Tag: books

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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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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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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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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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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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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

***

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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4 Places to Pick Up Free Books for A Child’s Home Library! Including Here!

In the last blog, we talked about how books and snowflakes have a thing in common. The more of each you have in your life, the more your circumstances change. Get a few books here and there, not much will change. Get a few snowflakes here and there, not much will change. But get a blizzard’s worth of snowflakes, or a blizzard’s worth of books..change gon’ come!

Why do we need a blizzard’s worth of books? Research shows that more books in the home mean children read more, read better, and perform better academically. The pandemic has made it harder for children to get to public libraries and school libraries, so now is a great time to build home libraries. Do it for your children or someone else’s!

So, how do we get a blizzard’s worth of books into a child’s life? We can start the way the snowstorm starts – with a few books at a time. We are calling it the Look at My Books Campaign. Set a goal of getting at least 20 more books into your house, a student or child in your community’s house, or join our local campaign in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area.

Here’s how we can begin.

FREE BOOKS – The easiest way to build a child’s library is to stock it with free books.
So where can we find free books? Here are 4 Places to Pick Up FREE Books!

  1. Literacy programs – Ask teachers at your school, the PTA, your local librarian, local government officials and social service organizations about literacy programs in your community that offer free books. Usually, these programs give free books throughout the year. Also, libraries often partner with literacy programs to give away free books at their locations. Earlier this year, I worked with three literacy/education programs in Florida that gave away my books to hundreds of children in honor of Martin Luther King Day.
  2. Head Start, Day care programs, Schools, and After-school programs – Programs that provide education and recreational activities for children often are connected to literacy programs, which donate free books.  Or, they might have their own book giveaway program. Ask around.
  3. Author Giveaways – Authors LOVE to sell books and they also LOVE to give away books! Authors LOVE to give away books to children who are hungry to read. I have given away thousands upon thousands of books in my life. It’s one of my greatest joys to see children treat a new book as if it were a hot fudge sundae — something they can’t wait to dig into! In honor of this blog, the first five people to email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com will receive a free copy of one of three books: Darius Daniels: Game On! (a middle grade novel), Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King’s Dream Come True, or Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day. Also, check the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages of your other favorite authors to find about about their giveaways.
  4. Friends, family, religious institutions – In the process of moving froBarack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King's Dream Come True by Caroline Brewer and Glenn Brewerm my first house, I was amazed to that I still had more than 200 books, which I had purchased for my daughters when they were in preschool and early elementary. I gave those books to a family member who had a young daughter and encouraged her to give some away to friends and family who had young children, too. I continue to this day to go through my stock of books to find books to give away. I also belong to a church where people bring new and gently used books from their homes to our bookstore so that we can also give away books.  So ask around. Ask your friends, ask family, ask people who attend religious institutions, are involved with sororities, fraternities, other social organizations and non-profits, and those who work at government organizations, if they have books they’d like to donate to help a child build a home library.

So, there you have it. Let’s get going on our Look atMy Books Campaign, to help children make homes for lots more books and begin to talk about their collections, and eventually share with someone else! And please, take us along on your journey. Drop us a line or a photo and let us know how you’re doing, who’s been helpful, and any new resources you find. If your children already have plenty of books then let’s work together to find other children who could benefit from some of the books you already have or books you’re ready to go out and find. And let’s all have fun!

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What do books and blizzards have in common?

Did you know that reading is related to snowflakes? I often ask children to think about how nice it is to see a snowflake. Softly it falls from the sky to the ground and as you watch it dance, a twinkle appears in your eye and a little smile creases your face. But then, if the snow begins to fall faster and develops into a blizzard, your smile might turn into an expression of concern – especially if you’re at school and didn’t remember to bring your hat, mittens, or boots.

A few snowflakes here and there are not dangerous. But a blizzard – that’s another story!

The same holds true with books. Having one book fall into our lives every now and then doesn’t change anything. But if we get a blizzard of books into our lives, then it’s going to make a huge difference. That’s what we want children to have and read – a blizzard’s worth of books.

Studies show that the more books children read and are exposed to the better readers they become.

The good news is that a blizzard of books doesn’t mean thousands of books at a time or even hundreds.

Did you know that a mere 20 books in a child’s home can make a huge difference? Twenty (20) books represents the snowfall that will one day turn into a blizzard – a happy blizzard of books.

Share in the comments your ideas for how to get 20 more books into your child’s or a student’s life, and I’ll share in the next blog my ideas.

Stay tuned for how to learn how easily it can be done — and why it’s a worthwhile goal!

 

 

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First Classes in the U.S. Give Enthusiastic Video Reviews to Darius Daniels: Game On!

Darius Daniels: Game On! is a certified hit with students in the classes taught by Virginia English Language Arts Teacher Christay Johnson. Her 45 students in two classes are first whole classes in the U.S. to read the book and share video responses. Click here to see what the students have to say about the poetry, imagery, challenges, and adventure provided by 11-year-old Darius and his experience getting sucked into a game world and told that he can’t get out until he hurts somebody.

Click here to order copies for your children or students or email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com