Tavis Smiley - Too Important to Fail: Saving Americas Boys

About
TAVIS SMILEY
REPORTS

TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS, a series of primetime specials, debuted in January 2010 with One on One with Hillary Clinton. The next, MLK: A Call to Conscience, aired on March 31, and the series continued when Smiley teamed up with Academy Awardwinning director Jonathan Demme to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans: Been in the Storm too Long on July 21. The fourth episode premiered December 29 with an inside look into music programs for schools and a one-on-one conversation with L.A. Philharmonics music director, Gustavo Dudamel.

Too Important to Fail is part of American Graduate: Lets Make It Happen, a public media initiative supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to help local communities across America find solutions to address the dropout crisis. For web-exclusive content, visit www.tooimportanttofail.com.

TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS is produced for PBS by The Smiley Group, Inc./TS Media, Inc. Executive producer is Jacoba Atlas. Funding is provided by The California Endowment, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the National Education Association (NEA).

About Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley is host of the nightly talk show Tavis Smiley on PBS, and host of The Tavis Smiley Show and co-host of Smiley & West from Public Radio International (PRI). Smiley launched America I AM: The African American Imprint, a world-class traveling exhibition celebrating the extraordinary impact of African American contributions to our nation and the world. The exhibit is on a four-year, ten-city tour and is currently on display in St. Louis, Missouri. Smiley is also the author/editor of 15 books, including The New York Times bestsellers Covenant with Black America and What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America. His most recent book is FAIL UP: 20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure. In 2009, TIME magazine named him one of the Worlds Most Influential People.

For more information, visit www.tavistalks.com.

SmileyBooks Titles of
Related Interest

BOOKS

FAIL UP:
20 Lessons on Building Success from Failure
by Tavis Smiley

THE COVENANT In Action
Compiled by Tavis Smiley

AMERICA I AM LEGENDS:
Rare Moments and Inspiring Words
Edited by SmileyBooks
Introduction by Tavis Smiley

AMERICA I AM BLACK FACTS:
THE TIMELINES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
1601-2008
By Quintard Taylor

NEVER MIND SUCCESSGO FOR
GREATNESS!
The Best Advice Ive Ever Received
by Tavis Smiley

HOPE ON A TIGHTROPE:
Words & Wisdom
by Cornel West

PEACE FROM BROKEN PIECES:
How To Get Through What
Youre Going Through
by Iyanla Vanzant

BLACK BUSINESS SECRETS:
500 Tips, Strategies and Resources for
African American Entrepreneurs
by Dante Lee

BRAINWASHED:
Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority
by Tom Burrell

DVDs/CDs
STAND: a film by Tavis Smiley

All of the above are available at your local
bookstore, or may be ordered online through
Hay House (see contact information on next page)

We hoped you enjoyed this SmileyBooks publication.
If you would like to receive additional information, please contact:

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It takes a village to raise a child and in this case its taken several villages at The Smiley Group to bring Too Important to Fail, the documentary, to viewers, and Too Important to Fail: Saving Americas Boys, the book, to readers.

To the West Coast village of TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS in Los Angeles, I offer a standing ovation to my extraordinary team including executive producer Coby Atlas, producer Sasheen Artis, supervising producer Pat Bischetti, our brilliant editor Judy Lieber, and our production coordinator Maleena Lawrence, who shared my vision and passion for this project. And of course we couldnt have ever produced such an inspiring piece of work without the contributions of Allan Palmer, Darryl Smith, Sam Sewell, Susumu Tokunow, Andre Artis, Sid Lubitsch, Boryana Alexandrova, Marcus Bleeker, and Mike Kelly.

To the East Coast village of SmileyBooks in New York, I extend my deep gratitude and awe of the hard work and the dedication it took to complete this book in such record time. A special thanks to SmileyBooks president and project editor Cheryl Woodruff, writer extraordinaire Sylvester Brown, designer Juan Roberts for our extraordinary cover, and SB staffers Kirsten Melvey and Thomas Louie for helping to make it happen.

To PR magician Leshelle Sargent who worked this project wearing two hatsgetting the word out for both TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS and SmileyBooksplease accept our coast to coast thanks.

A very special thank you to Denise Pines and Carolyn Fowler who made invaluable contributions to this project and kept the train on the track behind the scenes.

I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Alfred Tatum for his generous and invaluable expert reading of the text.

Last and hardly least, my sincere thanks to Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and CPB itself for their generous funding of the television special and for their wisdom in launching the American Graduate: Lets Make It Happen initiative to end Americas dropout crisis.

Also by Tavis Smiley

Books

Fail Up:20 Lessons on Building Success
from Failure

What I Know for Sure: My Story of
Growing Up in America

Covenant with Black America
Edited by Tavis Smiley

THE COVENANT In Action
Compiled by Tavis Smiley
Doing Whats Right: How to Fight for What
You Believeand Make a Difference

Keeping the Faith
Hard Left
How to Make Black America Better
Edited by Tavis Smiley

DVDs/CDs

STAND: a film by Tavis Smiley