Summer Project 2004
READ AND RISE: Doug E. Fresh Reader
Fellows:
Lauren Causey • Khadijah Fetuga • Sasha Joseph • Cassandra Pelham • Kerri Rowe Project
Project Contributors:
Grace Maccarone • Liz Mills
Given the need for books by and for African-Americans, the 2004 Scholastic CDF Fellows developed a children’s book proposal featuring an African American “celebrity” author: Doug E. Fresh. This proposed paperback series addressed a market need and aimed to serve as an instructional and inspirational resource. In the proposed book series, three modern-day kids meet figures of the Harlem Renaissance and relive the Harlem of yesteryear. When they discover a treasure map that leads them to the past, they embark on journeys filled with simple mysteries. Historical figures met along the way include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, and Paul Robeson; more contemporary figures encountered are James Baldwin, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, and Gwendolyn Brooks. “As the three main characters turn to reading to solve their problems,” the Fellows assure, “a new group of African-American children will be taught the power that books hold. They will also be taught the enjoyment that can come from reading.”
