Cara Byrne
Cara Byrne, PhD, has immersed herself in the world of children’s literature for the past decade, studying how stories shape perceptions of race, age and identity. As a lecturer in the Case Western Reserve University College of Arts and Sciences’ writing program, she explores these themes in her courses, research and a book slated to be published next year by Johns Hopkins University Press. The book analyzes children’s books that include health and wellness messaging.
But her work extends far into the community as well.
Byrne (GRS ’11, ’16, English) developed Book Buddies, a program that connects her students with second graders at Noble Elementary School in Cleveland Heights through pen-pal letters, one-on-one reading sessions and frequent visits—to Noble and the CWRU campus. Byrne’s students carefully select books covering a range of voices and perspectives and then meet with the younger students for meaningful conversations that foster a love of reading.
Byrne, also a researcher at the Schubert Center for Child Studies on campus, believes children’s literature can build bridges—inside and outside the classroom. She spoke with art/sci about the lessons picture books can teach.
Kwame Alexander, a best-selling author and Emmy-winning producer, read to elementary-school children and Case Western Reserve students participating in the Book Buddies program that CWRU faculty member Cara Byrne leads. The university’s Baker-Nord Institute for the Humanities organized this campus event when it brought Alexander to campus for Awe, the Cleveland Humanities Festival held in 2024. | Photo by Nicholas McLaughlin
When I first taught a course on picture books at CWRU in 2015, I noticed my students had insightful takes on the texts but made broad assumptions about childhood. Many believed kids were shielded from difficult experiences, but I’ve met children who have faced cancer, loss and war. I wanted to create opportunities for my students to engage with real children and see how stories resonate beyond the page.
In 2016, I started working with schools in [Cleveland’s] Hough neighborhood, and, later, we expanded to Noble Elementary. These schools introduce college and career pathways early, often to students who would be the first in their families to attend college. Book Buddies helps make that path feel tangible, and it has given my Academic Inquiry Seminar students insights into childhood as well.
Now in its sixth year, Book Buddies fosters literacy through relationships between CWRU students and Noble Elementary students. Our students help younger readers develop confidence while introducing them to college life.
Most of my students are future engineers, nurses or scientists—not education majors—and this may be their first time in an elementary school classroom since they were kids. They gain a new appreciation for the role of books in shaping young minds and often rethink their own perceptions of education and childhood.
Children from Noble Elementary School who participated in CWRU’s Book Buddies program during a Baker-Nord Institute for the Humanities event on campus. | Photo by Nicholas McLaughlin
When they visit campus, they see themselves in a new way. [One] boy came to school in a Spiderman costume because he wanted his Book Buddy to know that he was a superhero. These are real relationships that are formed.
Support for the program comes from Noble Elementary School and its second-grade teachers as well as CWRU partners, including the CWRU Writing Program, Baker-Nord Institute for the Humanities, the Kelvin Smith Library and the Larry Sears and Sally Zlotnick Sears think[box].