Our many thanks to blog contributor Julie Hoffman for our Weekend Picks on this second weekend of September. She has a powerful collection of illustrated poetry as her recommendation this week, a work that captures important historical moments in our country's history - a solemn reminder of all we've been through as a country on this anniversary of September 11th.
 Julie Hoffman | Julie Hoffman is an educator with Springfield Public Schools and an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois Springfield. Her research interests include urban education, empathy, social and emotional learning, young adult and children’s literature. She believes that young adult literature and poetry can be a message of perseverance and hope and believes that we thrive when we invest in ourselves and others. |
Say Her Name by Zetta Elliott (Illus. By Loveis Wise)
“Rage is a blade so/hold it carefully, keep it/ close but safely sheathed” (p. 20).
 Zetta Elliott | In her poetry anthology Say Her Name, Zetta Elliott brings her heart and her soul. With poems like, “Hands Up,” ”How to Resist,” and “We Can't Breathe,” Elliott tells the truth, speaking to pain and the power of resistance. She meticulously balances this out with hope and joy—Black joy, in particular—in poems such as “Ascension,” “I Make Magic,” and “self/care.” She makes it clear that this poetry collection is an attempt to bear witness as well as a space to navigate her own struggle between hope and fear. Elliott addresses current events, with poetry that speaks to historical moments like the founding of the Black Lives Matter by Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi, and Patrisse Cullors. She nods to several Black poets and authors throughout the book: Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, James Baldwin, and several more. |
Several of her poems are inspired by poems that we all know. Following the structure of Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “We Real Cool,” Elliott composed two of her own—”We Are Wise" and “We Can’t Breathe.”
 | We can't breathe. We Still seethe. We Stay mad. We Break bad. We Hold rage. We Rampage. We Scare you. We Scared too. (p. 34) |
Zetta Elliott turns on lights with her words. Her poetry can open eyes and minds. Her poetry also gives permission to experiment with poetry styles as potential mentor texts, as she did.
| Throughout the book, there are haiku pauses—placed like a cleansing breath. Although some made me hold my breath while my heart caught up with the message. Again, Elliott balances pain and joy, reality and hope, but always bears testimony. The book is infused with beauty, as Loveis Wise created luscious illustrations to bolster each poem and elevate Elliott's work(s). Don’t forget to check the back matter for Elliott’s notes about each poem—historical information, inspiration, and transformation. |  Loveis Wise |
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