Category: Caroline’s Blog

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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

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Happy Teacher Appreciation Week – FREE Book!

Why I Teach

Why I Teach: A Guide to Re-Discovering a Love for Teaching

This inspirational e-book is my Teacher Appreciation Week 2022 gift to you. Why I Teach is dedicated to teachers everywhere and the infinite number of children whose lives they will change. Why I Teach is Part Poem-Meditation and Part Journal and it includes reflections, such as:  “I teach to enter a world where dreams come true,” and the reflection: “What dreams came true in your teaching today?” 

Simply email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for your free copy today.

Happy Teaching, and thank you so much!

Caroline

 

 

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Seeing Them Fall In Love with Themselves

This is Part II of my answer to the question, Why did you write Darius Daniels: Game On!? It’s a great question and one that I often get from readers, whether students, teachers, librarians, parents, or adults, in general.

In Part I, I said my mother’s love helped me find the strength to persevere over 14 years to finish Darius Daniels, because the book began as a tribute to her remarkable life.

And then, remembering what I regularly witnessed in children also helped me to persevere.

I’ve said before that I’ve never met a child who wasn’t hungry to learn to read or read better. Many either didn’t have a lot of experience with reading or they didn’t have good experiences. So, as the children and I worked together, I quickly saw their fears and angst dissolve. What held them back disappeared into the ashes of time as confidence with the force of a wildfire fueled them on. They had fallen in love. They had fallen in love with themselves as readers.

I watched them declare themselves capable, good, and motivated. And that pushed me to persevere, to keep going, to pick up the manuscript again after it had sat on that proverbial shelf for 10 years.

I persevered because I loved seeing children who were diagnosed with disabilities – mental, emotional, and physical disabilities, children four, five, six grade levels behind with no diagnosed disabilities –  become inspired to open up books and explore new worlds.  I loved seeing them discover that reading for pleasure was a form of play, and they were utterly qualified to participate.

I persevered because I wanted to write a book for these children that I call hungry readers. I wanted to write a book about these children. I wanted to write a book for and about all of us as human beings who need to go somewhere special and come back loving ourselves a whole lot more.

Have you ever seen a hungry reader transform right in front of your eyes? I’d love to hear the story.

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It Was Love

So often children ask, “What inspired you to write Darius Daniels: Game On!?” In this and future posts, I’m going to expand on my answer.

First and foremost, what inspired me to write Darius Daniels: Game On! — a journey that took 14 years! — was love. In particular, my mother’s love for me and my love for her, which led to so many other expressions and observations of love.

Witnessing every day, my mother’s love for her children, our family, and community made me want to write a book about just a small sliver of her life. I first tried tell her story with a picture book, but  couldn’t get it to work. In a surprise twist, Darius Daniels: Game On! turned out to be the ticket.

I’m so happy that I found the strength to persevere because now I get to see how the love that lifted me is now lifting children, teachers, librarians, and people from all walks of life.

What has love inspired you to do for someone else?

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What would you say?

Poetry, poetry, poetry!
All around outside & flowin’ in me!
I have no hate in my heart,
because it’s all loved up with poesy!
 
Darius Daniels: Game On! & poetry are what’s up in coming days for students at
Lake Ridge Middle School in Woodbridge, VA. They’ll be reading the book for weeks to come, and during my author visit today, we’re going to talk about the power of our own voices, communication breakdowns, the worlds we can make with our words, why we read and write, and poetry as survival. Our goal is to dramatically expand the number of voracious readers at the school because we know words can avert wars, birth peace, and grow gardens of grace in the thorniest space.

What would you say to these students about the power of words? Have a story about how words changed your life? Please share.

*Shoutout to royalbydesign369 for the inspiration of Mantra – Photo credit: Cheriss May

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It’s National Family Literacy Month & Here’s What You Can Do About It!

Today, November 1, is the beginning of Family Literacy Month and the Happy 2nd Book Birthday to Darius Daniels: Game On! I hope you’ll celebrate with me over the course of the year as I share reading tips, free downloads, and opportunities for families, teachers, librarians and tutors to participate in virtual celebrations!
Tip #1- No matter your child’s age or reading level, rhymes are a super-power!
One super-power of rhymes is that they improve children’s ability to recall words and story concepts. So feed your hungry readers some rhyming books, such as Darius Daniels: Game On!, today. Ask them some questions to see how well they recall a chapter or story and repeat with them their favorite rhyming sections.  Have fun, and share this blog with friends and family, and ask them to join you and the Hungry Readers campaign here!
Click link to FREE literacy downloads and to order the book.
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What September 11, 2001 Gave Birth To

September 11, 2001 was partly responsible for the birth of my first children’s book, Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day. The book’s theme is “the sun is always shining, even when we can’t see it.”   I was living in NJ, just outside NYC, and wrote a poem in response to the tragedy. A friend who taught second grade read it and wanted me to share it with her students. I decided to turn it into a story of hope and healing. The children responded so beautifully, I created newer editions.

The 2006 edition was created with artwork from Harlem School of the Arts students. These pages are in the 9/11 section. This section tells the story of a group of firefighters who were trying to lead people out of the building. They ran into Josephine Harris, a worker who had been in a car accident months before and was left with a limp. She slowed them down but they moved at her pace, until, suddenly, the entire building – more than a million tons of rubble — crashed around them. They eventually made it out alive because rays of light poured in through the debris.  The firefighters who survived thanked Josephine for saving their lives.

One of the first children to hear me read Kara was an 11-year-old boy named Miles, who was living in a group home for abused and neglected children. He told me the book “changed his life around.” His counselors said he had not spoken to anyone or made friends for six months prior to my visit. After hearing the story, “he opened up like a flower.”

During one of the darkest times in his life, Miles discovered the sun was shining, and so did I.

May we all discover light on our darkest, rainy days.

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Five Things You Should Know About Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale

In honor of President’s Day and the need to learn about presidents 365 days a year

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Five Things About Barack Obama:

A Hip Hop Tale of King’s Dream Come True

In a nutshell: The artwork is a conversation starter; it has 60 sets of rhyming words (sure to send any child’s vocabulary and comprehension soaring); you can teach  more than a dozen English language learning skills; it’s full of surprises, including fun facts about animals; and opportunities to learn about social activism and politics in ways that are very cool. (To purchase, click here.) Continue reading “Five Things You Should Know About Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale”

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Teachers Keep Hope Alive – Happy World Teachers Day!

Teachers feed the hearts and minds of those beautiful, hungry children the world keeps trusting to us. Teachers help children develop socially, emotionally, and intellectually in ways that they, and we, find extraordinary. 
Teachers keep hope alive.
Teachers help students overcome doubts and find faith.
Teachers helps students rise from the ashes, over and over again.

Is there a struggle in teaching? Of course. Are there tears in teaching? Absolutely, and of a wide variety. Can we expect enlightenment? Every day, for sure. But mostly, as we move through each day, we reach deeper understanding of who we are and who students are, and that alone brings about a new kind of joy – a permanent joy — for student and teacher. We truly are all in this together.

Happy World Teachers Day to all Teachers!