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About Zetta Elliott
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Blog postPBS is the crutch that’s helping me limp along to the end of this month. Today I’m rewatching The Black Church with Skip Gates and I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Soul! I had nine presentations last week; I only had three this week but there were lots of meetings and deadlines to fill up my days. I’ve met two so there’s just one left. I’m hoping I can crank out four more poems this weekend. I took two lakefront walks with friends and that lifted my spirits because the sun’s been out almost ever19 hours ago Read more
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Blog postI only lived in Lancaster for a year but in that time I managed to connect with a few schools and community organizations. The pandemic limited what I could do in my last months in PA but when ROOTS RUN DEEP was finally ready, I sent a copy to Valerie Pritchett at ABC27. She featured me for the station’s 2020 Black History Month special and she’s kindly done it again for 2021. You can see the interview here.
It’s snowing—again!—but I made it to the post office and my new snow pan2 weeks ago Read more -
Blog postI stopped napping over a year ago but my afternoon naps are making a comeback in 2021. My weeks feel so full and that’s partly my fault—I’m still saying “yes” to too many requests—but it’s also Black History Month, and I thought I’d have time to teach and give keynotes and visit schools virtually because my deadlines were LAST month. I met all three but, of course, that doesn’t mean I’m done; my editors circle back needing more poems, more revisions, more more. By the time I reach 3pm, I’m ou3 weeks ago Read more
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Blog postIt’s still snowing here in Evanston. I went out earlier today to deliver a birthday gift to Cozbi. She’s still reeling from winning *four* awards yesterday for her two beautiful books EXQUISITE and ME & MAMA! Award days can be difficult and I usually skip the ceremony and avoid social media for a while. Often the same few people win the same few awards, year after year, but when someone so deserving finally has their work recognized—you can’t help but celebrate with and for them. Cozbi is1 month ago Read more
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Blog postOn Saturday morning I watched Herself and when it ended, I did an online search for “how to move to Scotland.” The film is set in Ireland, but it motivated me to work on my five-year plan. Over the holidays I scribbled a few statements down, all starting with “What if…?” But yesterday I made actual statements: “By 2026, I will have a home abroad.” I don’t have many goals, just half a dozen right now, but having clear goals makes it easier to complete specific actions that will set me on2 months ago Read more
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Blog post2020 is on its way out and I’m trying to clear my plate. I had hoped to publish this picture book back in February but the illustrator wasn’t done and then the pandemic changed everything…then I moved to IL and now I’m waiting on the final proof so I can finally hit “publish.” It’s an imperfect book—I gave up on my original vision a long time ago and now it just needs to land in the hands of kids in Central PA. I found myself thinking about my own childhood and introduction to Black history;2 months ago Read more
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Blog postWhen The Star agreed to publish my essay on Black fantasy fiction in 2019, I was thrilled. After quitting my job and struggling for several years to earn a living as a writer, I was finally making it work. With a few small awards under my belt, a couple of modest book deals, and a whole lot of paid school visits, I had managed to match my comfortable professor’s salary. And after a decade of invisibility, I was also gaining recognition as a children’s author in Canada; my middl2 months ago Read more
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Blog postFor a decade, Edi and I have compiled an annual list of MG and YA books by Black authors. I wasn’t looking forward to posting the list this year and have finally decided to step down. Our list always drew from Edi’s year-long list of BIPOC new releases so it makes sense for her to carry on; you can find her 2020 list and analysis over at the Crazy Quilt Edi blog. Has tracking US publishers’ support of Black authors made a difference? I don’t know. Our lists definitely get a lot of hits throug2 months ago Read more
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Blog postThey’re predicting it will snow today. I don’t plan to leave the house but still spent a little time this morning looking at winter boots online. Then I went to my closet and realized I was about to buy a pair of boots that were identical to the pair I already own. I eat when I’m not hungry. I binge watch shows on mute. My right forearm has started to ache from spending too much time in front of the computer and the novel STILL ISN’T DONE. I just got yet another extension and think this will3 months ago Read more
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Blog postI don’t want to talk about the election and definitely didn’t plan to write a poem about it. But then I went for a walk with Cozbi on Friday and she named the condition of the golden maple trees: blight. Turns out these “tar spots” are the result of a fungus that doesn’t kill the tree. The next day I heard hollering in the street and that’s how I found out that Biden had won. I walked to the farmer’s market and ecstatic folks were out in their cars, honking as they drove through Evansto4 months ago Read more
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When Jaxon is sent to spend the day with a mean old lady his mother calls Ma, he finds out she's not his grandmother--but she is a witch! She needs his help delivering baby dragons to a magical world where they'll be safe. There are two rules when it comes to the dragons: don't let them out of the bag, and don't feed them anything sweet. Before he knows it, Jax and his friends Vikram and Kavita have broken both rules! Will Jax get the baby dragons delivered safe and sound? Or will they be lost in Brooklyn forever?
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A CHICAGO PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR
Jaxon had just one job--to return three baby dragons to the realm of magic. But when he got there, only two dragons were left in the bag. His best friend's sister, Kavita, is a dragon thief!
Kavita only wanted what was best for the baby dragon. But now every time she feeds it, the dragon grows and grows! How can she possibly keep it secret? Even worse, stealing it has upset the balance between the worlds. The gates to the other realm have shut tight! Jaxon needs all the help he can get to find Kavita, outsmart a trickster named Blue, and return the baby dragon to its true home.
PRAISE FOR DRAGONS IN A BAG:
"Good, solid fantasy fun." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"A promising start to a new series." --School Library Journal, starred review
Caldecott Honor Book
Today Show Best Book for the Holidays
ALA Notable Book for All Ages
ALSC Notable Children's Book
NCTE Notable Poetry Book
Evanston Public Library's Top 100 Great Book for Kids
Nerdy Award Winner for Single Poem Picture Book
In this powerful, affirming poem by award-winning author Zetta Elliott, a Black child explores his shifting emotions throughout the year.
There is a place inside of me
a space deep down inside of me
where all my feelings hide.
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.
What do we tell our children when the world seems bleak, and prejudice and racism run rampant? With 96 lavishly designed pages of original art and prose, fifty diverse creators lend voice to young activists.
Featuring poems, letters, personal essays, art, and other works from such industry leaders as Jacqueline Woodson (Brown Girl Dreaming), Jason Reynolds (All American Boys), Kwame Alexander (The Crossover), Andrea Pippins (I Love My Hair), Sharon Draper (Out of My Mind), Rita Williams-Garcia (One Crazy Summer), Ellen Oh (cofounder of We Need Diverse Books), and artists Ekua Holmes, Rafael Lopez, James Ransome, Javaka Steptoe, and more, this anthology empowers the nation's youth to listen, learn, and build a better tomorrow.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2018!
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2018!
This collection features forty-nine powerful poems, four of which are tribute poems inspired by the works of Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Nikki Giovanni, and Phillis Wheatley.
This provocative collection will move every reader to reflect, respond-and act.
First, D is asked to tutor the school’s basketball star, Hakeem, who will get benched unless his grades improve. Against the odds, the two boys soon realize they have something in common: they are both taunted by kids at school, and they both have a crush on Nyla, a beautiful but fierce eighth-grade girl. Then Nyla adopts D and invites him to join her entourage of “freaks.” Finally, D discovers an injured bird and brings it home from the park.
D is stunned when the strange bird speaks to him and reveals that she is really a guiding spirit that has been held hostage by ghost soldiers who died in Brooklyn at the start of the American Revolution. As Nuru’s chosen host, D must carry her from Brooklyn to the African Burial Ground in lower Manhattan, but the ghost soldiers won’t surrender their prize without a fight.
With the help of Hakeem and Nyla, D battles the Nether Beings who lurk underground, feeding off centuries of rage and pain. But it takes an unexpected ally to help the trio reach the ship that will deliver the innocent souls of the dead back to Nuru’s realm. An urban fantasy infused with contemporary issues and historical facts, Ship of Souls by Zetta Elliott will keep teen readers gripped until the very end.
The Door at the Crossroads is the long-awaited sequel to A Wish After Midnight by award-winning author Zetta Elliott. Learn more about the author and her other books at www.zettaelliott.com
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