FYI: 18th Annual African American Children's Book Fair - Philadelphia

THE 18TH ANNUAL AFRICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN'S BOOK FAIR

The 18th Annual African American Children's Book Fair, will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2009, 1:00-3:00PM, Community College of Philadelphia, 17th Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, PA, in the Gymnasium. The event is free and opened to the public. Rain or snow....the good books will have an audience.

The Book Fair started out on a cold frosty day at John Wanamaker Department Store. Today it is one of the oldest and largest single day events for African American Children's Books in the nation.

The success of the program is due to the fact that we offer the best and the brightest from the African American Children's literary community. Parents, caregivers, and educators from the tri-state area are very supportive of the event. They all understand that children who read make more responsible decisions about their lifestyles.

Participants are nationally best selling authors/illustrators. Many have won the American Library Association Coretta Scott King award. Confirmed E.B. Lewis, Tonya Bolden, Deborah Gregory, Sean Qualls, Eric Velasquez, Shelby Williams, Nicole Bailey-Williams, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Trice, Lynda Jones, Lorraine Dowdy Gordon, Jerry Craft, London Ladd, Kelly Starling Lyons, Booker T. Mattison, Felicia Pride, Katura Hudson, Cheryl Hudson, Mutiya Vision, Charisse Carney-Nunes, and Lori Nelson

These authors/illustrators have written some of the best books of our generation. This book fair is an opportunity for them to promote their works to our children to enlighten, empower and enrich their lives. The book fair will offer the largest selection of affordable and best selling African American titles in the region to purchase.

NBC10 will once again host the Reading Room offering children a brand new book (while supplies last) of some of our guest authors/illustrators. The young attendees not only get a great book, but the opportunity to meet the person who wrote and illustrated the book.

In addition to the authors and illustrators we have an area called Literary Row that distributes book related promotional materials, a parent's book resources section and an Educator's Book Book Give-Away.

With proper ID some of our sponsors will give away books of some of our guest participants (while supplies last) to educators to use in the classroom libraries. I Lead-The Urban Genesis Project, and PECO are some of the sponsors. Cabot Creamery Cooperative is presenting information on good nutrition. Comcast, Health Partner, The Literary Media Consulting, Just Us Books will also offer resources for good reading habits.

The afternoon is filled with games, prizes and promotional give-away's. For general information about the book fair call (215) 878-BOOK.

This event will kick-off our "Take A Book Home," campaign. Children need to have books in the home. We are encouraging care-givers to create a library in the home. After all a book opens up world of Opportunities.

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What would Teddy Roosevelt think about Michael Vick?

Many of you may know I live and breathe Philadelphia. I was born and raised in the outskirts of this town and I'm proud to now live within it's boundaries. With that, comes a love for the Philadelphia Eagles.

For the record, I support the franchise and it's signing of Michael Vick. Many outsiders probably don't understand head coach Andy Reid and the problems his two oldest sons have had with drugs and run-ins with the law. To make a long story short, they've made some terrible decisions, and they've been given a second chance. Michael Vick deserves that chance too.

And as it turns out, the day after the Eagles' shocked the world by signing Michael Vick, was a day I was able to look into the past and find out what Teddy Roosevelt might think about what Michael Vick did. Douglas Brinkley's book The Wilderness Warrior, gives us a glimpse of Roosevelt's views on animal cruelty.

Roosevelt, an avid hunter, had no problem defending his seemingly hypocritical beliefs. It would be a difficult task to find someone who loves hunting - and eating game - more than Roosevelt. His defense? Darwinism. Stay with me here... In the wild, the death of the hunted was very violent, where prey were often torn to pieces by their predators. Hunting, if done correctly, was a more human way of killing the animal. Roosevelt insisted that hunters follow an ethical code to make it a true gentleman sport. He didn't like traps or abusive treatment of wild or domestic animals. Even cattle and lambs brought to slaughter should be handled with dignity. The Roosevelt family, firmly believed that animal shelters and sterilization methods needed to be established in major cities. So I think we can conclude that Roosevelt would not have approved of dog fighting.

As a child a horse being flogged or a dog being kicked made Roosevelt sick. President Roosevelt believed that all animals could feel pain, and therefore deliberate infliction of pain had to be stopped. Roosevelt also believed that some animals had emotions and thought similar to humans. To quote him...

"I believe that the higher mammals and birds have reasoning powers, which differ in degree rather than kind from the lower reasoning powers of, for instance, the lower savages."

Roosevelt's grandfather, Cornelius V.S. Roosevelt and his grand-uncle John J. Roosevelt both played integral parts in the establishment and incorporation of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

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