BALTIMORE — The Reginald F. Lewis Museum hosts the 3rd annual African American Children’s Book Fair, featuring books, stories and characters that children can relate to. Children and their families will enjoy readings from award-winning authors, illustration workshops, live cultural performances and other fun-filled activities. Additionally, families can explore the Book Village for hard-to-find titles. This showcase of African American children’s literature is the largest of its kind in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. Area.
Special guests include poet Eloise Greenfield along with Everett Todd Adams, Floyd Cooper, Zetta Elliot, London Ladd, James Merritt, Frank Morrison, Lori Lee Nelson, Jerdine Nolen, Jared Parks, Sherika Sadler, Shadra Strickland, Renee Watson and Carol Boston Weatherford.
Free children’s books will be distributed while supplies last. Admission to the museum is free during the event.
This program is sponsored by BGE and presented in partnership with Baltimore City Schools and the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
WHEN: Saturday, May 9, 2015, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture, 830 East Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
COST: FREE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit http://bit.ly/1BEGKY4.
Just three out of one hundred children’s books published in 2013 were about African Americans, according to a study published by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin. The African American Children’s Book Fair, in its third year, was organized to encourage literacy, promote a reading culture, and establish family engagement that convenes parents and children around interest, enthusiasm, and excitement for African American children’s books. “Children’s book fairs are so very important; they are one of the few remaining ways for readers to discover the wealth of African American children’s books that are available,” says Troy Johnson, President of African American Literature Book Club. Skipp Sanders, Executive Director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum says, “It’s crucial to have books with role models that reflect young readers. Otherwise, the risk becomes that our next generation grows up feeling invisible, and it becomes that much harder for them to build a positive self-image at a critical time in development.”
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture is Baltimore’s premier facility highlighting the history and accomplishments of African Americans with a special focus on Maryland’s African American community. A Smithsonian affiliate, the museum is the East Coast’s largest African American museum, occupying an 82,000 square-foot facility with ample permanent and special exhibition space, interactive learning environments, auditorium, resource center, oral history recording studio, museum shop, café, classrooms, meeting rooms, outside terrace and reception areas. The museum is located near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor at the corner of Pratt and President Streets. The museum is also accessible on Baltimore’s Charm City Circulator Orange and Green Routes. For more information, please call 443-263-1800 or visit www.rflewismuseum.org.