Happy Book Birthday

BLACK GIRL RISING

by award-winning author
Brynne Barnes

Illustrated by
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

(Chronicle)

A Black girl’s place is everywhere, and her selfhood is everything she can dream it to be.

This enduring anthem for Black girls celebrates their power, potential, and brilliance—for themselves and for the world.

You are a thousand curls
unfurling in your hair.
You are a thousand fists
standing proudly in air.

“A rhyming picture book highlighting Black girls thriving.
 
Questions that highlight the upward and forward movement of Black girls are interspersed with sentences that at first seem like admonitions until it becomes clear that they are emphasizing the strength and beauty of the book’s subject. Lines like “You’d better keep quiet; keep still. / So you can know your place” echo social expectations that Black girls shouldn’t be loud and take up space. But Barnes goes on to assert that Black girls’ very existence is a testament to the power of the multihued and broad diaspora of Black people everywhere (“You’re supposed to dim your light / and never be seen. // But you don’t, girl—you won’t, girl— / you know you’re a queen”). …

… Barnes stresses that Black girls have inherited the legacies of Toni Morrison, Mari Evans, Alice Walker, and Zora Neale Hurston, among others, and each illustration is a celebration of this fact. The book begins and ends with Black girls literally rising into the air, on tiptoes and with wings. …

… Black girls using wheelchairs, Black girls wearing hijabs, Black girls embracing each other, wrapped by rainbows—they are all represented in vibrant, lightly textured oil and acrylic paintings. Every page turn brings more brilliant images that encourage readers to move at a steady, rhythmic pace through the book. …

… Proof that Black girls, just by being themselves, stay ready to soar.”
—Kirkus

“Employing references to notable Black figures (Maya Angelou and Langston Hughes) through-out, Barnes (Books Do Not Have Wings) begins with conversational lines that speak to oppressive societal messages: “Now don’t you dare climb, climb, climb/ Langston’s crystal stair./ You ain’t gonna make it, girl./ Come, get down from there.” These eventually give way to powerful refuting lines: “You are a thousand curls unfurling in your hair./ You are a thousand fists standing proudly in air.// You are the song of swallows, lifting sun as they sing—/ breaking light with their beaks.”
… a passionate, legacy-focused celebration.”
 

“Lyrical, timely, and marvelously illustrated, this work extols the beauty, bravery, and possibilities of young black girls. The author explores strong role models, female and male, from the past to inspire readers to envision the prospects of a glorious future. … [T]he rich vocabulary, flowing narrative, and specific word emphasis encourage[s] exuberant read-alouds.”

“A stunning ode to Black girl magic!” 
—Tami Charles, 
NYT bestselling author of 
All Because You Matter

“From its gold-dusted jacket to its melodic verses, [Black Girl Rising] is the song Black girls need now.”
—Carole Boston Weatherford, bestselling author,
Newbery Honor recipient

You are the song of swallows,
lifting sun as they sing—
breaking light with their beaks,
breaking sky with their wings …

From graduation to birthdays to other key milestones, this book makes a perfect present for book buyers looking to celebrate, empower, and inspire the women in their lives—whether daughters, granddaughters, nieces, cousins, or friends.

“This is a love letter to Black girls, to Black girlhood, to women everywhere. It’s the book I needed, wanted to read as a girl. This is a tribute to our younger selves and our present selves. Children’s literature has a way of reminding us of all the most important things – to listen to ourselves, our inner voices about what we can do, who we are, and who we can be. It’s not up to the world to tell us who we are; it’s our job to tell the world.”

—Brynne Barnes

Brynne Barnes colors the world with her pen, writing stories, poetry, and songs. Her picture books are a celebration of all children everywhere, including the award-winning COLORS OF ME and BOOKS DO NOT HAVE WINGS. Michigan-born, she teaches English at Schoolcraft College and was honored at the State Capitol in a Special Tribute for her service as a Michigan author and educator in March 2021. 

Brynne appeared at ALA Annual along with Chronicle editor Melissa Manlove, illustrator Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, and their design director, Jennifer Tolo-Pierce. 

(Brynne with her Chronicle editor, Melissa Manlove)

Upcoming:

A companion picture book,

BLACK BOY RISE 
Chronicle / Spring 2025

along with another pb, 

WHEN I SEE YOU
 Denene Millner Books /
S & S / September 2023
 

Where is East/West?

We are looking forward to our July 9th
Meet & Greet
ZOOMtacular with 

Chronicle Executive Editor 
Melissa Manlove
and author Brynne Barnes. 

(Clients only.)
Check your email and be sure to RSVP to receive the link. 

Ernesto Cisneros‘s MG novel FALLING SHORT was on the TODAY Show’s Read With Jenna Junior: #readinglist
(Top left corner! /more below) 

Stacia Deutsch discussed the anthology COMING OF AGE at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore. 

Patricia Newman, Brynne Barnes, and Deborah Warren attended ALA Annual in Washington DC.
 

Sarah Scheerger, Megan E. Freeman, and Erin Dealey were among  nErDcampCT’s guest authors. 

Stay tuned for good news from Megan E. Freeman!

Erin Dealey was the featured speaker at Gift of Literacy, sponsored by Tahoe Community College (photo w/ TCC  Pres. Jeff deFranco), where 300+ first graders got to take home NEW books—including DEAR EARTH—donated by the GoL program. 

Ana Crespo (HELLO TREE, illustrated by Dow Phumiruk) was part of Boulder Books’ Musical Storytime. *As promised, she did not sing. : ) 

  
Patricia Newman (A RIVER’S GIFTS above / Illus. Natasha Donovan ) and Erin Dealey presented to Texas School Librarians, at a PermaBound virtual summer event. 
 

July events:

Brynne Barnes will moderate the panel Literary Lionesses, featuring Jerdine Nolan and Renée Watson, exploring where writers come from, when they know they are writers, and how a poet gets others to hear their powerful words.

Halli Gomez, Ernesto Cisneros, Sarah Scheerger, Kelly Crull, and Lauren H. Kerstein will be at nErDcamp PA. Alexandra Alessandri will be there too!