Tag: librarians

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.) (more…)

February 13, 2021
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 from 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!
September 6, 2020
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!

July 26, 2020
The Infinite Magic of Stories

The Infinite Magic of Stories

How to Engage Children without a Computer (Series)

During last Sunday’s Parent Teacher Power Hour, we took a deep dive into the Infinite Magic of Stories,

and discovered a whole new world! Please click the link to learn more about how you can help stimulate intellectual, social, and emotional development in children by understanding what it takes to create stories and the vast world of stories that you can share.

Sunday, April 26, at 7:05 p.m. Eastern time, join us as we keep going with stories and investigate folk tales, fables, and fairy tales from around the world. We’re going to ask participants who would like to share to share the name of a favorite fairy tale, folktale, or fable, such as the Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Cinderella, Anansi stories, Jack and the Beanstalk, and, of course, many more – and what you learned from the tales and what you hope students will learn.

Links to hundreds of fairy tales, folktales and fables are on the 8 Ways to Engage Children Without a Computer handout. Email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for your invitation to the Parent Teacher Power Hour.

April 25, 2020
Hear Stories, Tell Stories, Learn how to Create Stories – This Sunday at 7 pm!

Some words. Maybe it’s just one, such as: Love. Hope. Fire. Fear. Music. Tears. That’s all you need to tell a story. Some words you speak. Some words your write. Some words that come to your mind and end up as a picture. You know the saying: a picture is worth a thousand words, and a thousand words is plenty enough for a story.

This Sunday, as a follow up to last week’s discussion of The Higher Way, and my new release of 8 Ways to Engage Children Without a Computer, we’re going to talk about stories. It’s Way #1 on the download. We’re going to tell you some stories, ask you to tell us some stories (in one minute or less!), and we’re going to talk about how you can support children to create and publish their stories and how you can do the same.

We’re going to have a good time with good old-fashioned StoryTime. You know, once upon a time, or Back in the day, or Honey, let me tell you kinds of stories. And music! We Love stories with instrumental music. So, come along, bring family, friends – all ages are welcome!

We’re going to have a story good time!

Sunday, April 19 – 7 -8 p.m. via Freeconferencecall.com Video or Phone.

Email caroline@carolinebrewer.com to receive the link!

April 18, 2020