Douglass read-athon is rewarding, students say

This weekend, the 12th annual Frederick Douglass Community Read-athon may have fierce competition with SuperBowl pre-parties. But one group of SouthCoast kids in their pre-teens and early teens say they’re taking part in by far the most rewarding event of the year.

Reading the 1845 published autobiography, “Of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Written by Himself,” from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday — just before the Giants and Patriots clash in Indianapolis — will be 13-year-old Manuel Sequeira, an eighth grader at Keith Middle School; 11-year-old Elena Bartolomey, sixth grader at Our Sisters’ School; 12-year-old Anaelle Ndoye, seventh grader at Westport Middle School; and 10-year-old Destine Haywood-Gomes, who goes to school in Wareham.

Anaelle and Elena are reading for the first time. Destine is back for the second year. And Manuel — or “Manny” — has been reading since he was just 7, a distinction that coordinator Laurie Robertson-Lorant remembers well about the precocious young man, whom she met through Shelley Correia of Harbour House. read full story