Watch Us Rise

"This stunning book is the story I've been waiting for my whole life; where girls rise up to claim their space with joy and power.” -Laurie Halse Anderson, New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Speak

"An extraordinary story of two indomitable spirits." -Brendan Kiely, New York Times bestselling co-author of All American Boys and Tradition

"Timely, thought-provoking, and powerful." -Julie Murphy, New York Times bestselling author of Dumplin'

Newbery Medal and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner author Renée Watson teams up with poet Ellen Hagan in this teen feminist anthem about raising your voice.

Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission-they're sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women's Rights Club. They post their work-poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine's response to the racial microaggressions she experiences-and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by trolls. When things escalate in real life, the principal shuts the club down. Not willing to be silenced, Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices-and those of other young women-to be heard.
These two dynamic, creative young women stand up and speak out in a novel that features their compelling art and poetry along with powerful personal journeys that will inspire readers and budding poets, feminists, and activists.

Acclaim for Piecing Me Together
Newbery Honor Book
Coretta Scott King Author Award
Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Young Adult Finalist
"Timely and timeless." -Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming
"Watson, with rhythm and style, somehow gets at . . . the life-changing power of voice and opportunity." -Jason Reynolds, NYT-bestselling author of Long Way Down
"Brilliant." -John Green, New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars
* “Teeming with compassion and insight." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
* "A timely, nuanced, and unforgettable story about the power of art, community, and friendship." -Kirkus, starred review
* "A nuanced meditation on race, privilege, and intersectionality." -SLJ, starred review

Renée Watson is a #1 New York Times bestselling author. Her novel All the Blues in the Sky won the Newbery Medal, and Piecing Me Together received a Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award. Her books include the Ryan Hart series, Some Places More Than Others, This Side of Home, What Momma Left Me, Betty Before X, cowritten with Ilyasah Shabazz, Watch Us Rise, cowritten with Ellen Hagan, and Love Is a Revolution, as well as acclaimed picture books: Summer Is Here, Maya's Song, The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, written with Nikole Hannah-Jones, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, and Harlem's Little Blackbird, which was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Renée splits her time between Portland, Oregon and New York City.
www.reneewatson.net
@reneewauthor

Ellen Hagan is a writer, performer, and educator. Her poetry collections include: Hemisphere and Crowned. Her work can be found in ESPN Magazine, She Walks in Beauty and Southern Sin. She is the recipient of a NoMAA Creative Arts Grant and received grants from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts. National arts residencies include The Hopscotch House and Louisiana Arts Works. Ellen is the Director of the Poetry & Theatre Departments at the DreamYard Project and directs their International Poetry Exchange Program with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines. She co-leads the Alice Hoffman Young Writer's Retreat at Adelphi University.
www.ellenhagan.com; @ellenhagan