Watch Us Rise
by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan
Interest age: 13 to 16
Reading age: 10+
Published by Bloomsbury, 2019
About this book
Jasmine has just found out her dad is dying. Perhaps that’s one reason she seems so much more sensitive to the thinly veiled sexual comments from the creepy guy on the subway. And to the way the drama teacher wants to pigeonhole her as the "angry black girl".
But it seems Jasmine isn’t the only girl her age who has issues with the racism/sexism/sizeism that seems to permeate all aspects of her life. And so the "Write Like a Girl" blog is born.
At first it’s a great success but almost every popular movement experiences a backlash. Are Jasmine and her friends prepared for trial by social media?
This teen novel, set in New York City, is presented as a dual narrative interspersed with blog posts and poetry. It is not only a timely look at how easy it can be to become desensitised to casual discrimination but also a realistic representation of budding relationships and the many demands of school and home life faced by today’s young adults.
About the author
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Noteworthy
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Love is a Revolution
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What Momma Left Me
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