You Don't Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves

Poems to Turn to Again and Again - from Amanda Gorman, Sharon Olds, Kate Baer, and More

Created and compiled just for young women, You Don't Have to Be Everything is filled with works by a wide range of poets who are honest, unafraid, and skilled at addressing the complex feelings of coming-of-age, from loneliness to joy, longing to solace, attitude to humor. These unintimidating poems offer girls a message of self-acceptance and strength, giving them permission to let go of shame and perfectionism.

The cast of 68 poets is extraordinary: Amanda Gorman, the first National Youth Poet Laureate, who read at Joe Biden's inauguration; bestselling authors like Maya Angelou, Elizabeth Acevedo, Sharon Olds, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Mary Oliver; Instagram-famous poets including Kate Baer, Melody Lee, and Andrea Gibson; poets who are LGBTQ, poets of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, poets who sing of human experience in ways that are free from conventional ideas of femininity. Illustrated in full color with work by three diverse artists, this book is an inspired gift for daughters and granddaughters--and anyone on the path to becoming themselves.

No matter how old you are,
it helps to be young
when you're coming to life,
to be unfinished, a mysterious statement,
a journey from star to star.
--Joy Ladin, excerpt from "Survival Guide"

Author: Diana Whitney
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Published: 03/30/2021
Pages: 176
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.50w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781523510993
Audience: Young Adult

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 01/01/2021
Publishers Weekly 01/18/2021
Booklist 03/01/2021 pg. 40
School Library Journal 06/01/2021 pg. 78