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Office: Fretwell 290D
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Monthly Archives: February 2024

The Read-Aloud Rodeo Debuts at Park Road Books

February 25, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

Park Road Books and I are pleased to announce the debut of the Read-Aloud Rodeo, a read-aloud story-time event that will take place at Park Road Books (4139 Park Road) from 10:30 to 12:30 on Saturday, March 2, 2024. At the Read-Aloud Rodeo, local educators and literacy advocates will participate in a two-hour marathon of reading picture books aloud to children. For more information about this event, please click on the following link: https://www.parkroadbooks.com/event/read-aloud-rodeo-celebrating-read-across-america-day

The Read-Aloud Rodeo coincides with the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day, which traditionally takes place on the second day of March in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday.

Park Road Books and I previously collaborated on an annual event called the Seuss-a-Thon, which involved a marathon reading of picture books by Dr. Seuss.  Like the previous Seuss-a-Thons, the Read-Aloud Rodeo will include a marathon reading of picture books, but at this year’s event not all the featured picture books are by Dr. Seuss. 

The Read-Aloud Rodeo is just one of the many ways that Park Road Books contributes to the vitality of Charlotte’s literary community.  Charlotte’s only independent, full-service bookstore, Park Road Books regularly partners with local cultural organizations to promote the reading of literature.  Every year, for example, Park Road Books helps the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation with its Verse and Vino fundraising event.  This high-profile event brings bestselling authors to Charlotte, and Park Road Books takes care of ordering and selling these authors’ books to the event’s attendees.  The store also works with over thirty area book clubs by providing the members of these clubs with opportunities to purchase (at a discount) the books that they discuss at their meetings.  In addition to working with these area book clubs, the store supports several book clubs that meet in the store.  During the holiday season, Park Road Books partners with Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s Communities in Schools on a project they call their Book Tree.  This project provides area children with free books that they can keep.

The history of Park Road Books can be traced back to 1977, when John Barringer founded the bookstore under the name of Little Professor Book Center.  In August of 1999, Sally Brewster joined the store, and they changed the name to Park Road Books.  She bought the store from Barringer in 2003, and she has run it ever since.  Over the years, Park Road Books has established itself as an integral part of Storied Charlotte.

Tags: Reading Aloud

Book Club Madness Is Back

February 19, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

My Storied Charlotte blog is all about celebrating Charlotte’s community of readers, but this community is really an amalgamation of many communities that are drawn together by a shared love of reading.  As I see it, Charlotte’s myriad book clubs are examples of smaller communities of readers.  Like the neighborhoods in a city, these book clubs have their own identities and histories even though they have much in common with each other and with the larger surrounding community.  Still, a friendly sense of competition often springs up in such circumstances.  

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation is providing Charlotte-area book clubs with an opportunity to compete against one another in an event called Book Club Madness.  I contacted Maggie Bean, the Director of Communications with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation, and I asked her for more information about this event.  Here is what she sent to me:

It’s like March Madness, but we’ve substituted books for basketballs!

Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation is back with our second annual Book Club Madness, a free competition for local book clubs. The challenges were a big part of the success of last year’s competition and centered on Library resources and building community within the participant’s own book club. With 862 participants and 177 book clubs we knew we would need to freshen things up to bring them back again this year.

That’s why we developed new challenges including a fun tie-in with the Library’s Community Read event. In addition to our grand prize of a table at the 2024 Verse & Vino gala ($2,000 value) we will be announcing prizes for the top three scorers. We felt it was only fair to reward our book club overachievers, some scoring over 1,000 points! (To put it in perspective, book clubs must score 100 points to be included the drawing for the Verse & Vino table.)

Lastly, I want to thank WFAE for being our Book Club Madness sponsor. We are so excited to have them on our team helping us promote literacy and community. Registration is open at foundation.cmlibrary.org/bookclubmadness. Join us for a series of four weekly games starting Wednesday, March 6. All participants will receive a free custom tote bag for those loads of Library loans. Join the Madness!

Book Club Madness sounds like fun to me in part because it taps into one of pleasures associated with participating in a book club.  Book clubs come in all shapes and sizes, but they all involve reading and discussing common texts.  For the participants in book clubs, there is a sense of community that comes from having shared reading experiences with the other club members.  These common reading experiences provide opportunities to talk about one’s personal responses to a book, to raise questions in a nonjudgmental environment, and to share favorite moments and scenes from a story.  Sometimes we think of reading as a solitary activity, but participating in book clubs can help transform reading into a community-building activity.  As far as I’m concerned, Book Club Madness adds to the fun of belonging to the Storied Charlotte community.  

Tags: Book Clubs

Tameka Fryer Brown on Celebrating Black Culture with All Children All Year

February 11, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

A week or two ago, I contacted Tameka Fryer Brown, a Charlotte children’s author whose books include That Flag, Not Done Yet: Shirley Chisholm’s Fight for Change, and Brown Baby Lullaby, and I asked her if she would be willing to send me a few paragraphs about how she incorporates Black history in her books for children. I was thinking that I would feature her response in a blog post related to Black History Month. She responded by asking if I would be open to her “talking about how children’s books that center on Black culture … are important to share with all children?” Of course, I said yes.  A few days later, she sent me the following commentary:

Did you know there are designated themes for Black History Month? Each year, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History encourages a particular area of focus for celebrating the myriad contributions to society made by Black people, both in the past as well as the present. From the ASALH website:

“When Carter G. Woodson established Negro History week in 1926, he realized the importance of providing a theme to focus the attention of the public. The intention has never been to dictate or limit the exploration of the Black experience, but to bring to the public’s attention important developments that merit emphasis.

“For those interested in the study of identity and ideology, an exploration of ASALH’s Black History themes is itself instructive. Over the years, the themes reflect changes in how people of African descent in the United States have viewed themselves, the influence of social movements on racial ideologies, and the aspirations of the Black community.”

This year’s BHM theme is African Americans and the Arts. As a literary artist whose medium is children’s books, I, of course, am overjoyed! Today, there are many titles available for kids and young adults by Black authors and illustrators, about the creative contributions Black people have made throughout history—not only in literature, but also in the visual and performing arts, culinary arts, architecture, fashion, film, music, and more.

We who have been educated in the United States know that during Black History Month, an emphasis on slavery and Jim Crow has typically governed the narratives presented to our children, assuming any observance is held at all. Providing such a limited perspective on the Black experience can foster a very narrow and pitiable view of Black lives, Black history, and by extension, Black destiny. This is harmful for all our kids.

Does our nation’s history include vile and heart-rending stories of suffering for Black people? Absolutely. And it is important not to shy away from those truths in our educational system. Those truths are a part of American history and should be shared throughout the year as such. But when it comes to “celebrating” Black History Month, we must focus on more than Black suffering. There are many celebratory aspects of our history, culture, and traditions that can be shared. This year, I pray those of us who have children in our lives will expose them to more than the usual tales of oppression and overcoming. Let’s be intentional about adding more stories of Black innovation, imagination, creativity, and joy to our children’s literary diets…not only in February, but in every other month as well.

For more information about Tameka and her books, please click on the following link:  https://tamekafryerbrown.com/

In her email message to me, Tameka added, “Thanks for sharing your platform.”  Well, as I see it, the thanks should go to Tameka for sharing her thoughts on the importance of celebrating Black culture throughout the year and for providing the children of Storied Charlotte and beyond with inspiring and joyful books.

Two Creative Writers Responding to Black History

February 05, 2024 by Mark West
Categories: Storied Charlotte

February is Black History Month, so now is an especially fitting time to reflect on the connections between Black history and Charlotte’s community of readers and writers. During last year’s Black History Month, I wrote a Storied Charlotte blog post about four works of nonfiction that deal with Black history in the Charlotte area, but Black history is not a topic that only historians address in their books.  Charlotte is home to several creative writers who also respond to Black history in their published works.  Two such writers are the novelist Malika J. Stevely, whose publications include the historical novel Song of Redemption, and the poet Grace C. Ocasio, whose poetry collections include Family Reunion and The Speed of Our Lives.   I contacted Malika and Grace and asked them for more information about how Black history informs their writing.

Malika J. Stevely. Image by Lowaunz Farrow

Here is Malika’s response:

As a genealogist and writer of historical literature, I find that Black history shapes my creative writing by allowing me to bring to life stories of extraordinary people who made their way through walls despite the systems that were meant to confine them.

I’ve heard some authors explain why they choose to avoid writing about Black history stating that their storytelling would be limited due to the restrictions Blacks have had within this country. To that, I say they don’t know enough about Black history. They don’t know enough about the joys and triumphs folded within our past. And what I find most tragic is that they don’t see the human aspect of the people who lived through these experiences.

When many people think of history, they see it as an occurrence from long ago that has no effect or presence in the modern world. In fact, history is always repeating itself, changing its color and bending its shape to fit into its new decade. As an author, when I’m able to dive into Black history and allow it to move around the peaks of my imagination, it reminds me of seeing a black-and-white photo or news footage from a historical event and later seeing it in color. It brings a new perspective; it evokes and heightens empathy, making it more relatable, and allowing me to see it from contemporary eyes.

When writing historical literature, I not only want my audience to experience time travel, but my main goal is to humanize my characters and make the reader feel as if they are walking alongside them.

I remember Lonnie Bunch, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, say that “history is a weapon,” while Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Alice Walker, once said that “history is a keeping of records.” I am protective of Black history and have an unshakable desire to keep it alive. I am protective of the people who have forgone certain experiences that cause me to peel back the layers of their stories and the decisions they made.

Black history motivates me to share truth and stories that may have never been publicly told by those who experienced it. It is in gratitude that I write creatively, not just for myself or my audience, but for those who were never privileged to feel the texture of a pen and its ink. When writing creatively, I am humbled to spiritually take along on the journey those who came before me, for they will know that their struggles were not in vain or forgotten.

Here is Grace’s response:

When I was growing up in New York, I celebrated Black history week, what has now morphed into Black history month. My Uncle Arthur, who lived in South Carolina, sent my brother and me a copy of The Black Book. For a long time, that book was like the Bible to me.  Thus, my experience of Black life early on shaped many of the poems I went on to write as an adult. 

In terms of my writing process, I do not intentionally set out to write about the Black experience. The process of writing a poem about a Black historical figure or Black history in general is wholly an organic phenomenon for me. When I was an active member of the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective, an organization founded by the distinguished poet Lenard D. Moore, I, along with other members, was challenged to write on historically relevant subjects. Some of the poems I wrote, namely about Emmett Till, Michelle Obama, and Nelson Mandela, were inspired by writing prompts shared during the collective’s meetings. 

Recently, some poems I wrote with an emphasis on semi-autobiographical material appeared in the North Carolina Poetry Society’s Witness: Appalachia to Hatteras, an annual collection of poetry. This collection features the work of established poets and student poets alike as part of the Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet Series. Some of my poems in this publication center around Black female singers and dancers who were groundbreaking in their contributions to not just Black history, but contemporary American history as well: singers included are Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, and Whitney Houston while dancers included are Katherine Dunham, Judith Jamison, and Misty Copeland. Soon, I hope to complete my work-in-progress poem on Josephine Baker. 

I thank Malika and Grace for sharing their reflections on how Black history relates to their work as creative writers. As we celebrate Black History Month, it is important that we remember that so many of the stories that make up Storied Charlotte are shaped in one way or another by Black history and by Black writers. 

Tags: Black History Month
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