The animation studio behind the Oscar-winning piece “Hair Love,” Lion Forge, is partnering with Nine PBS to create a new animated multimedia series called “Drawn In.” Alex Stallings, senior director of early learning at Nine PBS, and Mariah Richards, a voice actor in the series, told KMOX all about the project.
“It is from St. Louis, for St. Louis children, and is a multimedia platform endeavor around literacy,” Stallings said. “We’re so excited about this partnership..We know that we wanted the best for our children, and so it really was [founder] David and Nine that came together to really launch this.”
Richards voices a character in the series named Lady M.
“Lady M is cool,” she said. “She’s a 60-year-old comic book store owner. She loves comics. She thinks comics should be shared with everyone. And I just love her. She’s somebody that the kids can talk to, and she doesn’t talk down to kids.”
Stallings said one of the main motivations behind the series is to help kids of all backgrounds access educational materials that reflect their identities and lives.
“We know clearly that literature right now does not accurately represent all of our children. And when that happens, there are learning deficits that happen,” she said. “And we talk about the literacy gap so much, but it's not really the weight for the children to carry around, it’s around the materials presented to them.”
Hear more about “Drawn In” on KMOX:
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