people &places
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Read All About It
1 Grammy-nominated musician Pierce Freelon reads from “Daddy-Daughter Day,” the picture book he authored. 2 Book Harvest Communications Manager Benay Hicks with Braden Wilkerson, Kayla Wilkerson and baby James Wilkerson. 3 Children had the chance to explore a fire truck thanks to the City of Durham Fire Department. 4 Ava N. Simmons shows off her activity and coloring book, “Acid-Base Experiment Fun with Ava the S.T.E.M. Princess.” 5 Gianna holds her new book. 3
BY SAM EDGE | PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEITH RANKINE
Book Harvest, a
nonprofit dedicated to fostering childhood literacy, hosted its annual summer block party at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park concourse on July 16 at the end of National Summer Learning Week. More than 2,500 attendees joined 75 volunteers and 26 community partners for storytimes, games, a performance by Batalá Durham and a jump rope show by Bouncing Bulldogs, among other activities. A total of 3,601 culturally inclusive children’s books were sent home with attendees, adding to Book Harvest’s total of 132,699 books harvested by kids for summer reading, far exceeding the organization’s goal of 100,000. Book Harvest also celebrated the grand opening of its Family Space, a room full of toys, puppets and free books to facilitate family reading and learning inside Book Harvest’s offices, on July 19. As of press time, the transformed 1,300-square-foot space had already hosted 428 visitors. 12
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durhammag.com
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october/november 2022
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