By: Charla Cole/ Instructional Paraprofessional
The students and staff at Ocean Academy had the pleasure to meet Rashad Malik Davis, author and illustrator of “Carefree Like Me”. This book centers around two best friends who magically get pulled into another dimension. In their quest to make it back home they soon realize they must rely on empathy and emotional intelligence. With African American history month soon approaching we were honored to get to know him and learn how through perseverance and hard work, anything is possible. Throughout the day, he met with students of all grades and shared his perspective on how uplifting children of diverse backgrounds and celebrating their differences is not only beautiful, but essential in today’s world. He also gave a personal reading of “Carefree Like Me” to each class and offered advice and encouragement to our future young artists and writers.
Rashad Malik Davis is also an illustrator and character designer with much of his work based on themes of spirituality and social injustice. We at Ocean Academy would like to extend a personal thank you to Mr. Davis for sharing his experience and body of work with us and look forward to seeing him again in the future. He taught us just how important using emotional literacy to promote the understanding of diversity truly is.
Did You Know: The main characters, “Amir” and “Neena” of “Carefree Like Me” are actually based on Rashad Malik Davis and his childhood best friend Nina who still love to go on adventures together.
