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Summary and Reviews of Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson

Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson, Ellen Hagen

Watch Us Rise

by Renee Watson, Ellen Hagen
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus (6):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • First Published:
  • Feb 12, 2019, 368 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Feb 2020, 368 pages
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About This Book

Book Summary

Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Renée Watson teams up with poet Ellen Hagan in this YA feminist anthem about raising your voice.

Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends on a mission - they're sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women's Rights Club. They post their work online - poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine's response to the racial microaggressions she experiences - and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by trolls. When things escalate in real life, the principal shuts the club down. Not willing to be silenced, Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices - and those of other young women - to be heard.

These two dynamic, creative young women stand up and speak out in a novel that features their compelling art and poetry along with powerful personal journeys that will inspire readers and budding poets, feminists, and activists.

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Reviews

BookBrowse Review

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One of the things I enjoyed most about Watch Us Rise is that the characters are bright, dynamic and complex. [The authors] approach this dual narrative from points of view that are unique, making the voices of Jasmine and Chelsea—who are also simultaneously similar and different in their marginalization—thoughtful and authentic...continued

Full Review (743 words)

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(Reviewed by Jamie Chornoby).

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Beyond the Book



Nonviolent Activism

Martin Luther King Jr. giving the I Have a Dream speech at the 1963 March on WashingtonIn Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan, high school juniors Chelsea and Jasmine learn that "art is never just art," so they decide to "use art to make a statement, to create change." The girls experiment with multiple forms of activism, sometimes with guidance, and even misguidance, from teachers, mentors, community leaders, family and friends. When they connect with Leidy—a guardian of the anarchist, volunteer-run book store Word Up—they engage more deeply with nonviolent activism to enact thoughtful, targeted progress.

Nonviolent activism, also known as nonviolent resistance and nonviolent action, has many definitions and interpretations. Broadly, it is a commitment to using nonviolent and inventive means to ...

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Read-Alikes

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