• Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United

WHERE BLACK CULTURE, COMMUNITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS MEET

Sign up for ESSENCE Newsletters the keep the Black women at the forefront of conversation.

Your email is required.
Your email is in invalid format.
Confirm email is required.
Email did not match.
Select the newsletters you'd like to receive:
Please select at least one option.
By clicking Subscribe Now, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Skip to content
SUBSCRIBE
  • MAGAZINE
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Celebrity
    • OTE – Screen Kings
    • Daniel Kaluuya Digital Cover
    • Digital Cover Method Man
    • Digital Cover Zazie
    • Celebrity News
    • ‘Yes, Girl!’ Podcast
    • Entertainment
      • The State Of R&B
    • Black Celeb Couples
    • Celebrity Moms
    • Red Carpet
    • If Not For My Girls
  • Fashion
    • ESSENCE Fashion House 2022
    • Fashion News
    • Street Style
    • Accessories
    • Fashion Week
  • Beauty
    • Best In Black Beauty 2023
    • ESSENCE Hair Awards 2022
    • AVEENO Skin Health Startup Accelerator
    • Beauty News
    • Skin
    • Makeup
    • Nails
    • Girls United: Beautiful Possibilities
  • Hair
    • Hair News
    • Natural
    • Relaxed
    • Transitioning
    • Weave
    • 4C
  • Love
    • Love & Sex News
    • The Solve Podcast
    • Weddings
    • Parenting
    • Relationships
  • Lifestyle
    • Black History Month
    • ESSENCE Gift Guide 2022
    • ESSENCE + smartwater Live Well Challenge
    • Build Your Legacy 2022
    • Dream & Plan with Confidence Prudential
    • AMEX Platinum Travel
    • Homecoming Season 2022
    • Lifestyle News
    • Health & Wellness
    • ESSENCE Eats
    • Money & Career
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Black Travel Guide
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Paint The Polls Black
    • Raise Your Voice
    • Culture
    • Politics
  • Video
  • Festival
    • 2023 ESSENCE Festival Of Culture
    • 2022 Fest Videos
  • Events
    • 2023 Wellness House
    • 2023 Black Women In Hollywood
    • 2023 HOLLYWOOD HOUSE
    • 2023 ESSENCE Film Festival
    • 2022 Girls United Summit
    • 2022 ESSENCE Fashion House
    • 2022 Homecoming Season
    • She Got Now
    • Dear Black Men
    • I Am Speaking
    • Power Tools
  • Studios
  • Girls United
Home · Celebrity

This NFL Player Is Making Black Children Fall In Love With Reading

Meet Brandon Carr.
Brandon Carr Is Bringing Literacy To Black Children Through Lit Buddies
litbuddies.com
By Keyaira Boone · Updated December 6, 2020

Bookworm-turned-baller Brandon Carr is known throughout the NFL for his discipline, but his imagination is what landed him on the gridiron. It’s also inspired him to help other young people foster their love of reading through a service that comes right to their classrooms.

Before he was suiting up for the Baltimore Ravens, Carr was losing himself at local Scholastic book fairs. Growing up in Flint, Michigan each colorful character he encountered represented a step outside of his surroundings. 

“Early on books were just an outlet for me,” Carr told ESSENCE. “Back in my early days I was a Bernstein Bears guy, I loved me some Clifford.”

“I was able to indulge and to kind of dive into the fantasy world, with fiction books and just different characters and have an outlet from the daily rigors and stresses,” he continued.  

The tales of lives that were so different from his own were not only a temporary escape for Carr, they were an invitation. “It also inspired me to imagine and dream,” he explained. 

Today, the cornerback for the Baltimore Ravens spends more time with Malcolm Gladwell and Tony Robbins than Goosebumps, but he has never forgotten the impact young adult fiction has had on his young life. 

That’s why Carr created a literacy subscription box program called Lit Buddies. Distributed to classrooms in Baltimore and Dallas through his Carr Cares Foundation, each box is designed to elevate children’s reading skills and encourage them to enjoy reading. The brightly colored boxes include two books each in addition to trinkets the whole family can enjoy like wristlets, water bottles and tote bags. 

Carr knows from experience that children require support and encouragement to connect with reading material.

“My world was education. My mom was a teacher. My two aunts from Flint Michigan [were teachers] as well. The daily jargon was education,” he said.

View this post on Instagram

Take a peek inside our December box 👁 The holiday ornament and stocking are keepsakes for years to come! Lit Buddies boxes are available for single box purchase, 6 month, and 12 month subscriptions. #carrcareslitbuddies #litbuddiesbox

A post shared by Children's Literacy Non-Profit (@litbuddiesbox) on Dec 20, 2019 at 1:59pm PST

Lit Buddies provides children with the opportunity to not only transcend their surroundings, but to use the skills they’re developing to change them. Notebooks and pencils accompany the other items in the box. Once they finish the books, children can use their voices to reflect on what they’ve read. 

“It’s so much information out there and I think it’s important that we can for one, comprehend what we’re reading so we can kind of digest and make our own informed decisions about our life,” said Carr.

Reading impacts “what we perceive life to be and what we want it to be,” he continued, adding that he wants the program to “lay the foundation” for a generation of informed young people because he has seen where a proper education can take you.  

View this post on Instagram

We’ve all got a story to tell. The true beauty of books is that they can help us frame our own stories and better understand the experience of others ✨. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Whenever a young reader gets introduced to a new book, they have the opportunity to explore a new world and experience the unknown 🙌🏽. There’s still time to grab your Lit Buddies Black History Box for your little one. And don’t forget to use code: CARRCARES for $5 OFF your first box purchase! #litbuddiesbox #carrcares⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ____________⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #Blackkidsread #RaisingReaders #Currentread #Childrensliterature #ReadAloud #KidsBooks #LittleReaders #BabyBookworm #ReadtoKids #LoveforReading #KidLit #ChildrensBookstagram #Kidsbookstagram #LiteracyMatters #Kidswhoread #Readtosuceed #Youngreaders #Diversebooks #booksonbooksonbooks #EarlyReaders #BooksforChildren

A post shared by Children's Literacy Non-Profit (@litbuddiesbox) on Feb 20, 2020 at 12:03pm PST

During visits to schools Carr uses his time in the classroom to explain how reading comprehension is an important asset in every career from the boardroom to the locker room. He dedicates so much time to giving back that he was nominated for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2019.

“Before I go into schools, I just step back in time and just try to put myself in that moment, and just reflect back to my days as a child,” he said, adding that his goal is to “keep it simple for kids.” 

“Everybody wants to be an athlete. I’m like ‘OK. You want to be an athlete? Can you understand the information presented before you when you get this big contract or [if] you’re going for this big endorsement? When you got all these people coming at you for services and money?’ So I think that that makes [reading] important to you,” Carr explained. “If that’s your big dream, your big goal, then that’s why it’s important. So you won’t get taken advantage of and you can control your own destiny.” 

Amen.

TOPICS:  Baltimore baltimore ravens brandon carr ef2019 essencefestival2019 flint michigan NFL watlter payton man of the year
COMPANY INFORMATION
  • Our Company
  • Customer Service
  • Essence Ventures
  • Change Your Address
  • Contact Us
  • Job Opportunities
  • Internships
  • Media Kit
  • tag
SUBSCRIBE
  • Newsletters
  • Give a Gift of ESSENCE
  • Magazine Tablet Edition
FOLLOW US
MORE ON ESSENCE
  • Home
  • Love
  • Celebrity
  • Beauty
  • Hair
  • Fashion
  • ESSENCE festival

ESSENCE.com is part of ESSENCE Communications, Inc.

Essence may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.

©2023 ESSENCE Communications Inc. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Essence.com Advertising Terms

Get The ESSENCE Newsletter and
Special Offers delivered to your inbox

By clicking Sign Up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Get The ESSENCE Magazine
by subscribing below
subscribe now