American Anthems

Jocelyn

It looks like you got some more chapter books too. -

Meredith

Oh, yep. Got more chapter books. Hello, hello, everyone. It's Meredith McKinney here, founder of the Black Book Project. You know I update you all when all our new donations that come in. So the current goal for this year is 2,000 books. It's a drastic increase from the year before, but I'm optimistic and hopeful that we will be able to reach that goal. -We're at 1,711 as of last night. That's not including those couple of Amazon packages. -

Melissa

She's amazing. I mean, she did the project out of a real need that she saw and that she knew firsthand because of her experience, and she works with our school system. So she sees it day in, day out. -Good morning boys and girls. Did everyone find a seat? You want to sit right here? -Yes. -Perfect! So, we are here today because I am the founder of something called the Black Book Project. The Black Book Project is a special project that puts books that look like you all into your hands! So if you look at this book, what do you notice about this little girl on this book? -

Child 1

Ooh! -

Meredith

What do you notice? -She's black. -She's black! And so this is why we're here today. And guess what? You get to pick your own book and you get to keep it and you get to take it home. -

Children

We was gonna read that in that classroom. -

Child 2

I love my hair. -

Child 3

And there's two books. -Yeah, we was gonna read this. -And there's two of them! -

Crystal

So today, um, one of my first graders chose Dancing in the Wings. I noticed she was, um, getting teary eyed. So I said, you know, "Hazel, what- what's wrong?" And it was because, um, the illustration, she said, was just so beautiful, and she likes to dance. The interest in seeing this little girl dancing, looking like Hazel, it was touching. -Uh, extraordinary- extraordinary words. You can look at it and see if you like it, okay? -You good? -

Child 3

She's black. -She is. -

Child 1

I picked this book because I like it and it reminds me of black history. -

Child 4

I picked this book because I like the artwork on the front. -

Child 2

I'm excited to take it home. -

Child 1

I'm excited to take this book home and read it. -

Robert

I think it's fantastic that, you know, she would take on a project like this. Uh, it's not easy. Those projects that are not easy are the best, and they're the ones that we get more bang for our buck in reference to helping our kids move forward. -Okay. Boys and girls, how do you like your new books? -

Children

YAY!