published by Peepal Tree Press in February 2025.

Her first novel, Black Rock, won the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger, was nominated for an NAACP award, short listed for McKitterick Prize, and selected as an Oprah Winfrey Summer Read. Black Rock was chosen as one of Waterstones New Voices, and translated into several languages. Her second novel, A Kind of Eden, set in contemporary Trinidad, was published in 2013 and optioned this year (2024) as a TV series by Ringside Studios. Fortune, her third novel, was based on the tragic Dome fire in Trinidad, 1928. Fortune, was shortlisted for Walter Scott prize 2022. Look at You, her fourth novel, will be published in 2025. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in New Writing, London Magazine, The Times Literary Supplement, Harvard Review and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Amanda teaches creative writing at Arvon, Skyros, Greece.