Black Girl You Are Atlas
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  • Published: 17 September 2025
  • ISBN: 9780593461723
  • Imprint: Kokila
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 96
  • RRP: $29.99

Black Girl You Are Atlas

Formats & editions
EBook
13 Feb 2024
Audiobook
13 Feb 2024
Paperback
17 Sep 2025
Hardback
19 Mar 2024
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A thoughtful celebration of Black girlhood by award-winning author and poet Renée Watson. Now in paperback!

A Coretta Scott King Honor Book
Winner of the Walter Dean Myers Award

A thoughtful celebration of Black girlhood by award-winning author and poet Renée Watson.

In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, Renée Watson writes
about her experience growing up as a young Black girl at the intersections of race, class, and gender.

Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to 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.

Black Girl You Are Atlas encourages young readers to embrace their future with a strong sense of sisterhood and celebration. With full-color art by celebrated fine artist Ekua Holmes throughout, this collection offers guidance and is a gift for anyone who reads it.
  • Published: 17 September 2025
  • ISBN: 9780593461723
  • Imprint: Kokila
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 96
  • RRP: $29.99
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Also by Renee Watson

El Proyecto 1619: Nacieron sobre el agua
The 1619 Project: Born on the Water
She Persisted: Oprah Winfrey
Harlem's Little Blackbird
A Place Where Hurricanes Happen
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Praise for Black Girl You Are Atlas

PRAISE FOR BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS:
USA Today Bestseller
Brightly's Most Exciting Young Adult Books Coming in 2024
Read With Jenna Jr Summer Reading List
NEA Read Across America 2024-2025 selection

*"A compelling ode to self-resurrection and Black sisterhood that finds much-needed light in the world’s darkness." —Kirkus, starred review

* "This ballad for Black girls is a must for all collections." —School Library Journal, starred review

* “This poetry collection masterfully encapsulates Watson’s experience of Black girlhood and womanhood…The collaboration with Holmes, whose magnificent collages accompany Watson’s words, adds a visual dimension that also spans cultures and experiences.” —The Horn Book, starred review

"A tender ode to universal yearnings for safety, love, and justice, as well as a celebration of Black girlhood.” —Publishers Weekly

"Watson’s latest collection of poetry is a powerful mixture of free verse and short-form poetry…The poems are accompanied by Holmes’s breathtaking collage art." —Booklist