TYA Poetry

Nikki Grimes (A)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Poetry / Students – 2001)

When Wesley writes a poem for his high school English class, some of his classmates clamor to read their poems aloud too. Soon their having weekly poetry sessions and, one by one, the eighteen students are…

Mahogany L. Browne (A) and Jess Snow (ILT)

List Price: $18.99 (Hardcover – Poetry – 2018) 

Black Girl, they say you ain’t ‘posed to be here

Much of what twenty-first century culture tells black girls is not pretty: Don’t wear this; don’t smile at that. Don’t have an opinion; don’t dream big. And most of…

Jacob Hoye (A)

List Price:$30.00 (Paperback – Biography / Hip Hop Artist / Rapper – 2006)

Capturing as never before the matchless passion and searing honesty of the late Tupac Shakur, the brilliant young rapper, actor, and poet who was mysteriously gunned…

Sparks fly when Orion and Ray meet for…

Deborah Day (A) and Adrienne Drayton (ILT)

List Price: $14.95 (Paperback – Curriculum / Health, Culture and Life Skills)

The Mindful Messages Mentoring Program is an innovative African Centered Health Education, Culture and Life Skills Curriculum for youth ages 11-18. It perfect for Home Scholars, Rites of Passage, After School and…

Zetta Elliott (A) and. Love is Wise (ILT) 

Elzabeth Acevedo (A) 

List Price: $19.99 (Hardcover – Poetry / Finding Her Voice – 2018)

National Book Award and Golden Kite Honor Award Winner!

Fans of Jacqueline Woodson, Meg Medina, and Jason Reynolds will fall hard for this astonishing New York Times-bestselling novel-in-verse by an award-winning slam poet, about an Afro-Latina heroine who tells her…

Juliana “Jewels” Smith (A) and Mile Hampton (ILT) and Ronald Nelson (ILT)

List Price: $20.00 (Paperback – Graphic Novel – Urban Issues and More – 2017)

This unflinching visual and literary tour-de-force tackles the most pressing issues of the day—including racism, patriarchy, gentrification, police violence, and the housing crisis—with humor and biting satire.…

Arnold Adoff (A) and Benny Andrews (ILT)

List Price: $7.99 (Paperback – Poetry by African Americans – 1997)

First published in 1968, this anthology was one of the first collections of African American poetry specifically created with the young reader in mind. Along with selections from Langston Hughes and Gwendolyn Brooks, this newly…

Langston Hughes (A)

List Price:$11.99 (Paperback – Poetry / Harlem Renaissance – 1996)

Illustrated in black-and-white. This classic collection of poetry is available in a handsome new gift edition that includes seven additional poems written after The Dream Keeper was first published. In a larger format, featuring Brian Pinkney’s scratchboard art on every…

Nikki Giovannni (A), Tupac Shakur (A) and Leila Steinberg (Photo)

List Price: $16.00 (Paperback – Poetry / Hip Hop – 1999)

His talent was unbounded, a raw force that commanded attention and respect. His death was tragic — a violent homage to the power of his voice.…

Amanda Gorman (A)

List Price: $15.99 (Hardcover – Presidential Inaugural Poem – 2021)

Amanda Gorman’s powerful and historic poem “The Hill We Climb,” read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, is now available as a collectible gift edition.

“Stunning.” —CNN 
“Dynamic.” —NPR
“Deeply rousing and uplifting.” —Vogue

On January 20, 2021, Amanda…