October 23, 2018

Minneapolis – ABDO (abdobooks.com), a leading educational publisher, is expanding the Duchess Harris Collection, a line of books that provides scholarly expertise with collegiate perspectives for mid- and high-level grades. The new 3–6 grade series explores African American history with a global perspective.

Freedom’s Promise, a series in the Core Library imprint, examines people and events that have influenced society and culture locally, nationally, and internationally, such as Oney Judge and the Black Renaissance in Paris.

“We wanted to create a series that would explore the experiences and influence of African Americans throughout history that are underrepresented in children’s books,” says Monte Kuehl, Vice President, Direct Sales & Content. “Duchess Harris has been critical to this process, providing the knowledge and expertise necessary for such a venture.”

Grace Hansen, Managing Editor of our Core Library imprint, emphasizes, “With the guidance of Duchess Harris, we decided to address topics that are very unique, and topics that are more well-known to create a well-balanced series.” The series intentionally lacks a chronological order to provide ala carte opportunities to develop and/or add to a library’s collection.

The first set of this series will be released in January 2019 and contains 12 titles. Each title begins with an introduction to the topic by Duchess Harris before discussing the person or event in detail. Titles include The Story of the Black National Anthem, The Scottsboro Boys, and The Grand Contraband Camp. Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA, part of the Duchess Harris Collection in the Essential Library imprint for grades 6–12, has been restructured for grades 3–6 as part of the Freedom’s Promise series and will be titled Hidden Heroes: The Human Computers of NASA.

Editor-in-Chief Paul Abdo says, “Freedom’s Promise is an important and unique series that explores moments and highlights individuals that many students are unfamiliar with. It also shows how one person, or one group of people, can make a difference in the world, no matter who they are or where they are from.”

Harris, professor of American Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul, is the curator of the Duchess Harris Collection of ABDO books. She is the author and coauthor of recently released ABDO series including Perspectives on American Progress and Being Female in America.

About ABDO

ABDO has been a leader in children’s educational publishing for school and public libraries since 1985, providing high quality nonfiction and fiction titles for children and young adults in grades PreK–12. The company is known throughout the industry for its excellence in both reading materials and customer service. For more information, visit ABDO online at abdobooks.com.