THE RAP ON LITERACY

Claude Brooks, actor and executive producer of the UPN romantic comedy "second Time Around," is developing "Hip Hop Harry," which he describes as the first hip-hop children's program. Harry is a break-dancing, beatboxing, rhyming, DJ'ing bear who promotes literacy and healthy living. The concept was born when Mr. Brooks helped his young cousin with his homework, "I was thinking that he a knows songs forward and backward but can't figure out basic arithmetic," Mr. Brooks said. "So I started rapping it to him and he picked it up immediately." Mr. Brooks assembled university studies showing rap music helps children learn new material and that, rhyming is a precursor to literacy. Mr. Brooks is taking "Hip Hop Harry" on a series of shopping mall visits and selling DVDs on the Web (www.hiphopharry.com) as he fine-tunes the concept before pitching it to networks, "We're trying to develop a brand and avoid development notes," he said, "We don't want 'Hip Hop Harry' to become 'Pop Star Patty."'