Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., M.D., had a childhood dream of becoming a physician. Growing upin a single parent home with dire poverty, poor grades, a horrible temper, andlow self-esteem seemed to make that dream impossible until his mother, withonly a third-grade education, challenged her sons to strive for excellence.Young Ben persevered and today is a full professor of neurosurgery, oncology,plastic surgery, and pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and hehas directed pediatric neurosurgery at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Centerfor over a quarter of a century. Carson also is a popular speaker who tells his own story to encourageyoung people to make the most of their abilities. He wrote the memoir GiftedHands (1990) and the inspirational books Think Big (1992) and TheBig Picture (1999). With his wife he founded the Carson Scholars Fund,which gives scholarships to young students.  President Bush awarded Carson the PresidentialMedal of Freedom in 2008.

 The primary purpose of the Ben Carson ReadingRoom Project is to provide funding and support to local schools so that theycan create an environment for children to feel safe and secure as they developtheir reading skills.  The Reading Project is dedicated tofighting illiteracy and promoting leisure reading as a key to unlocking achild's potential.  Our reading room includes approximately 1, 000 booksand cozy, comfortable furniture.  The Reading Room is decorated with colorfulartwork based on Dr. Carson's "THINK BIG" philosophy.  The BenCarson Reading Project is seeing some amazing results.  Last year, students nationally logged over 15million minutes of independent reading in the Ben Carson Reading Rooms.The Ben Carson Reading Project nurtures the entire school and allowsstudents to develop the skills necessary to become lifetime readers and learners.

Check out these pictures of Warford's new Ben Carson Reading Room!