For Brandon Carr, reading isn’t just fundamental. It’s his purpose. Long before his football career earned him a spot in the 2008 NFL draft, the Flint, Michigan native tackled the importance of literacy. At the influence of his mother, Kathy, who worked as a schoolteacher for 33 years, Carr’s childhood was filled with acclaimed children’s books , including kid classics “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” “The Berenstain Bears,” and “Curious George.” “Those books intrigued me to a point where I signed up for “Scholastic” and read “National Geographic” in the mail every Saturday at the breakfast table,” Carr — who still prides himself on being a book nerd — said. “My dad had the newspaper, I got my mail with the books and my mom sat just watching it all. It got to a point where I was so thirsty for more that I would beg my parents for entire book sets.” Years later, Carr’s unwavering thirst for reading at an early age set the tone for the Carr Cares Foundation , a nonprofit dedicated to...