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Caroline Brewer Author · Artist · Literacy Advocate

Tag: libraries

  • New book with students debuts: Through My Anacostia Eyes: Environmental Problems and Possibilities!

    New book with students debuts: Through My Anacostia Eyes: Environmental Problems and Possibilities!

    This book is about sight.
    About what the Anacostia High School students saw
    with their own eyes,
    and filtered through their lived experiences.

    This book is about voice.
    About what came from the students’ mouths
    –rhythmically, poetically, chronologically, with vulnerability —
    about what they observed, reflected on,
    and processed alone and in community with one another.

    And in the seeing and speaking,
    they have given us a book to cherish
    — a book of poems, essays, reports, and images
    that reveals what they felt, emotionally,
    what they touched physically,
    what they tasted, and what they heard.
    And we owe them our deepest appreciation,
    because what they have given us is profound!

    The book is about journeys,
    each of us separately, and all of us together
    liberating ourselves, flying, like the birds, free,
    dismantling the shackles of fear,
    overcoming our insecurities,
    touching truth and becoming one with it.

    This book is about partnerships.
    Many thanks to Conservation Nation
    for sponsoring my Nature-Wise program with
    the students, to Xavier Brown for
    inviting me in to host the literacy
    and the environment training,
    to Patrick Gusman, UDC, the
    Department of the Interior and
    NPS for leading the establishment
    of this summer internship program
    and enthusiastically supporting our efforts
    to engage the students as thinkers, readers, writers,
    and critical observers of their relationship to nature
    and in how to become even better advocates
    for sustainability.

    Deep appreciation to Gabriela Paola Franco Peña!
    She is our designer extraordinaire and without her,
    for two pressure-filled weeks, there would be no book.
    72 pages, 56 photos, 44 essays, poems, and reports –
    all adding up to one story of love, loss, history, mystery,
    healing, hope, reclamation, and anticipation
    in Anacostia, Washington, D.C.,
    accomplished in a whirlwind six weeks!

    Stay tuned for more news about the book
    and how to get your copy. Email me
    (caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com) about
    how to bring Nature-Wise professional
    development training to your educators
    and/or student literacy and the environment workshops to your school.
    For a limited number of schools this school year,
    a book like this, on a smaller scale, can be produced
    in a day or a week, with me as an Author-in-Residence.
    Let’s talk about it!
  • Midwest Stop – Say Their Names – Four Events in Three Days!

    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

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

    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

  • Seeing Them Fall In Love with Themselves

    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.

  • It Was Love

    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?