Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice (Hardcover)

Description

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"This collection of poems by women of color covers topics relating to social justice, activism, discrimination and empathy, focusing on the need to speak out and inspiring middle-graders." -Vogue

Woke: A Young Poet's Guide to Justice is a collection of poems to inspire kids to stay woke and become a new generation of activists.

Historically poets have been on the forefront of social movements. Woke is a collection of poems by women that reflects the joy and passion in the fight for social justice, tackling topics from discrimination to empathy, and acceptance to speaking out.

With Theodore Taylor’s bright, emotional art, and writing from Mahogany L. Browne, Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood, kids will be inspired to create their own art and poems to express how they see justice and injustice.

With a foreword by best-selling author Jason Reynolds.

About the Author

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Mahogany L. Browne: The Cave Canem, Poets House and Serenbe Focus Fellow alum is the author of several books including Swag & Dear Twitter: Love Letters Hashed Out On-line, recommended by Small Press Distribution & listed as About.com Best Poetry Books of 2010. She has released five LPs and is co-founder of Brooklyn Slam (currently ranked 2nd in the world) and has toured Germany, Amsterdam, England, Canada and recently Australia as 1/3 of the cultural arts exchange project Global Poetics. Her journalism work has been published in magazines Uptown, KING, XXL, The Source, Canada's The Word and UK's MOBO. Her poetry has been published in literary journals Pluck, Manhattanville Review, Muzzle, Union Station Mag, Literary Bohemian, Bestiary Brown Girl Love and Up The Staircase. She is the Artistic Director of Urban Word NYC (as seen on HBO’s Brave New Voices) and facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country. She is the publisher of Penmanship Books, curator & FridayNight Slam host at Nuyorican Poets Café, and Program Director of BLM@Pratt Institute. She also is a recipient of an Agnes Gund Art for Justice award.

Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York Times bestselling author of With the Fire on High and National Book Award-winning novel The Poet X. She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. She resides in Washington, DC with her partner.

Olivia Gatwood has received national recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as a Title IX Compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. She is a finalist at Brave New Voices, Women of the World and the National Poetry Slam. Olivia has been featured on HBO, Huffington Post, MTV, VH1, and BBC, and she has performed internationally at over two-hundred schools and universities. Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, she now lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Olivia's poetry books include Woke, Life of the Party, and New American Best Friend.

Theodore Taylor III is a children's book author and illustrator living in Richmond, Virginia with his wife Sarah and son Theo. He is the illustrator of Woke, Woke Baby, and the New York Times bestselling C is for Country by Lil Was X. He also received the Coretta Scott King John Steptoe New Talent Award for his work on When The Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop. He is also the illustrator behind Shaquille O'Neal's Little Shaq Series. During the day he also works as a front-end web developer. His work is inspired by his love of music, comics, animation, video games, street art, and more. He is also a self-proclaimed pizza connoisseur.

Jason Reynolds is a New York Times bestselling author, a Newbery Award Honoree, a Printz Award Honoree, National Book Award Honoree, a Kirkus Award winner, a two time Walter Dean Myers Award winner, an NAACP Image Award Winner, and the recipient of multiple Coretta Scott King honors. Reynolds was named the American Booksellers Association’s 2017 and 2018 spokesperson for Indies First, and served as the national spokesperson for the 2018 celebration of School Library Month in April 2018, sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). Jason’s many works of fiction include When I Was the Greatest, Boy in the Black Suit, All American Boys (cowritten with Brendan Kiely), As Brave As You, For Every One, Miles Morales: Spider Man, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), and Long Way Down, which received both a Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor. His novel, Look Both Ways, was a National Book Award Finalist. Jason has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Praise For…

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"This collection of poems by women of color covers topics relating to social justice, activism, discrimination and empathy, focusing on the need to speak out and inspiring middle-graders." -Vogue

"Read it; gift it; use it to challenge, protect, and grow." - Kirkus, Starred Review

"An important book that demands to be seen. It adds to the conversation of #OwnVoices and speaks to a young person’s need for expression and social justice." - School Library Journal, Starred Review

"These poems combine clear declarations with easy-to-grasp metaphors to convey progressive values... With its references to figures such as Janet Mock and Trayvon Martin, it’s a useful conversation-starter on the topic." - Publishers Weekly

"Worth adding to any youth poetry collection, Woke will call out to and empower its readers with a reminder that 'our voice is our greatest power.'" - Booklist