Author: Caroline Brewer

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D.C. Author Launches Musical Children’s Novel

D.C. Author Launches Musical Children’s Novel

Darius Daniels: Game On! promotes literacy through music and poetry

For Immediate Release – Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Washington, D.C. – Veteran Children’s Author and Literacy Activist Caroline Brewer will launch a musical children’s novel on Friday, November 1 at www.carolinebrewerbooks.com. Free downloads with activities, games, and chances to win free books will be featured. Book “tasting” parties are scheduled later this month and year. Ms. Brewer is open to media appearances and interviews that will showcase the musical, poetic, and instructional elements of the book.

Darius Daniels: Game On! is a 35,000-word middle grade adventure novel about an 11-year-old boy, a video game, and a great and scary adventure the boy cannot escape – until he hurts somebody. Travel to the game world Washington, D.C. is part of the game. The book also represents a new genre, the rhythmic novel, where the plot pulses with musical rhythms and songs.

“Based on national assessments, for more than 30 years, about two-thirds of American children have entered and exited school reading below grade level. This book was written to Change the Game for them. Every child I have ever met is hungry to learn to read, eager to improve as a reader, and ready to devour more books. This book will feed their appetites,” said Brewer, a D.C.-based author who has given reading and education presentations to more than 25,000 teachers, children, parents, and librarians across the U.S and in Ghana.

Darius Daniels: Game On! is a Wizard of Oz-like virtual urban fantasy sprinkled with rhythm, rhyme, rap, riddles, and more than 10 forms of poetry (which research and experience show accelerate reading progress and deepen engagement). It comes in a 256-page Complete Volume edition or as three individual books (Book 1, Book 2, and Book 3 for children who want to read the story in smaller chunks). Available at bookstores everywhere now!

Caroline Brewer is the author now of 12 books, editor of five books written by students, a former teacher, and wildly successful reading coach of children. She’s coached hundreds of children, personally and professionally, to bridge the literacy gap by as many as nine grade levels. She lives in Washington D.C. Click bar above to hear our featured demo of the rap WOKE, contact Caroline for excerpts from the book, a copy of the book, or additional information.

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Let’s Hear it from the Boys about Darius Daniels: Game On!

I walked into a room of five boys and five men yesterday afternoon, more than exhausted from two weeks of working around the clock to finish edits to my new children’s novel, Darius Daniels: Game On! I had been excitedly anticipating this day, though, for six weeks. And now it had arrived.
 
The boys were watching television and playing on their phones and I was about to interrupt with conversations about books and literacy. For a moment, it gave me pause. They had never met me, hadn’t heard of me until maybe a week prior, and weren’t sure what to expect. I knew next to nothing of them, either, except that they were members of a new mentoring program offered by Faith Focused Ministries, headed by a dear family friend, Minister Curtis Head. They were from ages 6 to 13 and live in suburban Maryland.
 
I began by asking them questions about the book, based on the poster. Then about reading, based on a my poem Why I Read, and then we read several pages of Darius Daniels: Game On!
 
Here’s what they had to say:
 
“It was a really smart book and you wrote all the pages by yourself and it was really impressive!” – Marco, 2nd grader
“I think the book was very detailed and creative.” – Olamide, 3rd grade
“This book is good so far because of the rhythm.” – Bryce, 7th grader, who also was inspired to write a poem after reciting Why I Read with the other boys and me.
“I don’t usually read books without pictures. But I wanna read this book! I think it’s gonna be very good.” – Zion, 1st grader, who confidently read a page of the 4th grade level book out loud.
“The book was really good and entertaining and I loved it!” -John, 8th grader, who said earlier in the day that he didn’t really like to read.
 
These young men are the reason this book and the Hungry Readers campaign exist. They are proof that there’s no reason we should continue to allow 30 million children in America each year to read below grade level. Our children are hungry to read, to write, to learn, to live vibrantly and abundantly. All they need is for us to bring experiences to them, fearlessly, with love and devotion.
 
PLEASE go to www.carolinebrewerbooks.com to register for the campaign, be first to receive chances to win books, hear new music from the book’s soundtrack, and learn about other exciting opportunities! And please set your calendars for November 1, 2019 to buy copies of Darius Daniels: Game On! for yourself and others, like these brilliant young men! My deepest thanks to Minister Curtis and his team for the commitment they’ve made to these wonderful young men and to all of you!
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Caroline and Four Amazing Children Celebrate International Literacy Day, Poem-Style

In celebration of #InternationalLiteracyDay 2019, I’m encouraging all adults to make a commitment to spend time feeding the hungry readers and writers in your life with your time and words – words from books, rhyming books, poetry books, comic books, magazines, newspapers, street signs, buildings, letters, cards, and words from their own mouths! Check out our new video reciting my poem, Why I Read, and use it to ignite a discussion about why reading is a good and useful thing, a discussion I’m betting will help them tap into their own power to excel as readers and writers. And, please, let us know how you like the video and how your new reading and writing experiences go.

Click here to read entire poem.WHY I READ POEM BY CAROLINE BREWER 090819

 

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Langston Hughes and Kara Finds Sunshine On a Rainy Day

Pssst. Can I tell you a secret? I have something in common with Langston Hughes, poet of world famous works, such as The Weary Blues. Langston, you see, got his start with children’s stories. But he never had a children’s book published. Not until 1994, when children’s book lovers got their wish. The Sweet and Sour Animal Book by Hughes was put out by Oxford University Press. And as its title signals, it’s bursting with playfulness.

So, what’s the juicy hook between Langston and one of my books? Students from the Harlem School of the Arts will forever be in my heart. First-graders from that lovely school illustrated Hughes’ Sweet and Sour tale. And 11 years later, another group from HSA helped my fifth edition sail …into history with their touching art. A 6th printing is now out of Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day, and the new edition looks and feels really good, if I must say.

Like Hughes’ book, it tells a story in rhyme, with smile-sparking surprises sprinkled in from time to time.

Kara Find Sunshine on a Rainy Day, just like Sweet and Sour, is chockfull of educational nuggets as captivating as garden flowers.

You can now find the updated book in paperback, wherever books are borrowed or sold. Readers tell me this story of history, hope, and healing is worth its weight in gold. Looking forward to the day when I learn what you have to say about the new and improved Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day.

Thank you for your support.