Jean Constance D'Costa (born 13 January 1937)[1] is a Jamaican children's novelist, linguist, and professor emeritus.
[1] She researched and wrote extensively on Jamaican creole culture.,[2] and published handbooks for service agencies in Jamaica, including the Kingston office of the United States Peace Corps.
[2] Writing for children on the cusp of teenhood, D'Costa addresses "their need to relate to actuality ... and their need to retain some of the comforting illusions of childhood".
Prominent in Caribbean folklore are "duppy stories", in which ghosts or unsettled spirits return to haunt the land of the living.
[3] Her use of language, together with her understanding that her works are models for children's own literary attempts, makes her books natural subjects for classroom discussion.
[1] Sprat Morrison has been required reading in the "first grade" of Jamaican high schools since 1972, while Escape to Last Man Peak and Voice in the Wind are assigned by many teachers.