Get Lit Rising

September 5, 2016
Personal essays and poems from 19 teenage poets, members of a poetry troupe connected with the Get Lit–Words Ignite literacy organization, are featured in this moving anthology. The young poets discuss their lives in candid essays and identify classic poems (from the likes of Charles Bukowski, Langston Hughes, and Marge Piercy) that they have found inspiring. The poets then follow the poems they have selected with their own “response” poems, which frequently touch on gender identity, mental health, body image, and violence. After each entry, Lane, who founded Get Lit, provides questions for readers to consider and prompts to jump-start their writing (“Write about a fight you’re fighting within yourself”). Lane and her young collaborators present an inspiring example of how poetry in the present communicates with that of the past. Ages 12–up.

October 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-A coveted stash of poems written by the slam poetry troupe the Get Lit Players, part of Lane's "Get Lit-Words Ignite" Common Core-aligned English and Performing Arts curriculum program. Each of the 20 short chapters profiles a member poet (the last features Lane) through eloquently written essays that recount personal struggles, with an emphasis on the transformative power of poetry. The poets each explain why they chose to claim a particular piece (selected from poets who range from the canonical to the radical and contemporary, like Saul Williams and Marge Piercy) and provide a response poem. For the teacher in us all, there are writing prompts and suggested verses for further reading, organized by teen-centered themes such as "Race, Urban Poverty, Life Force" and "Owning Your Own Worth, Keeping an Open Heart." The final chapter outlines a detailed process of how to create a poetry group, with a list of "200 Poems To Crack You Open." VERDICT A multiple copy must-have. Use as a tool for collection development for tried-and-true poetry that speaks to teens.-Sara Lissa Paulson, City-As-School High School, New York City

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2016
Grades 8-11 Unless you're a fellow teenager reading the high-school poets featured in this anthology-cum-manual, you may find their output a bit juvenilea critique in no way leveled at the young creators, most of whom have already overcome extremely challenging life scripts. Executive director Lane introduced her poetry programin which a student chooses a resonant poem, memorizes it, writes a response, and then performs bothin LA schools in 2006; it now reaches some 20,000 young people and boasts an astounding track record. Lane exults: 98 percent of our Get Lit Players an elite corps chosen by audition go on to college, 70 percent with merit-based scholarships. Here, 20 or so of these budding writers tell their life stories, followed by their chosen poem and original response, plus thematic prompts that encourage the reader to try writing themselves. Asking an adolescent to relate the story of me is an open invitation to self-reflection, and age-mates will find a wealth of relatable material and the occasional gem of a liberating insight.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)