Introduction by Heavy Medal Award Committee Member Gabrielle Stoller
“To write my name is to spell the sorrows of my ancestors,
pg. 9
How they were sold and traded, hanged and drowned.
How their tears and sweat and blood seeded generations….
To say my name is to hold a prayer, a second chance.
Is to count me out, watch me rise.”
With this free verse offering, it is little wonder that BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS by Renee Watson made it into the Mock Newbery discussion. It is unlike most middle grade offerings for it is not a novel. It is a selection of poems that introduce us to not only Renee Watson, but Black women, Black heritage. It is glimpses into childhood, girlhood, womanhood that will resonate with the reader long after the book has been read.
When thinking about Newbery criteria, this book rises in terms of “Delineation of Characters” and “Style.” I was never in doubt of the voice of the text; it was Renee. She was sharing personal experiences that any youth can relate too: the love of family (pg. 22), being disappointed by someone in your life (pgs. 30-31), surviving the teen years (pgs. 50-51). Text should be able to transport the reader and indeed, I was transported back to my own personal childhood. That of my homeschool teen years. That of my fundamentalist background I have since left. That of figuring out my prepubescent body and hormones. I was one with Renee Watson.
In my opinion, though, this book shines in its style. Being poetry, a combination of free verse, haiku, etc., we are truly given the opportunity to get inside Renee’s mind. We feel her agony about Breona Taylor. We hear her charge to get out of our own way. This autobiographical memoir would not work so well if done conventionally. Here we have impact, here we have staying power.
Some might say this book is #blackgirlmagic and therefore unrelatable to a wider audience. I disagree. It’s common in children’s literature to say it but books are windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors. Black Girl You Are Atlas epitomizes that. Indeed, Black girls can see themselves represented. White girls like me get a glimpse of life. And we can all come together into the Sisterhood.
Heavy Medal Award Committee members and others are now invited to discuss this book further in the Comments section below. Let the Mock Newbery discussion begin!
“Gather the women,
The truth-tellers, the wise ones.
Always keep them close.” (page 56)
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