from StarNews Online, Wilmington NC, excerpt

Guest readers bring black literature to kids

Daffinette Dudley reads 'Picking Peas for a Penny' to kindergarten students at Sunset Park Elementary in Wilmington on Friday.

By Si Cantwell

Saturday, February 25, 2012

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi ... – Langston Hughes

As Chrystal Fray read Langston Hughes' poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” to second-graders at Sunset Park Elementary on Friday afternoon, the kids were rapt with attention.

Fray was among the guest readers participating in the annual African-American Read-In Chain, part of the school's Black History Month activities.

Full article: http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20120225/ARTICLES/120229784