Caroline’s Blog

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Teaching a tough subject with poetry and love

Amari Russell reads a copy of Say Their Names by Caroline Brewer. Photo by Cortland Milloy
Children’s book by Caroline Brewer spotlights a fictional girl protesting violence by police and others.

Perspective by Cortland Milloy for The Washington Post

(PHOTO: Amari Russell, 6, examines a copy of Caroline Brewer’s “Say Their Names” at a signing in Washington. Photo by Courtland Milloy/TWP)

At the Potter’s House community center in Adams Morgan, an audience gathered recently to hear children’s book author Caroline Brewer read from her latest work, “Say Their Names.” The book is a poem about a fictional 7-year-old girl named Aliya who leads a demonstration against violence, including police shootings, in her neighborhood.

Brewer asked the audience to repeat after her as she read from the book. The children responded enthusiastically.

Read more from The Washington Post

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SAY THEIR NAMES – FREE Guide for Parents, Teachers, Youth Leaders

AUTHOR CREATES SAY THEIR NAMES
IMAGINATION GUIDE

 

NEW picture book offers many gifts,
including a Positive Identity

Author Caroline Brewer is leading highly inter-active and musical conversations with students, educators, parents and community groups about her new book  Say Their Names, with Reycraft Books.  In Say Their Names, a fictional 7-year-old Aliya responds to the aftermath of George Floyd’s death with poetry, history, and an invitation to a love-inspired future. Brewer says the book comes with more than 30 “gifts” for children, such as hope, courage, and empowerment, which all work together to form a positive identity. (See page 5 for the list and student-youth engagement opportunities).

“As we have seen, especially since September 11, 2001, traumatic incidents, such as school shootings, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, racist and religious attacks, wars, pandemics, and the like, keep happening, seemingly with greater frequency, here and all over the world,” said Brewer, “In the face of the world’s ugliness, we’ll be counting on today’s youth to one day stand tall and lead our families, communities, and countries. So it’s critical that we – and they -- are equipped with the confidence, language, empathy, mental and emotional stamina to handle the hard stuff. If I could give a child any gift, it would be the gift of a positive identity, and that’s what Say Their Names is all about,” says Brewer.

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Goals of the picture book, Say Their Names: To be a channel for children’s agency, positive identity, strength, intellectual stimulation, healthy, self-actualized communication, to expand supportive communities, to be a source of hope, and a tool for imagining ways forward.

Click here to get your FREE Imagination Guide!

 

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Midwest Stop – Say Their Names – Four Events in Three Days!

WE’RE CELEBRATING THE LAUNCH OF SAY THEIR NAMES
and DARIUS DANIELS: GAME ON!
IN THE MIDWEST
At three Fort Wayne, Indiana locations, November 25, 26, and 27 — Join Us!
FRIDAY, NOV. 25 – 4-6 pm – Family Event- Invitation-Only Event – Contact Joanne or Liz for details.
SATURDAY, NOV. 26 – 11 am – 12 noon —Brief talk and autograph session for Say Their Names and Darius Daniels: Game On!

BIPOC Business Weekend, sponsored by Clydia Early.
3402 Fairfield Ave, Fort Wayne, IN 46807-1823

SATURDAY, NOV. 26 – 2 pm – 5 pm —Bring the children for an inter-active musical presentation of
Say Their Names and Darius Daniels: Game On!, plus powerful writing activity, Q & A, and autographing session. Refreshments will be available for purchase during our break.

BIPOC Business Weekend
3402 Fairfield Ave, Fort Wayne, IN 46807-1823

PLEASE ORDER YOUR BOOKS IN ADVANCE TODAYfrom websites or stores below or Amazon.

EMAIL poadec.comm@gmail.com for more details on Saturday’s events – Sponsored by the People of African Descent Elders Council

SUNDAY, NOV. 27 – 10:30 am – UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH, 5310 Old Mill Rd, Fort Wayne, IN 46807 – Delivering the morning’s sermon: Why We Say Their Names, followed by Q and A, and book-signing.

READ The Washington Post’s feature story here!

Watch television news coverage of

Say Their Names here!

Photo courtesy of MF Photography

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SAY THEIR NAMES DMV LAUNCH EVENTS NOV. 5, 2022

WE’RE CELEBRATING THE LAUNCH OF SAY THEIR NAMES IN THE DMV
At two locations, November 5 — Join US!
1 pm – 2 pm — Say Their Names * Potter’s House Cafe/Bookstore — I’ll do an inter-active, musical reading
of Say Their Names, Q & A, and autograph books. 
Potter’s House, www.pottershousedc.org, 1658 Columbia Road NW WASHINGTON, DC, 20009
5 pm – 6 pm – Say Their Names * Mahogany Books
I’ll do an inter-active, musical reading of Say Their Names, Q & A, and autograph books.
1231 Good Hope Rd., S.E. Washington, DC 20020 * Phone: 1 (844) 279-6239
PLEASE RSVP TO caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com
Watch new coverage of Say Their Names here!
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‘Say Their Names’ Is a Tool for Imagining New Ways Forward

‘Say Their Names’ Is a Tool for Imagining New Ways Forward

News Alert – August 22, 2022

Contact Caroline Brewer, caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for review copies and links to photos and video or Allison Lambert, alambert@benchmarkeducation.com, Marketing Manager for review copies and marketing information

Washington, D.C. – Reycraft Books and D.C. Author Caroline Brewer announced the August 22, 2022 release of a new 24-page picture book* conceived on Black Lives Matter Plaza, in front of the White House, and written from a child’s perspective.

In Say Their Names, 7-year-old Aliya responds to the aftermath of George Floyd’s death with poetry, history, and an invitation to a love-inspired future.  “We love this book!,” says Reycraft Editor Eileen Robinson. “We have not seen anything like it. It’s a fresh take on this movement, and we believe it’s going to spark the kinds of conversations – and actions — that our world needs now…And if you ever have the honor of hearing a live reading of Say Their Names, be prepared, it will electrify your soul.”

Brewer, who became active in promoting solutions to police and racial violence after the son of one of her closest friends was killed by police in 2003, says the book is a meditation, a mini-dissertation, and a tool for tapping into our imaginations to find new ways forward. The story came to her after a June 2020 visit to Black Lives Matter Plaza, in the shadow of the White House, just minutes from her home.

“After I arrived at Black Lives Matter Plaza, I started to meditate on everything that surrounded me – the people, the posters, the artwork, the boarded-up buildings, and the black iron fence barring people from getting close to the White House. I took pictures and went home, planning to do short social media posts. But, instead, a poem came out, and soon I heard the voice of a child,” said Brewer, a literacy consultant, former teacher, and former journalist. “When Aliya spoke, she kept saying ‘Imagine. Imagine.’ So, in Say Their Names, Aliya invites us to consider the technologies that humankind has imagined to make life more convenient and entertaining. And she invites us to consider the technology of imagination to make human engagement non-violent.”

Brewer added that the child in this story helps remind us that police and racial violence have impacts on children. Indeed, some of the victims in recent years have been children, such as Aiyana Stanley-Jones and Tamir Rice. The child’s voice in this story helps remind us that it’s critical that adults help children process these events and invite them into conversations to imagine ways forward that heal and unite us. The leadership presence of the child in Say Their Names also reminds us of the roles that children have played in social justice movements. There were yesterday’s young civil rights leaders, such as then-6-year-old Ruby Bridges and the teens of the Little Rock Nine. In 2012, we had Malala Yousafzai, of Pakistan, raising her voice, and there are today’s climate leaders, such as Jerome Foster II, of D.C., and Greta Thunberg, of Sweden.

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Say Their Names is now available for ordering at all bookstores and Reycraft Books.

Learn more about Reycraft Books and Caroline Brewer via these sites:

www.carolinebrewerbooks.com * facebook.com/carolinebrewerbooks * twitter.com/brewercaroline

instagram.com/carolinebrewerbooks

www.reycraftbooks.com

www.facebook.com/reycraftbooks

www.instagram.com/reycraftbooks

www.twitter.com/reycraftbooks

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A Whole Other Twist on “Let Them Eat Cake!”

A Whole Other Twist on “Let Them Eat Cake!”
DC Elementary Librarian, Local Author, and National Education Lawyer
Team Up to Feed “Hungry Readers Chocolate Cake” Over the Summer!

Donation of Books to Truesdale Elementary Library, Students and School’s Little Free Library
Kicks Off Summer Reading Program and Extends Hungry Readers Campaign

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 21, 2021

Contact: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com

Washington, D.C. – In a whole other twist on “Let them eat cake!”, Truesdale Elementary Librarian Eboni Henry, National Education Lawyer Gary M. Ratner, and Caroline Brewer, Author of the Forthcoming Say Their Names picture book and Darius Daniels: Game On! have teamed up to feed “hungry readers chocolate cake” over the summer.

The donation of more than 30 Books to Truesdale Elementary’s School Library, its students and the school’s Little Free Library takes place today at the school, 12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m., 800 Ingraham St NW, Washington, DC 20011.

The donation continues Brewer’s “Hungry Readers” campaign, where she has enlisted friends and family to help her donate books to schools, libraries, and youth programs in the DC Metro area and around the country. This iteration of the campaign has seen the donation of more than 250 copies of books, including more than 100 of Darius Daniels: Game On!, a book filled with rap, rhyme, and riddles, designed to get kids hooked on books. The donation includes picture books, chapter books, and middle grade novels, books with Black and Latino characters to feed the needs of the majority Latino and Black student population, books on the environment, and some Newberry Medal and Coretta Scott King Award winners. In years past, Brewer has donated thousands of books, mostly her own.

Truesdale Librarian Henry said she’s noticed that children aren’t visiting public libraries as often so she created a “Little Free Library” outside Truesdale where students and any member of the community can take books home and keep them for their own. She and a colleague usually supply the “library” throughout the summer. New donations from Brewer, Ratner, and other friends will help edify the collection.

“I’m a strong believer in the importance of reading to satisfaction and success in life.  Knowing that Caroline Brewer’s books for children help some of our neediest children to attain this goal, I was pleased to make a donation to expand the availability of the extraordinary middle grade novel: Darius Daniels,” said Ratner, Founder and Executive Director of Citizens for Effective Schools. Ratner has been a nationally recognized authority on school reform law and policy for more than 30 years and is a principal drafter of the Joint Organizational Statement on No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, the policy statement for overhauling NCLB endorsed by more than 150 national organizations and replacing it with the ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). “Rich in cultural allusions and broadening vocabulary, Darius Daniels is an excellent way to engage, entertain and intellectually stimulate students this summer, while simultaneously combatting the traditional summer loss in reading skills.”

Brewer says she’s never met a child who wasn’t hungry to learn to read, write, and learn and that’s why she calls her campaign “Hungry Readers.” The authors of a new book,  How to Raise a Reader, Pamela Paul and Maria Russo, the editor and the children’s-books editor, respectively, of The New York Times Book Review, have said that those who want to inspire reading love in children should present reading not as “spinach,” but as “chocolate cake.” Making books and reading fun has been Brewer’s calling card for the past 20 years as an author, literacy activist, and consultant. “I call rap, rhyme, and riddles ‘literacy accelerants,’ ” says Brewer. “When children get their hands on books that have meaning and are fun, many become brand-new and fall in love with themselves as human beings, whereas before they had lots of doubts. Good books feed children’s imaginations and inspire success and that’s all we’re here for.”

Connect with Caroline Brewer on the following sites:

www.carolinebrewerbooks.com * facebook.com/brewercaroline *twitter.com/brewercaroline

instagram.com/carolinebrewerbooks

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Paterson, NJ Schools Celebrate Milestone with Author Caroline Brewer

Select Paterson afterschool programs celebrated a milestone in the city’s history Wednesday: the completion of the first Paterson Reads Book Club, featuring the reading, rhyming, rapping and word play of the middle grade novel Darius Daniels: Game On! The collaborators consider the book club a national model for literacy engagement.

Four afterschool programs with more than 100 students participated in the six-week book club coordinated by the Paterson Education Fund (PEF) and Darius Daniels Author Caroline Brewer.

Read the full story here

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NEWS: George Floyd Protests Inspired Picture Book from Child’s Perspective

News Alert – June 6, 2022

Picture Book from a Child’s Perspective inspired by George Floyd protests
“Say Their Names” is about imagining and working toward love-inspired change

Contact Caroline Brewer, caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com, or Eileen Robinson, Editor, Reycraft Books, at erobinson@reycraftbooks.com for more information

Washington, D.C. – Reycraft Books and D.C. Author Caroline Brewer have announced the cover reveal and promotional launch of Say Their Names, a new 32-page picture book written from a child’s perspective. “I wrote Say Their Names because of my 20-year-educational journey with children,” said Brewer, a literacy activist, former elementary school teacher, and author of 13 books. “ I know children are suffering and being traumatized by police violence and racial violence – as studies have shown – along with all others in their communities. I wrote it because children have been leading and engaging in protests movements all over the world, especially in recent history, and I wanted to center them and their voices as part of our healing work and conversations.”

“I wrote Say Their Names from a child’s perspective because children give us the gifts of their imaginations. I wrote the book because imagining is one of the most important technologies that humans possess, and challenges such as police and racial violence require powerful imagining to defeat,” Brewer added.

Brewer, who wrote a children’s book in 2005 in honor of a friend’s son who was killed by police, noted that Say Their Names emphasizes this one powerful act,  “because saying their names is a ritual observed by communities the world over and is an important cultural ritual for African Americans; because remembering helps keep loved ones alive and assists in the healing process; and because this book, more than anything, is about imagining and working toward a future free of police and racial violence.”

Say Their Names is published by Reycraft Books and due out August 22, 2022. Media can contact the author or publisher for a digital ARC and more details.  Say Their Names can be PRE-ORDERED here.

Follow Caroline Brewer on social media here:
facebook.com/carolinebrewerbooks *** instagram.com/carolinebrewerbooks ***  twitter.com/brewercaroline

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With Hearts Breaking, Let Us Come Together

Today we grieve, we hug, we console.  Tomorrow, we rise.The Buffalo shootings, the Irvine, CA church shootings, and the shootings in Uvalde have left me speechless, in tears, and angry. America is awash in guns and the means to annihilate every human being on her soil, many times over. Americans possess more than 350 million guns, as Gun Control Advocate Andy Pelosi shared earlier to day. And the amount of ammunition is probably immeasurable. The angels are weeping for us.Today is also the anniversary of the George Floyd murder. Police killings of innocent/unarmed people have not declined since his death.And yet, I know without question that we can imagine, work, and rise up out of this brutal reality. It is not natural for human beings to act with such depravity. We must fight harder, think higher thoughts, and strengthen our bonds. The world and the world’s children need us now more than ever. We know what ignorance and hate can produce. We must answer the question, “What can greater love of humanity produce?” I am here to link arms with every single person willing to ascend, to do things we have not done, have not thought to do, and perhaps, have not had the courage to do, in the face of these horrors. That gun violence is now the #1 cause of death for young people is sickening, and must motivate us to step up, speak up, and, if necessary, act up – more than we ever have! The angels, and John Lennon, will cheer us. #Imagine

Thank you!Caroline BrewerBeing Human, Children’s Book Author, Literacy Consultant and Activist, SCBWI Member, MAEOE and VAASL Presenter
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Say Their Names, New Children’s Book, Expands Movement for Love

Say Their Names, New Children’s Book, Expands Movement for Love, Justice, Peace

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I hope I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything You gave me.'” -Chadwick Boseman

And to that I would add, not a single bit of courage, conviction, peace, or love. I used ALL that You gave me. Say Their Names, my new children’s book about a 7-year-old Black girl’s response to police killings, is one example of how. It’s written through the eyes, courage, and convictions of a child — in the voice of a child.  I hope you’ll join the Reycraft Books team, Illustrator Adrian Brandon and me on this journey. You can pre-order the book on Reycraft’s site here. And please like, share, comment, tell teachers, parents, librarians, your family, friends, and neighbors. The whole world is needed. Thank you so much!

-Caroline