A Place Inside of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart

(Hardback)

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Description

There is a place inside of me a space deep down inside of me where all my feelings hide. In this powerful, affirming poem by award-winning author Zetta Elliott, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the year. Summertime is filled with joy-skateboarding and playing basketball-until his community is deeply wounded by a police shooting. As fall turns to winter and then spring, fear grows into anger, then pride and peace. In her stunning debut, illustrator Noa Denmon articulates the depth and nuances of a child's experiences following a police shooting-through grief and protests, healing and community-with washes of color as vibrant as his words. Here is a groundbreaking narrative that can help all readers-children and adults alike-talk about the feelings hiding deep inside each of us.

Reviews

2021 Caldecott Honor Book
A Today Show Best Book for the Holidays
An ALSC Notable Children's Book
A NCTE Notable Poetry Book
An Evanston Public Library's Great Book for Kids
A Cooperative Children's Book Center List Pick

"A resonant exultation of community and the importance of self-reflection." --Publishers Weekly

"This book delivers positivity, despite the inclusion of police brutality, a Black Lives Matter protest, and a vigil for the dead--all of which affirm the child's realities . . . A well-crafted, twenty-first-century love poem by two truth-telling Black women artists and activists." --The Horn Book

Author Bio

Zetta Elliott is a Black feminist writer of poetry, plays, essays, novels, and stories for children. Her poetry has been published in We Rise, We Resist, We Raise our Voices, and her picture book, Bird, won the Honor Award in Lee & Low Books' New Voices Contest and the Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers. She lives in West Philadelphia. zettaelliott.com Noa Denmon is a Philadelphia-based artist and illustrator. She is a graduate of The University of the Arts with a BFA in illustration, and an MAT in arts and teaching. She loves patterns, pups, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a great cup of coffee, and all spicy foods. This is her first picture book. noadenmon.com