Category: Youth

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The Harriet Tubman Nobody Knew! Pre-order Now!

The Harriet Tubman Nobody Knew
Available to Pre-Order Today!

When Harriet Tubman was born enslaved in Dorchester County, Maryland, in 1822, nobody knew this tiny Black girl-child would grow up to be a leader. Nobody knew she would learn to find her way by following the stars. Nobody knew she’d move through the woods as silently as an owl or work as a spy during the Civil War. Nobody knew the power she would draw from prayer. Nobody knew she would escape enslavement, rescue hundreds, and find the joys of freedom.
Nobody knew she would become a force of nature, and that her journey would one day be chronicled in a 48-page picture book written and illustrated by Caroline Brewer.
With compelling poetry perfect for reading aloud and luminous collage illustrations, Brewer brings readers of all ages into Harriet Tubman’s nature-fueled life and deep spirituality.

Early reviewers are LOVING the story and the art, and are saying they’ve never seen or read a children’s book about Tubman like this. We believe it’s the first of its kind. Pre-Order Today at Bookshop or bookstores anywhere and find out soon what all the buzz is about!

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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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Reading, Writing: What’s love got to do with it?

More than 15 years ago, I set out on a journey of self-love, to do whatever I wanted with my life, on my own terms. I fell into the lovely craft of writing children’s books, for love. Which led me into schools, religious institutions, day care centers, group homes, and recreational centers to speak on the power of the love of reading and writing, and soon to demonstrate to teachers how to teach literacy effectively, with love. I didn’t understand at that point that it was love guiding my efforts. Wasn’t aware I had stumbled onto a pedagogy of love. (I soon found others acquainted with the practice.)

With teachers, I bore witness to the power of love to ease children’s fears, calm their anxieties, dissolve violent and self-destructive impulses, move them to trust, open up their minds to learning, and their hearts to simple kindnesses. I worked with children one-on-one who were as many as seven grade levels behind in reading and writing. With love (patience, openness, understanding, hopefulness, encouragement, forgiveness, trust, strength, tenderness) as my guide, I saw boys, who were so angry (because of a lack of love) that all they did was curse everybody in sight, transform into the most cooperative and motivated spirits in the classroom. I saw girls who were so afraid of failure that they would refuse to try to read or write begin just weeks later to joyfully read and write in front of their classmates and identify as capable readers and writers. I witnessed children who barely could read and often frustrated their teachers and classmates with distractions become the best readers in their classrooms.

I blame love for it all.

Love is like the seed that is in itself. Love multiplies, elevates, and corrects errors, especially the erroneous thinking that those who are deficient in love have about themselves.

Where there is love, there is no fear. Not of family or friends, co-workers, situations, circumstances, places, or things. If we’re not loving, we’re not living. Let us begin with self and stretch out our hands in love to others through high-minded deeds, unselfish pursuits, and goals. And watch love pay us back with riches in peace, harmony, and happiness that no amount of skill in politics or technology, no amount of money or connections, and no quantity of strong drink or gratuitous activity could hope to match.
Let us ask ourselves: Who and what can we love more today?

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10 ways to successfully engage boys in school

We have a tragedy in America when it comes to connecting with and educating boys.

According to the book Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys: Strategies That Work and Why, boys are kept back in schools at twice the rate of girls. Boys get expelled from preschool nearly five times more often than girls. Boys are diagnosed with learning disorders and attention problems at nearly four times the rate of girls, Jessica Lahey wrote some years ago for The Atlantic. It still holds true today.

Lahey shared eight key approaches to classroom instruction that can lay the foundation for brighter futures for our boys. I added two others that address how we talk to boys. So, 10 ways to engage boys for successful academic outcomes are:

  • Lessons that result in an end product–a booklet, a catapult, a poem, or a comic strip, for example.
  • Lessons that are structured as competitive games.
  • Lessons requiring motor activity.
  • Lessons requiring boys to assume responsibility for the learning of others.
  • Lessons that require boys to address open questions or unsolved problems.
  • Lessons that require a combination of competition and teamwork.
  • Lessons that focus on independent, personal discovery and realization.
  • Lessons that introduce drama in the form of novelty or surprise.
  • Use Language that shows empathy.
  • Use Language that uplifts, inspires and encourages freedom of choice.

Without knowing it or planning it, my first interactions with students just so happened to be what boys needed. My goal was to make workshops, read-alouds, and classroom literacy instruction as exciting as possible. I wasn’t thinking about reaching boys. I was thinking about reaching children — and not getting booed off the stage — which essentially happened with a group of high school boys when I was an editorial writer. I had been invited to give a talk and mistakenly was scheduled to arrive in the middle of their recreational time.  Worse, I began my “motivational” talk by spraying them with stats about all the calamities that would befall them if they didn’t take it upon themselves to get an education.

How dense of me. They rebelled at what felt like a damning sermon, and, right at that moment, I understood they were doing the right thing.

I practically owe those boys — from so-called “low-income, single-parent families” and “high-crime neighborhoods” — my career. They taught me always to speak to children with empathy and encouragement, and make it clear that I have the highest expectations for them.

I encourage you to give just one of these approaches a try and let us know how it goes.

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Want to stop ugly behavior in your classroom?

Play more games. Seriously.

How boys behave in class affects a teacher’s perception of their intelligence and potential for academic achievement. Negative behavior lowers a teacher’s expectations of his academic prowess.

This is another finding from the book Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys: Strategies That Work and Why, reported in The Atlantic by Jessica Lahey.

Behavior is such a consistent barrier to effective education that I wanted to share in this blog a powerful and practical way to implement one of the Top 10 strategies for engaging boys and eliminating behavioral problems.

Peppering instruction with friendly competitive activities is a key way to engage boys, and all children, in the learning experience.

Vocabulary “BINGO” is one of my favorite recreational/educational tools. It also was a big hit with Special Education middle-schoolers in D.C. who informed us they wanted to play more than learn academics. Homing in on a tactic to keep the students happy and still teach academic lessons, I invited them to create vocabulary game cards based on rhyming words, proper nouns, historical figures and places, and themes from our reading materials. We used those cards to play a “BINGO”-style game. Instead of B-6, for example, they’d place their chip on the vocabulary word. Their teacher and I awarded quarters (because I just so happened to have several rolls in my purse) and Reese’s Cups to the winning students.

A 6th grader, who represented the biggest behavioral challenge because of his unbelievably foul mouth and pugilistic attitude, won the most vocabulary games. He was the chief advocate of playing more games, and this particular day he was going home the biggest winner with $1.75 and three Reese’s Cups. He sat quietly, looked up, and then a wide grin spread across his face as he solemnly declared, “This is the happiest day of my life.”

The vocabulary game inspired a major turning point for him and the class. No longer did he curse a blue streak or threaten to beat up his classmates after his winning experience with the game.

Friendly and competitive games are not just about playing, although in a school setting, playing ought to be allowed and encouraged. Recreation, indeed, is also about healing. If our students and we teachers need anything, we need healing. Boys (all children) also need opportunities to succeed, and a game such as Vocabulary “BINGO” is an easy way to provide such opportunities. Each success inspires confidence that another one is possible. Soon the children become hungry for them.

If we routinely feed boys chances for success, we can look forward to classroom experiences where engaging boys is a cinch and a joy! Try vocabulary “BINGO” with your students and let us know how it goes, especially with boys that have exhibited troubling behavior.

Here’s to more Happy Teaching!

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How to Read Books Like a Drama Queen or King

(So that your youngster will fall forever in love with reading)

You howl and growl
and laugh and scowl
and wiggle and twist
and change your voice
like THIS!

You make faces
and go to places
with imagination in the highest key.

You rhyme and sing
and soar like a bird on new wings.

You smile and play coy
and treat that book like a treasured toy.

However you read, read with joy
so those young listeners will think, “Oh, boy!

Books are my new friend.
Pleeeeease, please, please, please
read to me again!”