Read and Rise
By Sandra L. Pinkney
Foreword by Maya Angelou
AR Reading Level 3.0; 0.5 points
Available from Amazon.com
Summary: This book is part of the Read and Rise literacy campaign to promote literacy, in which Scholastic teamed up with the National Urban League. A main goal was to promote a love of reading in inner city, predominately African-American children. The book opens with an inspiring poem by Maya Angelou. The book is illustrated with photos of kids who let reading take them places, sometimes by dressing up in costumes like they find in books they read.
Activities: Read and Rise is partly designed for parents, to increase buy-in for literacy. Teachers might consider making this book part of a Family Reading Night event. Read and Rise is inspiring for primary readers and preschool level.
Connection: Maya Angelou’s foreward to Read and Rise reminds me of “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” by Langston Hughes, which is great for sharing with older students.
I use an excerpt from Maya Angelou’s poem “Choose Your Freedom – Learn to Read” to inspire my students:
Reading is the pathway
From the dungeon
To the door
Freedom
Reading is the highway from
The shadow to the sun
Freedom
Reading is the river
To your liberty
For all your life to come
Let the river run
Learn
Learn to read.
–Maya Angelou
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