Jamar J Perry
About Author
Jamar J Perry's new series begins with Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms, an adventure-packed fantasy that draws on the history of the slave trade and the mythology of West Africa.
Before becoming an author, Jamar J. Perry was previously a teacher and started writing for children so that Black boys, like his students and the boy he once was, can see themselves in literature as the heroes of their own stories and understand how magical and joyful they really are.
He lives in Maryland, USA, and has a PhD in Literacy Education, Language, Culture and Social Inquiry from the University of Maryland.
Interview
Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms (Bloomsbury Children's Books)
March 2022
In this blockbuster fantasy adventure, we follow Cameron Battle to a hidden kingdom in West Africa where gods and magical creatures rub shoulders with ancient myths and new dangers for Cameron and his friends. Author Jamar J Perry, ReadingZone's Debut Author of the Month, tells us more!
Q&A with Jamar J Perry:
1. What kinds of books did you read as a child, and why did you want to write your own book for children?
I was a lonely child, so I read any and everything I could get my hands on! I remember going to the library at lunch and at recess (I was athleticism-adverse) to pick out a book to read - my goal was to read at least a book a day. I also used to go back to my classes and read, taking out my library books whenever I could catch a break from the teacher. My favourite books were always the ones that took me to another place, took me out of my norm. I wanted to escape into new worlds, because my own world was so precarious and harmful at times.
It was books like the Narnia series, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and the Pendragon adventure series that inspired me to write my own books for children, but centring Black boys and Black queer boys. It was those books that either captured an entire period that I could be swept away in, or created worlds that I wanted to live in. I wanted to put kids like me at the forefront of these worlds, creating adventures for them where they could become heroes, so it was with that mindset that I began crafting my own stories for children.
2. What other kinds of work do you do, and how has this helped you as a writer?
I used to be a teacher, and most of my work was done in the middle school classroom. Middle school is such a challenging time for most children, so I was glad to be there, shepherding students to high school, but now I teach and train upcoming teachers for the classroom.
This work has allowed me to craft middle school main characters, because my entire career has been built around them. I love how they can be funny, while having a serious side when they realize that they are going to high school soon. I also love how they are opening up to becoming fully fledged human beings - people who have a myriad of emotions, and I love helping children understand those emotions. It is that background that I bring to writing middle grade work for children.
3. Can you tell us about your new book, Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms?
Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms is a fantasy novel about Cameron Battle, a Black boy who finds a magical book in his grandmother's attic, a book that his parents used to have, a book that has been passed down through the generations of his family. He remembers the stories his parents used to tell him when he was younger, before they disappeared. When he reads from the book with his best friends, Aliyah and Zion, he is literally sucked inside the book and goes to Chidani, the hidden West African country of his ancestors.
While there, he learns that he is the Descendant of the Book, a position his mother held, who is destined to save the people from an evil that has been lurking in the kingdom for centuries. Through his adventures in Chidani, Cameron and his friends learn how to use magic, ride gryphons, and become the heroes that his parents wanted them to be.
4. What sparked the idea for the story - and did you enjoy writing it?
I absolutely LOVED writing this story! The biggest inspiration for this story was my own childhood and the Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale.
Cameron is much like how I was as a child - lonely, a bit depressed, yearning for the love of his parents in ways that he cannot explain, but finding home in his grandmother and her food. Once I had the character, I had to decide where I wanted to set the fantasy world in. After researching my own ancestry, I decided to put Cameron and his friends in a hidden West African country, to explore how Black Americans have a breadth of historical wealth, while having to take pains to learn who they are.
It was good to explore the fantasy country, Igbo mythology, and Cameron's positioning, but it was also a hard thing to do because not only was I learning so much about my background, but I was also putting a lot of myself into Cameron's character. It was an exercise in coming to terms with my lonely childhood, while creating characters that were extensions of myself who could come and help Cameron in his time of need. I hope that all children get to see how important Cameron and his emotions are to the arc of the story.
5. Why did you decide to set much of the action in this fantasy land, Chidani, and to revisit the devastation of the slave trade?
I decided to set the story - well, most of the story - in a fantasy land, because I wanted my main character to go on the kinds of adventures I wanted to go on when I was child. Cameron gets to do just that, riding gryphons, learning how to fight, learning how to use magic, and getting to know the citizens of the country, exploring how magic has sustained and saved them.
I chose to revisit the devastation of the slave trade because there was no way I couldn't. There's a lot of discussion surrounding how Black authors and Black readers should be able to experience books with joy instead of suffering. But I am of the opinion that you cannot have one without the other - you cannot be happy without first knowing what sadness is; you cannot know what triumph is, unless you truly know what it means to struggle; and, you're not a courageous hero, unless you have had moments where you just wanted to give up.
It is through the struggle that our lives become earned, that there is a way for us to use memory as resilience. So I didn't have to research the slave trade as much because I am a Black male, living in a country that my ancestors were forced to be in. I grew up around it, because the legacies of slavery are still present today, seeping through everything. And the same goes for Cameron - he knows so much about the brutal history of his world that he comes to have familial feelings for the magical country he goes to, although they closed their borders because of slavery.
6. Is Chidani based on any traditional stories you knew? How did you build this world?
Chidani is based on Black people's knowledge and history of the slave trade, the hidden country of Wakanda from the Marvel Comics, and the stories of Octavia Butler, particularly her novel, Kindred.
In building the world, I wanted to create a country that knew the chains and whips and the forced relocation of slavery and tried to do something about it. They chose to call on the gods of their culture to protect them, and they answered. But there was a bargain that needed to be struck between the gods and the humans, that allowed magic and magical creatures to enter the world. I built the world not only around fantasy stories that I loved growing up, but also around my own historical positioning in the world.
After I created the world, it was important to craft a character that would correspond with that world in myriad ways that made him human - enter Cameron Battle, a Black boy that has so much heart but has his frustrations as well. As this was my debut novel, it was hard to get all of these elements under one 'roof', but I loved it because it forced me to research history, know my own history, while sifting through that history through the eyes of a 12-year-old child. I hope readers love it!
7. You write about Igbo gods in the novel; how faithful to the traditional gods / stories are you?
The one thing I love about myths and mythology is that they are not static; they are dynamic representations of the ideas humans have placed upon the world. What I mean by that is that mythology is how humans work out the origins of the things they see: the sun, thunderstorms, fear, hunger, love, marriage, children, the oceans, etc. They are stories that tell us how things came to be and how ideas we have about others originated.
In this sense, when planning this story, I wanted to keep the core of the gods the same, but then changing them to fit the story's need as much as possible. For example, a lot of gods I used in the first draft were traditionally male, so I added some who had female representations as well to keep it balanced. But also, there was an understanding that the gods of any pantheon are undoubtedly queer, existing in any way they choose to, and they often change genders, shape, and sexuality in numerous stories.
The children get to meet a few of these gods; do you have any favourites?
I think my favorite god in Book 1 is Agwu, the trickster god! He was such a joy to write because I could play around with him being a trickster and also a god of divination. In a number of ways, he is a powerful god, but he comes to understand that there are more people - including humans - who are more powerful than he could ever be, which is why he becomes so bitter in the novel. We get to see Cameron come in close contact with him and so much happens between them! I don't want to talk about the sequel as much, but more gods get to appear and they…are interesting characters, I'll just say that.
8. How important was it to have three black main characters, and for your lead character Cameron to see himself as a hero?
It was the biggest requirement for this book, that this novel is about and for Black children and Black queer children. Someone read a draft of this novel and said, "I wish it were more diverse, in that I wish there were more white characters," but the novel is very internal in that it focuses on three Black characters in a Black fantasy world before and during white, European contact. I wanted to show Black readers that we had a history before and during contact and that our traditions never left us.
Cameron is in an enviable position because his parents have been talking about his Igbo heritage since he was a child, and so he knows a bit more than other Black children. I wanted to show Black readers that they can take that extra step and start researching their lost heritage like Cameron does. We came from somewhere, and that knowledge has power, and Cameron becomes a hero because he knows his history. I want all Black children to research as well!
Too many times Black children are asked to look in windows in other people's world, but I wanted this novel to be a mirror for them.
9. Cameron is also shown as a hero who isn't afraid to cry; do you feel stories for children can help address the culture of toxic masculinity?
Such a good question! I literally wanted to show Cameron crying because I wanted to address toxic masculinity, specifically in the Black community. So often - and especially when I was a child - I was getting these misguided messages of Black masculinity, that a Black man was supposed to value sports, physical aggression, become prone to violence, and that he should not cry. I internalized all of these messages instead of focusing on the positives of Black traditional masculinity - taking care of family, offering a space for children to be children, etc. A lot of toxic masculinity and traditional Black masculinity has roots in white supremacy and slavery - as many studies have shown how African masculinity pre-contact was more communal, etc.
I wanted to touch on masculinity, specifically Black masculinity, through the eyes of Cameron and his friends. Not only does Cameron cry a lot, but he is encouraged to do so by a number of characters in the books. And Zion, his best friend, has no qualms with masculinity either because he loves Cameron in various ways and they have no problems sharing a bed, sharing meals, training together, and loving each other. They become much more to each other throughout the book, and Aliyah picks up on that. Through Cameron and Zion, I wanted to show Black boys that there is nothing wrong with showing love and care for your Black boy best friend. I hope that this deconstruction of masculinity comes through!
10. Friendship is a large part of this novel, particularly between Cameron and his friend Zion. Do you feel strong friendships between boys are overlooked in children's books?
Absolutely, I do! Especially in American book culture. There are so many convoluted messages surrounding masculinity and boy culture and it permeates everything, from television, to movies, to books. We are getting a bit better about it, but we have a long way to go to address Black boys having strong friendships with each other in media, and how showing that it is okay.
I think Black boys specifically get lost in literature at EVERY turn, becoming sidekicks to white main characters. And in some books featuring Black boys as the main character, there are no other Black boys present in the narrative in significant ways. I wanted to show that Cameron is not the "only Black boy to exist," by adding Zion and then adding strong, positive Black male figures in their lives in the form of Bakari and Makai. I want Black boys and men to have representation throughout the book and I hope I achieved that.
11. Do you have a favourite line or two from the story?
"Your mother's power is yours. You will save our people." A goddess tells Cameron this and it is such a strong representation of what I wanted to convey in the novel. A young Black boy learns that his mother was the most powerful human being in the world, and now he's coming right behind her to take her place.
12. Other than an exciting read, what do you hope your readers will take from Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms?
I hope they come to know Cameron Battle as a boy with emotions, as someone who doesn't become a hero right away. Too many times, we see our heroes becoming heroes and they never stumble along the way. Cameron Battle does stumble, as he is not only in a new place he's never been, but he is also dealing with the grief of losing his parents.
I think a grief like that would be all encompassing, to the point of making anyone want to give up, especially losing parents at such a young age. Cameron Battle is a fully realized human being, I think, and I hope that readers see him as a layered person, someone who needs to show his emotions to prove that he is fully human. I hope they connect to him because he is them in a lot of ways. No one is perfect.
13. What's next for Cameron and his friends, and how many books are you planning in the series?
I just finished the first draft of Cameron Battle Book 2, which doesn't really have a title yet. In Book 2, we see Cameron, Aliyah, and Zion having to make decisions outside of what they initially planned. We also see Zion and Aliyah take more of a leading role in the sequel, coming into their own, no longer in the shadow of Cameron. While they still help him on his path, they become something altogether different, which I love so much.
If you read Book 1 closely, you'll see all of the little nuggets I left in there that connect seamlessly into Book 2. We also see more of the gods, as Cameron has unleashed something in the world that hasn't been seen in centuries. Will they be helpful gods? Or will they play games? Are they dangerous? These are some things I explore in Book 2, along with Cameron, Aliyah, and Zion making their own decisions without the help of the adults, as in the first book.
I actually just got done talking with my publisher and while the book was sold as a duology, there is always room for a third book, depending on how well the first book does. I just got done writing the second book, and it does end nicely. But Chidani is a huge country, full of fantastical creatures and places. Why not explore that more if readers really love it?
Cameron Battle and the Hidden Kingdoms
