 | Black girl you are Atlas Author: Watson, Renee | |
| Price: $11.47 | ||
Summary:
Using a mixture of poetic forms from haiku and tanka to prose poems and free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power with love, understanding, and celebration.
| Illustrator: | Holmes, Ekua |
Awards:
Coretta Scott King Author Honor, 2025
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (+) (12/15/23)
School Library Journal (+) (01/01/24)
Booklist (03/01/24)
The Hornbook (+) (00/03/24)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 03/01/2024 Watson’s latest collection of poetry is a powerful mixture of shortform poetry and free verse. The semi-autobiographical poetry collection starts with an exploration of Black girlhood. As readers, we are introduced to shorter poems on seemingly mundane topics, such as roller skates, pressing combs, and Werther’s candy, to more complicated themes of survival, Black identity, and resilience. Watson’s poetry swings like a pendulum, at one moment focusing on the aspects of Black joy and pride that are evident in the poems “Church Press and Curl” and “When I Say I Love Us” and then highlighting the violence and brutality that Black people have to endure in the poems “Knock, Knock” and “A Pantoum for Breonna Taylor.” The poems are accompanied by Holmes’ breathtaking collage art. The art pieces work in tandem with Watson’s poetry, creating the space for a visually stimulating narrative. As readers, we travel through Watson’s early life, highlighting both the struggles and the joy. We end the poetry collection with a piece called “Phenomenon,” where Watson ruminates on the pure magic of Black resilience. - Copyright 2024 Booklist.
