Dr. Kimberlie Harris, a veteran elementary school teacher from Macon, Georgia, who has specialized in literacy in schools with high poverty rates, has written I Love a Good Book. Designed to help parents and teachers fight back against the troubling negative reading trends for young Black boys, it is the first book in her Boys Unboxed series.
According to Scholastic’s 2016 Kids and Family Reading Report, 27% of boys (versus 37% of girls) said they read books for fun at least 5 days a week. Forty-five percent of boys (versus only 36% of girls) said they often have trouble finding books they like.
When asked why she wrote the series, Dr. Harris replied, “I wrote this series for all the boys I’ve taught over the past 16 years who hated reading. I wrote it to do something to put an end to all of the book conferences that lead to tears because ‘I don’t like to read or I’m not a good reader.’ I wrote this book for my son and for other young boys, especially African American boys so that they will know that they don’t have to stay inside the sports box. I want them to know that they are free to explore and be so many other things.”
