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Watch Us Rise
Jasmine and Chelsea are sick of the way women are treated even at their progressive NYC high school, so they decide to start a Women's Rights Club. They post everything online—poems, essays, videos of Chelsea performing her poetry, and Jasmine's response to the racial macroaggressions she experiences—and soon they go viral. But with such positive support, the club is also targeted by online trolls. When things escalate, the principal shuts the club down. Jasmine and Chelsea will risk everything for their voices—and those of other young women—to be heard.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2019
236 people are currently reading
13428 people want to read
About the author
Renée Watson
36 books1,651 followersRenée Watson is the author of the children’s picture book, A Place Where Hurricanes Happen (Random House, June 2010), which was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Her middle grade novel, What Momma Left Me debuted as the New Voice for 2010 in middle grade fiction by The Independent Children's Booksellers Association.
Renée’s one woman show, Roses are Red, Women are Blue, debuted at New York City's Lincoln Center at a showcase for emerging artists. Her poetry and articles have been published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind and With Hearts Ablaze.
When Renée is not writing and performing, she is teaching. Renée has worked in public schools and community organizations as an artist in residence for several years, teaching poetry, fiction, and theater in Oregon, Louisiana, and New York City. She also facilitates professional development workshops for teachers and artists.
One of Renée’s passions is using the arts to help youth cope with trauma. She has facilitated poetry and theatre workshops with young girls coping with sexual and physical abuse, children who have witnessed violence, children coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and children who relocated to New York City after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Renée graduated from The New School, where she studied Creative Writing and earned a certificate in Drama Therapy.
Renée currently lives in New York City.
Renée’s one woman show, Roses are Red, Women are Blue, debuted at New York City's Lincoln Center at a showcase for emerging artists. Her poetry and articles have been published in Rethinking Schools, Theatre of the Mind and With Hearts Ablaze.
When Renée is not writing and performing, she is teaching. Renée has worked in public schools and community organizations as an artist in residence for several years, teaching poetry, fiction, and theater in Oregon, Louisiana, and New York City. She also facilitates professional development workshops for teachers and artists.
One of Renée’s passions is using the arts to help youth cope with trauma. She has facilitated poetry and theatre workshops with young girls coping with sexual and physical abuse, children who have witnessed violence, children coping with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and children who relocated to New York City after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Renée graduated from The New School, where she studied Creative Writing and earned a certificate in Drama Therapy.
Renée currently lives in New York City.
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February 17, 2019
THIS WAS SO GOOD I WANT TO SCREAM
July 11, 2023
i have liked books where a group of girls form a feminist group that aren’t the most inclusive or nuanced (moxie and the nowhere girls), but this one isn’t one of them.
queerness and disability are never acknowledged, there are so many ignorant and decidedly unfeminist narratives, and the overall feminism portrayed is shallow as fuck and comes off as whiny teen girls always looking for a fight (*cough* chelsea *cough*). despite the girls being told that they need to stop thinking only of themselves and start being inclusive, they end the book still not having learned a single thing or including narratives in their feminism that are inclusive of all women.
content/trigger warnings; sexism, racism, anti-blackness, cultural appropriation, death of parent to cancer, aromisic rhetoric, fat-antagonism, ableist language/slurs, anti-native rhetoric, sexual harassment/assault, terf rhetoric, queer erasure,
rep; jasmine is fat and black. nadine is japanese and lebanese. isaac is puerto rican. chelsea is white and annoying.
this book maybe would have benefited from not having chelsea’s pov. or her character at all. she’s the worst. and kind of the main focus of this review lmao.
she judges women who cook, because “gender stereotypes,” never mind the fact that women are fully capable of choosing to cook because they genuinely want to. she accuses her teacher of “falling into gender stereotypes” by cooking for her husband and her teacher is like, “uh chelsea, i like cooking and i have a wife. you have some things to learn, huh?” she preaches about how girls should focus on their brains and education and go into fields that they’re kept from, while not doing so herself with the reason of “it’s not because i’m a girl, i’m just not interested,” but she can’t seem to wrap her mind around girls liking makeup and clothes and cooking and cleaning because they genuinely like those things, not because they’ve been forced or manipulated into liking them, and that they should be able to like those things without some child giving them a “feminist” lecture to enlighten them.
she goes on a rant about how she never saw herself (an abled, average-sized, non-queer, white girl) in disney princesses, because none of them had her frizzy hair, and that’s why diversity is needed. i mean.....the sheer caucasity of that. she laughs off the idea of guys needing feminist narratives, too, because “they already get all the positivity” completely ignorant to the harmful rhetoric that gets spewed at guys, too. she tells a guy to not call her crazy because it’s “a way men silence women,” with zero mention of it being ableist, as if ableism isn’t intrinsically tied into men being able to use that word to silence women. she makes a comment about wanting a burger and fries, not girly food, which coming from miss feminism seems like a fucked up thing to say, assigning gender to food? she claims she’s “doing everything possible in the name of women’s right” and like...........girl you haven’t even scratched the surface. the world does not begin and end with your two person club at your school.
she says that stereotypes are “all fake, aren’t real.” and while i agree with her about them being “a way to lump people together and create bias about a whole group,” i also believe that stereotypes often come from people who aren’t in a group taking a trait or behavior they see in someone of that group and blowing it up into a caricature to twist it into something false or bad that is supposed to represent that entire group in a negative light. there are people who do “fit” stereotypes to an extent, because stereotypes come from somewhere. that doesn’t make them any less bad or harmful or offensive.
she has a ridiculous “can i be feminist and xyz” passage titled “top 10 feminism questions,” and like...........i get that first timers might question if they can be feminist while wearing makeup or liking clothes or wanting to look nice or liking a boy or being shy or not always being on or being friends with people who aren’t as passionate as you or whatever else, but we start the book with chelsea being (or rather, acting like) miss super feminism, so why near the end of the book is she pondering such basic questions about if she be feminist and do things that have nothing to do with being a feminist?
she is the only one in the book to use the word “womanist,” and claims her womanist blog is one of the few things she’s good at and it just...........womanism is about black women, so why is the white girl the only character in the book using it? the fuck does she know about womanism? (more on this in a bit.) she and her sister mock to use of “woke” which is aave, so white people being contemptuous about it, saying that they hate the term and think people only use it to look like they’re progressive when they aren’t, is anti-black as fuck. she also is suddenly adamant at the end of the book that “womyn” is the preferred term, when that is literally a terf term, y’all. fucking terfs.
she very much feels like she prefers bragging about how much she knows about feminism and fighting with people about it. when her mother doesn’t argue with her, she keeps going to get a reaction. when she brags about celebrating not only christmas, but also hanukkah and kwanzaa, she recite basic wikipedia level information about them and says “boom! in your face” to her sister who asked what she knew about those holidays. she clearly cares more about appearing knowledgeable and enlightened, than the actual holidays and cultures.
other notes:
there’s a moment where jasmine is being sexually harassed by a creep on the bus and a woman tells her to come sit by her, and instead of being grateful for the escape from the creepy man, she gets mad about how the woman told her to move instead of telling the guy to shut up. how can she expect a woman she doesn’t know to confront a strange, creepy man who potentially could’ve become violent? not everything is about a fight or confrontation or call out, especially when your safety isn’t guaranteed. i mean, the woman helped her in a way that was safe for both of them, and jasmine had the nerve to be mad about it. ridiculous.
it’s all so “women shouldn’t be doing this thing, they should be doing that thing and it’s okay for me to say so because i’m a woman telling other women to do things men have told us we shouldn’t,” but it should be “women should do whatever the fuck they want” point blank, period.
womanism, #sayhername, and #imwithher are used in this book for no reason, because the meaning of those things are not represented or addressed. womanism is about black women, but the term is only claimed by the white girl who seems to think it’s just an alternative term for feminism. #sayhername is about black women who are victims of police brutality/anti-black violence, and #imwithher is about supporting hillary clinton, both of which are never talked about in the book, yet it’s specifically mentioned that people have signs with those hashtags at the walk out at the end of the book. it feels very much like random terms and hashtags were just thrown in either because people know them or to coopt them to mean something that is actually relevant to the book. i’m surprised #metoo didn’t make it in there.
the feminist club is honestly a joke. it’s literally two girls posting poetry on a blog, selling shirts, and throwing scraps of paper around the school. two girls. they don’t branch out to invite more people until the end when their club is shut down. and even then, the narrative does not change to become more inclusive. i find it hard to believe that their club was so influential when not a single person moved to join the club, or asked to be included, or anything. i just don’t buy that a white teen girl and a fat black teen girl with basic, barely there knowledge of feminism could offer such life changing takes on feminism. jasmine’s pov is without a doubt the best, because she touches on racism and fat-antagonism and offers a perspective that little miss privilege can’t, but it doesn’t amount to much in the overall feminism presented in the book.
while reading i was thinking i’d maybe give this three or two stars, but now, i believe i have my second 1 star/nope nope nope book of the year.
queerness and disability are never acknowledged, there are so many ignorant and decidedly unfeminist narratives, and the overall feminism portrayed is shallow as fuck and comes off as whiny teen girls always looking for a fight (*cough* chelsea *cough*). despite the girls being told that they need to stop thinking only of themselves and start being inclusive, they end the book still not having learned a single thing or including narratives in their feminism that are inclusive of all women.
content/trigger warnings; sexism, racism, anti-blackness, cultural appropriation, death of parent to cancer, aromisic rhetoric, fat-antagonism, ableist language/slurs, anti-native rhetoric, sexual harassment/assault, terf rhetoric, queer erasure,
rep; jasmine is fat and black. nadine is japanese and lebanese. isaac is puerto rican. chelsea is white and annoying.
this book maybe would have benefited from not having chelsea’s pov. or her character at all. she’s the worst. and kind of the main focus of this review lmao.
she judges women who cook, because “gender stereotypes,” never mind the fact that women are fully capable of choosing to cook because they genuinely want to. she accuses her teacher of “falling into gender stereotypes” by cooking for her husband and her teacher is like, “uh chelsea, i like cooking and i have a wife. you have some things to learn, huh?” she preaches about how girls should focus on their brains and education and go into fields that they’re kept from, while not doing so herself with the reason of “it’s not because i’m a girl, i’m just not interested,” but she can’t seem to wrap her mind around girls liking makeup and clothes and cooking and cleaning because they genuinely like those things, not because they’ve been forced or manipulated into liking them, and that they should be able to like those things without some child giving them a “feminist” lecture to enlighten them.
she goes on a rant about how she never saw herself (an abled, average-sized, non-queer, white girl) in disney princesses, because none of them had her frizzy hair, and that’s why diversity is needed. i mean.....the sheer caucasity of that. she laughs off the idea of guys needing feminist narratives, too, because “they already get all the positivity” completely ignorant to the harmful rhetoric that gets spewed at guys, too. she tells a guy to not call her crazy because it’s “a way men silence women,” with zero mention of it being ableist, as if ableism isn’t intrinsically tied into men being able to use that word to silence women. she makes a comment about wanting a burger and fries, not girly food, which coming from miss feminism seems like a fucked up thing to say, assigning gender to food? she claims she’s “doing everything possible in the name of women’s right” and like...........girl you haven’t even scratched the surface. the world does not begin and end with your two person club at your school.
she says that stereotypes are “all fake, aren’t real.” and while i agree with her about them being “a way to lump people together and create bias about a whole group,” i also believe that stereotypes often come from people who aren’t in a group taking a trait or behavior they see in someone of that group and blowing it up into a caricature to twist it into something false or bad that is supposed to represent that entire group in a negative light. there are people who do “fit” stereotypes to an extent, because stereotypes come from somewhere. that doesn’t make them any less bad or harmful or offensive.
she has a ridiculous “can i be feminist and xyz” passage titled “top 10 feminism questions,” and like...........i get that first timers might question if they can be feminist while wearing makeup or liking clothes or wanting to look nice or liking a boy or being shy or not always being on or being friends with people who aren’t as passionate as you or whatever else, but we start the book with chelsea being (or rather, acting like) miss super feminism, so why near the end of the book is she pondering such basic questions about if she be feminist and do things that have nothing to do with being a feminist?
she is the only one in the book to use the word “womanist,” and claims her womanist blog is one of the few things she’s good at and it just...........womanism is about black women, so why is the white girl the only character in the book using it? the fuck does she know about womanism? (more on this in a bit.) she and her sister mock to use of “woke” which is aave, so white people being contemptuous about it, saying that they hate the term and think people only use it to look like they’re progressive when they aren’t, is anti-black as fuck. she also is suddenly adamant at the end of the book that “womyn” is the preferred term, when that is literally a terf term, y’all. fucking terfs.
she very much feels like she prefers bragging about how much she knows about feminism and fighting with people about it. when her mother doesn’t argue with her, she keeps going to get a reaction. when she brags about celebrating not only christmas, but also hanukkah and kwanzaa, she recite basic wikipedia level information about them and says “boom! in your face” to her sister who asked what she knew about those holidays. she clearly cares more about appearing knowledgeable and enlightened, than the actual holidays and cultures.
other notes:
there’s a moment where jasmine is being sexually harassed by a creep on the bus and a woman tells her to come sit by her, and instead of being grateful for the escape from the creepy man, she gets mad about how the woman told her to move instead of telling the guy to shut up. how can she expect a woman she doesn’t know to confront a strange, creepy man who potentially could’ve become violent? not everything is about a fight or confrontation or call out, especially when your safety isn’t guaranteed. i mean, the woman helped her in a way that was safe for both of them, and jasmine had the nerve to be mad about it. ridiculous.
it’s all so “women shouldn’t be doing this thing, they should be doing that thing and it’s okay for me to say so because i’m a woman telling other women to do things men have told us we shouldn’t,” but it should be “women should do whatever the fuck they want” point blank, period.
womanism, #sayhername, and #imwithher are used in this book for no reason, because the meaning of those things are not represented or addressed. womanism is about black women, but the term is only claimed by the white girl who seems to think it’s just an alternative term for feminism. #sayhername is about black women who are victims of police brutality/anti-black violence, and #imwithher is about supporting hillary clinton, both of which are never talked about in the book, yet it’s specifically mentioned that people have signs with those hashtags at the walk out at the end of the book. it feels very much like random terms and hashtags were just thrown in either because people know them or to coopt them to mean something that is actually relevant to the book. i’m surprised #metoo didn’t make it in there.
the feminist club is honestly a joke. it’s literally two girls posting poetry on a blog, selling shirts, and throwing scraps of paper around the school. two girls. they don’t branch out to invite more people until the end when their club is shut down. and even then, the narrative does not change to become more inclusive. i find it hard to believe that their club was so influential when not a single person moved to join the club, or asked to be included, or anything. i just don’t buy that a white teen girl and a fat black teen girl with basic, barely there knowledge of feminism could offer such life changing takes on feminism. jasmine’s pov is without a doubt the best, because she touches on racism and fat-antagonism and offers a perspective that little miss privilege can’t, but it doesn’t amount to much in the overall feminism presented in the book.
while reading i was thinking i’d maybe give this three or two stars, but now, i believe i have my second 1 star/nope nope nope book of the year.
February 10, 2019
Y'all, this book was SO FUCKING GOOD. Going into it I was worried it was going to take me a long time to read because it's def not a short book, but I absolutely FLEW through it and fell head over heels for Jasmine & Chelsea's friendship. This is the perfect book for someone who is somewhat new to feminism and wants to read something that will gradually ease them into it. This was so compelling and well written and I JUST LOVED IT A LOT OKAY YOU NEED TO READ IT
(ALSO- the reason I'm rating this 4 and not 5 stars is because I'm not really a fan of poetry and this has A LOT of that in it. I enjoyed the themes of the poems, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't struggle connecting to them. So, 4 stars!)
TW: death of a parent, fatphobia, blatant racism
(ALSO- the reason I'm rating this 4 and not 5 stars is because I'm not really a fan of poetry and this has A LOT of that in it. I enjoyed the themes of the poems, but I'd be lying if I said that I didn't struggle connecting to them. So, 4 stars!)
TW: death of a parent, fatphobia, blatant racism
July 26, 2022
reading this book reminded me of that feeling you'd get when you procrastinated your summer reading and you'd have to spend the last precious days of vacation sitting inside while your friends were at the pool.
but maybe that's just because it's nice out and i forced myself through this.
my opinion is, judging by a quick scan of my Fellow Reviews, exactly the same as everyone else's: the half of this book that's written by renée watson is fine and good, but it's impossible to focus on that because the other half is complete nightmare fuel.
one character, jasmine, has a family storyline, a romantic plot, a body positivity throughline, and an interest in the connection between race and gender. the other, chelsea, has...being annoying!
it feels antifeminist to have an entire character whose personality is women's rights. no woman should be or is or should have to be defined that way, for one thing, but also intersectional feminism > the stereotypical thin white woman who scolds! obviously! and when you have both in one book politely taking turns it's even more obvious.
feminist YA often feels to me like a series of exaggerated events with the intention of being didactic instead of realistic, valuable, real-world insight.
and who can possibly be invested in that? even if it is well-intentioned.
bottom line: sheesh.
2.5 stars
----------------
currently-reading updates
i cannot remember when or how i acquired this book. but i have it, and i'm reading it
but maybe that's just because it's nice out and i forced myself through this.
my opinion is, judging by a quick scan of my Fellow Reviews, exactly the same as everyone else's: the half of this book that's written by renée watson is fine and good, but it's impossible to focus on that because the other half is complete nightmare fuel.
one character, jasmine, has a family storyline, a romantic plot, a body positivity throughline, and an interest in the connection between race and gender. the other, chelsea, has...being annoying!
it feels antifeminist to have an entire character whose personality is women's rights. no woman should be or is or should have to be defined that way, for one thing, but also intersectional feminism > the stereotypical thin white woman who scolds! obviously! and when you have both in one book politely taking turns it's even more obvious.
feminist YA often feels to me like a series of exaggerated events with the intention of being didactic instead of realistic, valuable, real-world insight.
and who can possibly be invested in that? even if it is well-intentioned.
bottom line: sheesh.
2.5 stars
----------------
currently-reading updates
i cannot remember when or how i acquired this book. but i have it, and i'm reading it
February 11, 2019
Thanks to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the Advance Review Copy.
I'm going against the tide of other reviews here but this book was just too much. It almost reads as a parody of social justice discourse.
The novel follows the stories of Chelsea and Jasmine, two intersectional teenage feminists living in New York City. These two young women must exist in a state of constant mental exhaustion as they find issue with almost every single thing in the world around them.
At their school every student has to join a social justice club and even the Science class is officially the 'Science of Social Justice'. I'm no expert on the American education system but I'm guessing that public schools are bound to some kind of local or State standards? Not this school. Forget Covalent Bonds or the Theory of Relativity, they are going to study the Use of Human Subjects in Medical Research and Climate Change and Racism instead. Good luck on the SATs I guess.
The villain is a pretty white girl. The issues are shoehorned in with all the subtlety of a 6ft tall Peacock playing the Tuba. It's simply too much for one book to try and cover this many issues without it coming across as unrealistic and frankly absurd.
I actually felt drained reading this book. As a proud intersectional feminist who cares passionately about equity and social justice I didn't feel inspired, I felt like these important issues ended up as a bit of a joke. The poetry was quite good though. Really sorry, just not for me.
I'm going against the tide of other reviews here but this book was just too much. It almost reads as a parody of social justice discourse.
The novel follows the stories of Chelsea and Jasmine, two intersectional teenage feminists living in New York City. These two young women must exist in a state of constant mental exhaustion as they find issue with almost every single thing in the world around them.
At their school every student has to join a social justice club and even the Science class is officially the 'Science of Social Justice'. I'm no expert on the American education system but I'm guessing that public schools are bound to some kind of local or State standards? Not this school. Forget Covalent Bonds or the Theory of Relativity, they are going to study the Use of Human Subjects in Medical Research and Climate Change and Racism instead. Good luck on the SATs I guess.
The villain is a pretty white girl. The issues are shoehorned in with all the subtlety of a 6ft tall Peacock playing the Tuba. It's simply too much for one book to try and cover this many issues without it coming across as unrealistic and frankly absurd.
I actually felt drained reading this book. As a proud intersectional feminist who cares passionately about equity and social justice I didn't feel inspired, I felt like these important issues ended up as a bit of a joke. The poetry was quite good though. Really sorry, just not for me.
February 12, 2019
hot take: books like this make feminism look like a complete joke.
I talked about his book during my worst books of the year video starting at 17:30 - while I wish I could have liked this book, I completely stand by the fact that while this book had good intentions, its portrayal of social justice issues is so tone deaf that the events of the story are more hilarious than empowering.
video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZraAA...
I talked about his book during my worst books of the year video starting at 17:30 - while I wish I could have liked this book, I completely stand by the fact that while this book had good intentions, its portrayal of social justice issues is so tone deaf that the events of the story are more hilarious than empowering.
video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZraAA...
February 11, 2020
Jasmine gets 4 stars. Chelsea gets 1, so I take one off. I take another off because of the fake outrage.
I love Watson's previous book, Piecing Me Together. But listen. I waited for MONTHS for this book to come out. When it finally did, I put a hold on it at my library and waited another month for it to come in.
And this is what I get? A caricature of fake outrage who manages to find something "sexist" about EVERYTHING? This is why feminists aren't taken seriously. I could go on and on about the "over-the-top activist' trope is problematic, but I don't want to waste your time. (Since I originally wrote this review, I've seen tropes like this in other contemporary YA books Our Wayward Fate, The Survival List and A Tale of Two Besties that feel like the author based it entirely on stereotypes and doesn't know what actual feminism is.)
So I'll start with this: Things Chelsea gets LEGITIMATELY mad about (and most were in her first chapter):
The word "woman" having the word "man" in it. She uses "womyn" which is not only obnoxious but used by TERFs. The word "man" isn't a cause to fight against. It's a WORD. Fake outrage.
Lip glosses named "Pure Doll" and "Divalicious". She calls these examples of the "patriarchy". I myself am a feminist but seriously if I had a dollar for every time she called something "patriarchy" I could buy out a bookstore.
Blush called "color me perfect". Really?
Football. Not the athletes but the ACTUAL GAME. I lost respect for her in the second chapter. Nothing Chelsea fought for, except for the scene where she tried to report being groped, was anything other than a nonissue. The very idea of a woman cooking or liking feminine things set her off.
Then there's the scene (adding to the "womyn" thing) where all the girls and women are participating in a walkout, and Chelsea's math teacher calls them "ladies." What happens next-and I kid you not, this is an ACTUAL quote from the book, not a Tumblr user's fake story from 2015.
"'You know, 'ladies' is old fashioned, Mr. Smith. I like to use 'womyn,' spelled W-O-M-Y-N, so I don't have to include the word 'man.'" I smile, and a few of the other girls clap."
Seriously? Who would CLAP for that? This sounds like it's taken right out of one of those r/thathappened stories that ends in "and everyone clapped." Nobody is going to clap at your ridiculousness.
Chelsea is also somewhat misogynistic herself, writing an entire blog post about why the concept of princesses is problematic and she doesn't "see herself" in them (when she's an average straight white girl. Seriously?) Um, no. She guilts people for liking princesses and anything "girly", makes everyone think they're un-feminist and enforcing gender stereotypes for liking dresses, cooking, makeup, ANYTHING. Ugh. She doesn't just criticize the role of the princess, but when she sees people dressed as princesses on HALLOWEEN, she calls them "sexist" and "offensive" OVER AND OVER AGAIN. She says this about CHILDREN for liking princess costumes. How did any of this get past editors without someone saying, "Uhhh, liking something feminine isn't any kind of sexism nor does it mean that the girl is being forced into it. I think shaming girls for liking feminine things by their own free will actually promotes misogyny and will never, ever fight it."
Why can't girls be empowered, strong princesses? Kicking ass while wearing bright red lipstick and a dress? We get it, Chelsea, you're "not like other girls." Have you ever thought that when a girl likes something traditionally girly...it's not because she's forced to, but she GENUINELY LIKES IT?
I grew up on princess movies and constantly played dress-up. Even now, I love makeup and dressing up for school dances. I love making myself look nice, I love the art aspect of makeup, I love the way princesses' caricatures are changing in movies and they're portrayed as self-confident and independent. I loved the color pink. I wore dresses everywhere. Nobody FORCED me to do any of those things. I chose to because I WANTED to.
Same thing with bras. I wear them because they make things more comfortable. Not because men told me to.
And in another instance, when her teacher mentions she has to go home and cook, Chelsea goes on a rant about how just because she wants to cook, this teacher is "enforcing gender stereotypes." So you can't be a feminist if you cook? She also assumes this teacher is straight, and when the teacher tells Chelsea she's married to a woman and Chelsea still has a ways to go, she treats it like some kind of attack. People who don't hold themselves accountable for their mistakes and don't acknowledge their mistakes are the opposite of progressive.
Not to mention when buying shirts to sell, she doesn't even bother to order a plus-sized one for her BEST FRIEND.
Not to mention the scene where Chelsea tells her friends she celebrates Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well as Christmas, she says this "smiling and very proud of myself." What do you want? A medal?
And what personality traits does Chelsea even have besides being a feminist? None. She just acts like she's the best feminist, but she's really not. Her beliefs and constantly calling things sexist (and her purposely obnoxious use of big words to try to sound smart) is the caricature of feminists anti-feminists make up to make feminists look like a joke.
Jasmine, however, was my favorite. She talked about real issues she faced and informed her blog readers of influential lesser-known feminists. She was the kind of girl I like to read about.
I love Watson's previous book, Piecing Me Together. But listen. I waited for MONTHS for this book to come out. When it finally did, I put a hold on it at my library and waited another month for it to come in.
And this is what I get? A caricature of fake outrage who manages to find something "sexist" about EVERYTHING? This is why feminists aren't taken seriously. I could go on and on about the "over-the-top activist' trope is problematic, but I don't want to waste your time. (Since I originally wrote this review, I've seen tropes like this in other contemporary YA books Our Wayward Fate, The Survival List and A Tale of Two Besties that feel like the author based it entirely on stereotypes and doesn't know what actual feminism is.)
So I'll start with this: Things Chelsea gets LEGITIMATELY mad about (and most were in her first chapter):
The word "woman" having the word "man" in it. She uses "womyn" which is not only obnoxious but used by TERFs. The word "man" isn't a cause to fight against. It's a WORD. Fake outrage.
Lip glosses named "Pure Doll" and "Divalicious". She calls these examples of the "patriarchy". I myself am a feminist but seriously if I had a dollar for every time she called something "patriarchy" I could buy out a bookstore.
Blush called "color me perfect". Really?
Football. Not the athletes but the ACTUAL GAME. I lost respect for her in the second chapter. Nothing Chelsea fought for, except for the scene where she tried to report being groped, was anything other than a nonissue. The very idea of a woman cooking or liking feminine things set her off.
Then there's the scene (adding to the "womyn" thing) where all the girls and women are participating in a walkout, and Chelsea's math teacher calls them "ladies." What happens next-and I kid you not, this is an ACTUAL quote from the book, not a Tumblr user's fake story from 2015.
"'You know, 'ladies' is old fashioned, Mr. Smith. I like to use 'womyn,' spelled W-O-M-Y-N, so I don't have to include the word 'man.'" I smile, and a few of the other girls clap."
Seriously? Who would CLAP for that? This sounds like it's taken right out of one of those r/thathappened stories that ends in "and everyone clapped." Nobody is going to clap at your ridiculousness.
Chelsea is also somewhat misogynistic herself, writing an entire blog post about why the concept of princesses is problematic and she doesn't "see herself" in them (when she's an average straight white girl. Seriously?) Um, no. She guilts people for liking princesses and anything "girly", makes everyone think they're un-feminist and enforcing gender stereotypes for liking dresses, cooking, makeup, ANYTHING. Ugh. She doesn't just criticize the role of the princess, but when she sees people dressed as princesses on HALLOWEEN, she calls them "sexist" and "offensive" OVER AND OVER AGAIN. She says this about CHILDREN for liking princess costumes. How did any of this get past editors without someone saying, "Uhhh, liking something feminine isn't any kind of sexism nor does it mean that the girl is being forced into it. I think shaming girls for liking feminine things by their own free will actually promotes misogyny and will never, ever fight it."
Why can't girls be empowered, strong princesses? Kicking ass while wearing bright red lipstick and a dress? We get it, Chelsea, you're "not like other girls." Have you ever thought that when a girl likes something traditionally girly...it's not because she's forced to, but she GENUINELY LIKES IT?
I grew up on princess movies and constantly played dress-up. Even now, I love makeup and dressing up for school dances. I love making myself look nice, I love the art aspect of makeup, I love the way princesses' caricatures are changing in movies and they're portrayed as self-confident and independent. I loved the color pink. I wore dresses everywhere. Nobody FORCED me to do any of those things. I chose to because I WANTED to.
Same thing with bras. I wear them because they make things more comfortable. Not because men told me to.
And in another instance, when her teacher mentions she has to go home and cook, Chelsea goes on a rant about how just because she wants to cook, this teacher is "enforcing gender stereotypes." So you can't be a feminist if you cook? She also assumes this teacher is straight, and when the teacher tells Chelsea she's married to a woman and Chelsea still has a ways to go, she treats it like some kind of attack. People who don't hold themselves accountable for their mistakes and don't acknowledge their mistakes are the opposite of progressive.
Not to mention when buying shirts to sell, she doesn't even bother to order a plus-sized one for her BEST FRIEND.
Not to mention the scene where Chelsea tells her friends she celebrates Hanukkah and Kwanzaa as well as Christmas, she says this "smiling and very proud of myself." What do you want? A medal?
And what personality traits does Chelsea even have besides being a feminist? None. She just acts like she's the best feminist, but she's really not. Her beliefs and constantly calling things sexist (and her purposely obnoxious use of big words to try to sound smart) is the caricature of feminists anti-feminists make up to make feminists look like a joke.
Jasmine, however, was my favorite. She talked about real issues she faced and informed her blog readers of influential lesser-known feminists. She was the kind of girl I like to read about.
Read
February 14, 2022You know how, sometimes, you can tell almost immediately that a writing style isn't going to work for you? Yeah... sigh. That was me with this book. I disliked the narrative voice from literally the first page, and a few chapters in, it hadn't gotten any less frustrating. It's not bad, it's just extremely heavy-handed, if that makes sense. It feels like the authors tried to hold the readers' hands through every step of the messages about intersectionality, diversity, and feminism, which is great for a young reader or someone who's new to intersectional feminism and to equitable treatment! There is absolutely nothing wrong with this book or how it's written, it just didn't work at all for me, an adult who is already familiar with the topics being covered within this story.
Will I recommend this book to younger readers? Absolutely! Do I have any desire to finish reading it myself? ... sadly, no.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Will I recommend this book to younger readers? Absolutely! Do I have any desire to finish reading it myself? ... sadly, no.
Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
June 20, 2020
5 stars.
Absolutely amazing. One of the greatest takes on feminism - and more importantly, intersectional feminism that I've seen in a very long time. WATCH US RISE has amazing characters, writing, pacing, message, and so much power.
I cannot wait for this to come out next February because I am sure that this will change the YA book community.
Absolutely amazing. One of the greatest takes on feminism - and more importantly, intersectional feminism that I've seen in a very long time. WATCH US RISE has amazing characters, writing, pacing, message, and so much power.
I cannot wait for this to come out next February because I am sure that this will change the YA book community.
February 23, 2019
Closer to 1.5 stars. THIS BOOK WAS SO DISAPPOINTING. I have a lot to say about it, and my reaction is confounding and complex. But if I could summarize my experience in one phrase: it was friggin exhausting to read.
Set in New York, the book jumps between two perspectives - Jasmine and Chelsea. Jasmine is a plus-size black teenager who loves theatre and writing, and is dealing with a father dying of cancer. On the other hand, her best friend Chelsea is a bubbly white girl with a penchant for poetry and talking. Supported by their best friends Nadine and Isaac, Chelsea and Jasmine establish a women’s rights club at their school, which creates major buzz in their school and community. When I read this synopsis, I was excited. I was excited for numerous reasons — to have a YA focused on feminism; to have some dope representation; and to read something heartwarming. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book as much as I expected to.
The thing is, “Watch Us Rise” was so damn exhausting and cheesy because it felt like a relentless love song to what I like to call “frilly feminism.” Listen. I have no quips with buzzwords such as “patriarchy” “oppression” and “micro agressions”. In fact, I use those in my daily life. However, this book felt like an impenetrable serenade from the mouth a Twitter activist that just never ended. EVERY SINGLE PLOT POINT was centred on social justice, and in a way that almost felt purposefully shallow. There was a fundamental lack of nuance in every discussion, and I think that’s what bothered me the most. As a fat black girl I thought I would be on board 100% with this book, but even Jasmine’s POV sucked for me.
They bring up numerous concerns that feminists want to tackle, but there’s no artistry to the way it’s handled. Everyone’s reaction to events is predictable, and there’s no real deep dive into the realistic effects of activism. There’s an entire part about one of the characters being sexually harassed and suddenly there’s NO exploration of this action or the consequences to its victim. It’s a book meant to be intersectional bEcAuse tHerE’s a PluS sIze BlaCk cHaracTer, but intersectionality — like literally every other issue brought up in this book — is never actually explored. Queerness, disability, and class are never touched upon. The only character that seemed interested in the complexity of oppression was their advisor and the owner of the bookstore, Leidy. But she was a minor character so you just get bursts of insight with no real influence. They don’t even take her advice — they continue their vapid pursuit of their own self-interest in a way that is migraine-inducing.
The characters are flat and one-dimensional, there is very little character development, and the execution is just lacking. For one, Chelsea is a main character that won’t shut up — and not in way that is endearing or courageous. It’s fascinating to me how this book seems engaged with tackling the criticism of feminism in 2019, but it does PRECISELY what feminism is criticized for. Chelsea is aggressive and she mentions sexism and/or race in every single discussion. It was so damn annoying. Am I meant to like her? Am I meant to like the character that is a caricature of the modern feminist movement? Someone who cuts off people in the middle of sentences and is so self-centred? You couldn’t have a loveable white ally? She refuses to engage in any other viewpoints or ideas other than her VERY narrow idea of feminism. The only good thing about Chelsea is how she handles her crush on a boy named James Bradford. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but that’s honestly her one redeeming quality. Chelsea was insufferable. Jasmine was pretty dope and I liked her, but she also had zero character development other than dealing with grief. She also makes a point of quitting the drama club for making her a stereotype that only talks about her body and race, and then she proceeds to write poetry that is ONLY about her body and race. Really?
What I did like about this book was its deep engagement with art and community, and the decision to actually include poetry from its characters. I liked that. I loved how realistic Jasmine’s life and thoughts as a plus-size feminist. Those were some of the rare parts of the book that was insightful and relatable. I also appreciate the premise — I would’ve probably liked this book in high school. But for me now, it’s hard to digest because it’s excruciatingly simplistic and preachy.
I refuse to give this book a higher rating when I consider some of the works about women of colour that changed my life, such as “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Zora Neale Hurston); “The Colour Purple” (Alice Walker); and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (Maya Angelou). This book felt decidedly brutish in its attempt to tackle the same issues in a modern context. I was NOT a fan of the execution, which upon reading the rest of these reviews makes me feel like a bad and crazy person for not liking the book.
Set in New York, the book jumps between two perspectives - Jasmine and Chelsea. Jasmine is a plus-size black teenager who loves theatre and writing, and is dealing with a father dying of cancer. On the other hand, her best friend Chelsea is a bubbly white girl with a penchant for poetry and talking. Supported by their best friends Nadine and Isaac, Chelsea and Jasmine establish a women’s rights club at their school, which creates major buzz in their school and community. When I read this synopsis, I was excited. I was excited for numerous reasons — to have a YA focused on feminism; to have some dope representation; and to read something heartwarming. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book as much as I expected to.
The thing is, “Watch Us Rise” was so damn exhausting and cheesy because it felt like a relentless love song to what I like to call “frilly feminism.” Listen. I have no quips with buzzwords such as “patriarchy” “oppression” and “micro agressions”. In fact, I use those in my daily life. However, this book felt like an impenetrable serenade from the mouth a Twitter activist that just never ended. EVERY SINGLE PLOT POINT was centred on social justice, and in a way that almost felt purposefully shallow. There was a fundamental lack of nuance in every discussion, and I think that’s what bothered me the most. As a fat black girl I thought I would be on board 100% with this book, but even Jasmine’s POV sucked for me.
They bring up numerous concerns that feminists want to tackle, but there’s no artistry to the way it’s handled. Everyone’s reaction to events is predictable, and there’s no real deep dive into the realistic effects of activism. There’s an entire part about one of the characters being sexually harassed and suddenly there’s NO exploration of this action or the consequences to its victim. It’s a book meant to be intersectional bEcAuse tHerE’s a PluS sIze BlaCk cHaracTer, but intersectionality — like literally every other issue brought up in this book — is never actually explored. Queerness, disability, and class are never touched upon. The only character that seemed interested in the complexity of oppression was their advisor and the owner of the bookstore, Leidy. But she was a minor character so you just get bursts of insight with no real influence. They don’t even take her advice — they continue their vapid pursuit of their own self-interest in a way that is migraine-inducing.
The characters are flat and one-dimensional, there is very little character development, and the execution is just lacking. For one, Chelsea is a main character that won’t shut up — and not in way that is endearing or courageous. It’s fascinating to me how this book seems engaged with tackling the criticism of feminism in 2019, but it does PRECISELY what feminism is criticized for. Chelsea is aggressive and she mentions sexism and/or race in every single discussion. It was so damn annoying. Am I meant to like her? Am I meant to like the character that is a caricature of the modern feminist movement? Someone who cuts off people in the middle of sentences and is so self-centred? You couldn’t have a loveable white ally? She refuses to engage in any other viewpoints or ideas other than her VERY narrow idea of feminism. The only good thing about Chelsea is how she handles her crush on a boy named James Bradford. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but that’s honestly her one redeeming quality. Chelsea was insufferable. Jasmine was pretty dope and I liked her, but she also had zero character development other than dealing with grief. She also makes a point of quitting the drama club for making her a stereotype that only talks about her body and race, and then she proceeds to write poetry that is ONLY about her body and race. Really?
What I did like about this book was its deep engagement with art and community, and the decision to actually include poetry from its characters. I liked that. I loved how realistic Jasmine’s life and thoughts as a plus-size feminist. Those were some of the rare parts of the book that was insightful and relatable. I also appreciate the premise — I would’ve probably liked this book in high school. But for me now, it’s hard to digest because it’s excruciatingly simplistic and preachy.
I refuse to give this book a higher rating when I consider some of the works about women of colour that changed my life, such as “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Zora Neale Hurston); “The Colour Purple” (Alice Walker); and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” (Maya Angelou). This book felt decidedly brutish in its attempt to tackle the same issues in a modern context. I was NOT a fan of the execution, which upon reading the rest of these reviews makes me feel like a bad and crazy person for not liking the book.
April 18, 2019
This is exactly the kind of empowering, inspiring, powerful and moving book I wish I’d had in high school.
I adored each and every moment.
I loved the characters so much and hugely appreciated each facet of their individual narratives and personalities. I especially loved Jasmine and Chelsea’s characters and how they lifted each other up, called each other out and gave each other a chance to grow and learn from their mistakes. It was also so refreshing to read a book about a positive female friendship, that actually stayed positive. Each individual relationship in this book, whether it be familial, romantic or platonic, was brilliantly developed and held its own in a way that really stood out to me. Even the minor relationships had an impact!
With gorgeous characters, an empowering story and a writing style that flowed flawlessly, Watch Us Rise is a book that will stick with me for a while to come and one I’d recommend whole heartedly. (Because, let’s be honest, a book with a diverse cast, about a badass feminist blog, written by badass girls calling out fatphobia, racism and sexism is always going to be a winner.)
I adored each and every moment.
I loved the characters so much and hugely appreciated each facet of their individual narratives and personalities. I especially loved Jasmine and Chelsea’s characters and how they lifted each other up, called each other out and gave each other a chance to grow and learn from their mistakes. It was also so refreshing to read a book about a positive female friendship, that actually stayed positive. Each individual relationship in this book, whether it be familial, romantic or platonic, was brilliantly developed and held its own in a way that really stood out to me. Even the minor relationships had an impact!
With gorgeous characters, an empowering story and a writing style that flowed flawlessly, Watch Us Rise is a book that will stick with me for a while to come and one I’d recommend whole heartedly. (Because, let’s be honest, a book with a diverse cast, about a badass feminist blog, written by badass girls calling out fatphobia, racism and sexism is always going to be a winner.)
June 25, 2021
My thoughts
I loved how this book didn't focus on only one aspect of feminism or sexism. We ventured and made our way through so many parts of this huge problem and I also love the way it was portrayed as a big problem, in fact, a REALLY big problem because IT IS but not one that we can't stop or put an end to. I also really loved that certain part of the book when it just slammed down all the stereotypes and sexism and backed all these points up and showed us the truth. That part was really enlightening. In fact, this whole book was really enlightening. We all know this is a problem and we all know that we could stop it so why don't we do just that and that is what Chelsea and Jasmine are doing and I love it. I love how they're not all just talk. I love how they're making a difference when no one else seems to be doing so.
Something I would have really loved to see was more points of view. So like all books this book had a building and this villain was men who are cutting women down and taking their voices away. I would have loved to see a perspective/ POV of those people. Because they are everywhere and I would like to not only see them as bad guys but to see them as people who grew up in those kinds of environments. Because we usually see that people's environments are reflected in their behavior. So I'm not asking for redemption or an excuse, but an inside of how confused some of the characters from this book might be. Especially the boys who are showing this book will go to the same high school as Chelsea and Jasmine, it's not really their fault that they grew up in the environments they did grow up in. I mean yes they have a choice to be better but some people don't understand that yet and I would have liked to see that perspective in this story. We can't just show the people who are against feminism as a bad guy because that is how they grew up or taught to believe... So I would have loved for the book to go more in-depth with how people can get confused and misled.
The Writing
The writing was very simplistic and although this book did have an important and useful idea it wasn't executed well due to the writing and the characters had barely any ✨characteristics ✨ The characters felt so plain that throughout 90% of this book I couldn't tell Chelsea apart from Jasmine! I literally thought Chelsea was Jasmine until the last 10 pages of the book. On that point...
The characters
Apart from the fact that I got the characters mixed up throughout the entire book, I just want to talk about how bad role models Jasmine and Chelsea are. I mean, maybe the idea was to show people that not even feminists can be perfect but if it was the authors took it way too far. Chelsea is definitely one of the most annoying characters I have ever read about, she literally did everything in the name of "feminism". She would do something wrong and someone would correct her and tell her that what she did was wrong and she would just go on and on about how they're trying to silence her voice... We get the idea, I don't think you do though...
Overall
Overall this was a fun entertaining read that I definitely wish had more information/thoughts because as I said it was just a bit simplistic and basic.
✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎
Pre Review
Wowowoowow RTC soon.
I loved how this book didn't focus on only one aspect of feminism or sexism. We ventured and made our way through so many parts of this huge problem and I also love the way it was portrayed as a big problem, in fact, a REALLY big problem because IT IS but not one that we can't stop or put an end to. I also really loved that certain part of the book when it just slammed down all the stereotypes and sexism and backed all these points up and showed us the truth. That part was really enlightening. In fact, this whole book was really enlightening. We all know this is a problem and we all know that we could stop it so why don't we do just that and that is what Chelsea and Jasmine are doing and I love it. I love how they're not all just talk. I love how they're making a difference when no one else seems to be doing so.
Something I would have really loved to see was more points of view. So like all books this book had a building and this villain was men who are cutting women down and taking their voices away. I would have loved to see a perspective/ POV of those people. Because they are everywhere and I would like to not only see them as bad guys but to see them as people who grew up in those kinds of environments. Because we usually see that people's environments are reflected in their behavior. So I'm not asking for redemption or an excuse, but an inside of how confused some of the characters from this book might be. Especially the boys who are showing this book will go to the same high school as Chelsea and Jasmine, it's not really their fault that they grew up in the environments they did grow up in. I mean yes they have a choice to be better but some people don't understand that yet and I would have liked to see that perspective in this story. We can't just show the people who are against feminism as a bad guy because that is how they grew up or taught to believe... So I would have loved for the book to go more in-depth with how people can get confused and misled.
The Writing
The writing was very simplistic and although this book did have an important and useful idea it wasn't executed well due to the writing and the characters had barely any ✨characteristics ✨ The characters felt so plain that throughout 90% of this book I couldn't tell Chelsea apart from Jasmine! I literally thought Chelsea was Jasmine until the last 10 pages of the book. On that point...
The characters
Apart from the fact that I got the characters mixed up throughout the entire book, I just want to talk about how bad role models Jasmine and Chelsea are. I mean, maybe the idea was to show people that not even feminists can be perfect but if it was the authors took it way too far. Chelsea is definitely one of the most annoying characters I have ever read about, she literally did everything in the name of "feminism". She would do something wrong and someone would correct her and tell her that what she did was wrong and she would just go on and on about how they're trying to silence her voice... We get the idea, I don't think you do though...
Overall
Overall this was a fun entertaining read that I definitely wish had more information/thoughts because as I said it was just a bit simplistic and basic.
✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎✎
Pre Review
Wowowoowow RTC soon.
March 17, 2019
It will surprise no one to hear that as a child and teenager, I was all about reading and writing. These interests (nay, passions) were in no way encouraged by my parents or my Catholic junior high/high school, so I always felt like these parts of me didn't "count," somehow. Which was unfortunate, because it wasn't like I had an overabundance of other personality traits to replace them with. For this reason, I'm always going to appreciate a YA book that's about a girl claiming and embodying her creative self. I was a big fan of The Poet X and Brown Girl Dreaming, for instance. I wanted to be an equally big fan of Watch Us Rise, about two high school juniors, Jasmine and Chelsea, who form a feminist writing group at their school, but unfortunately this novel ended up being a disappointment.
Chelsea and Jasmine live in Harlem, which is pretty vividly rendered, and attend a high school that's all about teaching kids to be socially aware. Despite this, there's a lot of pushback on their feminist club, some of which was realistic and some of which was a bit ridiculous: When some students wear Halloween costumes meant to poke fun at the club and a fight ensues, for instance, the club gets in trouble for allegedly "instigating" the fracas, which they obviously didn't. And when Chelsea complains to the principal about a male student groping her, the principal reacts with skepticism and then reprimands her for not saying "thank you" when she walks out of his office. Why is this happening in a supposedly socially aware school? It just strained credibility.
The school setting also allows for an exploration of many other issues of class, race, gender, sexuality, and body image, and wow, does the book ever explore them—pretty much any social justice topic you can think of gets mentioned here and then goes unresolved: the groping incident; a bit where a character's father dies and her mother is shown to be helpless without him; a character's burgeoning theater career quashed by a racist teacher... you name it, it's introduced here, given a cursory treatment, and then forgotten. And for all the wokeness on display, the whole thing is weirdly sanitized: In a group of sixteen-year-olds, there's NO mention of sex or birth control of any kind; no cursing... it's just overly wholesome in an unrealistic way that kind of undercuts the book's message. These girls just didn't seem real; they were perfect social justice warriors and not much else.
To end on a positive note, Renee Watson's sections (from Jasmine's point of view) were definitely the best, and I may seek out her other novels. And Watch Us Rise contains a lot of poetry and a long list of recommended poets at the back, and I'll always feel kindly toward any book that encourages people to read poetry. So I would suggest this book for maybe 12- and 13-year-olds. Anyone older may find themselves as let down as I was.
Chelsea and Jasmine live in Harlem, which is pretty vividly rendered, and attend a high school that's all about teaching kids to be socially aware. Despite this, there's a lot of pushback on their feminist club, some of which was realistic and some of which was a bit ridiculous: When some students wear Halloween costumes meant to poke fun at the club and a fight ensues, for instance, the club gets in trouble for allegedly "instigating" the fracas, which they obviously didn't. And when Chelsea complains to the principal about a male student groping her, the principal reacts with skepticism and then reprimands her for not saying "thank you" when she walks out of his office. Why is this happening in a supposedly socially aware school? It just strained credibility.
The school setting also allows for an exploration of many other issues of class, race, gender, sexuality, and body image, and wow, does the book ever explore them—pretty much any social justice topic you can think of gets mentioned here and then goes unresolved: the groping incident; a bit where a character's father dies and her mother is shown to be helpless without him; a character's burgeoning theater career quashed by a racist teacher... you name it, it's introduced here, given a cursory treatment, and then forgotten. And for all the wokeness on display, the whole thing is weirdly sanitized: In a group of sixteen-year-olds, there's NO mention of sex or birth control of any kind; no cursing... it's just overly wholesome in an unrealistic way that kind of undercuts the book's message. These girls just didn't seem real; they were perfect social justice warriors and not much else.
To end on a positive note, Renee Watson's sections (from Jasmine's point of view) were definitely the best, and I may seek out her other novels. And Watch Us Rise contains a lot of poetry and a long list of recommended poets at the back, and I'll always feel kindly toward any book that encourages people to read poetry. So I would suggest this book for maybe 12- and 13-year-olds. Anyone older may find themselves as let down as I was.
Read
December 19, 2018Jasmine is a fat black girl with a father who is dying of cancer. Chelsea is an average-sized white girl. They're best friends and both are ready to start a revolution in their social justice focused high school which, despite being conscious of many things, still falls into traps of sexism, racism, sizeism, ableism, and more. Forced to pick a club to be part of for the new year, they decide instead of taking part in an already-established group, they'll begin their own focused on feminism and empowering female-identifying students. But when their blog becomes a hit, the principal isn't happy about the attention and after fighting back and causing chaos for members of the school community who are already undervalued, the duo reconsider how they can be the best activists and change agents -- starting with the writing center where both of them find so much of their voice.
This is a powerful, empowering, and smart intersectional feminist novel. While not all of the characters are as well-fleshed as they could be (Meg, for example, is really a stereotype), Jasmine and Chelsea are complex, fallible leads. Despite being close, they fail one another throughout and they fail to achieve the goals they believe they're representative of, too, making them real, relatable, and, of course, feminists.
Jasmine is a fat black girl, and there is no shying away from sizeism in this book. There's a passage where Chelsea purchases t-shirts for a protest, and she never once considers purchasing sizes beyond the straight ones; Jasmine calls her out on it, and while Jasmine is able to solve the problem herself, it's one of those situations that hit far too close to home for me as someone who has been in that same situation.
Throughout the book, there is incredible poetry written by the girls. These are protest poems, these are poems of resistance, and these are poems about being female in America. They are gut punches and wakeup calls for not just the characters in the book, but for the readers who pick up the book.
If you liked MOXIE, this is a great next read. Though it doesn't take on every instance of social justice or feminism, as that would be downright impossible, what this book does is showcase the possibility and the breadth of why feminism matters and why it is something for which everyone should advocate. Watson and Hagan get bonus points for highlighting Native women and their erasure, too, as this might be the first time in a book by non-Native writers where I've seen such careful attention paid to that, without co-opting those challenges as their own.
Smart, well-written, and will resonate hard, especially with young readers growing up in the Parkland generation. This book is a love song and boost of encouragement to get out there, make change, and embrace being the messy, imperfect humans that make up the movement.
This is a powerful, empowering, and smart intersectional feminist novel. While not all of the characters are as well-fleshed as they could be (Meg, for example, is really a stereotype), Jasmine and Chelsea are complex, fallible leads. Despite being close, they fail one another throughout and they fail to achieve the goals they believe they're representative of, too, making them real, relatable, and, of course, feminists.
Jasmine is a fat black girl, and there is no shying away from sizeism in this book. There's a passage where Chelsea purchases t-shirts for a protest, and she never once considers purchasing sizes beyond the straight ones; Jasmine calls her out on it, and while Jasmine is able to solve the problem herself, it's one of those situations that hit far too close to home for me as someone who has been in that same situation.
Throughout the book, there is incredible poetry written by the girls. These are protest poems, these are poems of resistance, and these are poems about being female in America. They are gut punches and wakeup calls for not just the characters in the book, but for the readers who pick up the book.
If you liked MOXIE, this is a great next read. Though it doesn't take on every instance of social justice or feminism, as that would be downright impossible, what this book does is showcase the possibility and the breadth of why feminism matters and why it is something for which everyone should advocate. Watson and Hagan get bonus points for highlighting Native women and their erasure, too, as this might be the first time in a book by non-Native writers where I've seen such careful attention paid to that, without co-opting those challenges as their own.
Smart, well-written, and will resonate hard, especially with young readers growing up in the Parkland generation. This book is a love song and boost of encouragement to get out there, make change, and embrace being the messy, imperfect humans that make up the movement.
February 27, 2019
What a good starting point for young girls and women to decide what part they wish to play in our world. Jasmine and Chelsea, two New York City teens, living their truth by fighting sexism, racism, and other harmful aspects make the story, Watch Us Rise, written by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan.
Despite attending a progressive high school, they feel muted voices around them, especially those possessed by girls and women. To change the muting of said voices, they create an after-school club based on women’s rights. In this club, they discuss women’s history, platform their poetry and writings, and open discussions on what they, and fellow supporters, see around them.
However, not everyone’s on board and the girls must decide how strong their fight prevails and how they will exist in this world.
I love this story. Well-written. Great pacing. Characterization that feels real and true. The girls come from strong and involved families. Conflict arising as the story progresses reflect instances that many young girls and women handle on a daily basis.
While the messaging can get a bit heavy-handed, topics included in this story, such as misogynoir, misogyny, racism, and classism, present themselves for spring-boarding conversations high schools deserve. Libraries ought to invest in books, such as these, to allow students to cope with issues that, honestly, in my day, was washed over as a means to continue the status quo.
Bottom line: Watson and Hagan presents a book which libraries require. Books that make us think. Books that makes us talk. Books that make us listen.
More importantly, books that make us grow.
★★★★/★★★★★
Despite attending a progressive high school, they feel muted voices around them, especially those possessed by girls and women. To change the muting of said voices, they create an after-school club based on women’s rights. In this club, they discuss women’s history, platform their poetry and writings, and open discussions on what they, and fellow supporters, see around them.
However, not everyone’s on board and the girls must decide how strong their fight prevails and how they will exist in this world.
I love this story. Well-written. Great pacing. Characterization that feels real and true. The girls come from strong and involved families. Conflict arising as the story progresses reflect instances that many young girls and women handle on a daily basis.
While the messaging can get a bit heavy-handed, topics included in this story, such as misogynoir, misogyny, racism, and classism, present themselves for spring-boarding conversations high schools deserve. Libraries ought to invest in books, such as these, to allow students to cope with issues that, honestly, in my day, was washed over as a means to continue the status quo.
Bottom line: Watson and Hagan presents a book which libraries require. Books that make us think. Books that makes us talk. Books that make us listen.
More importantly, books that make us grow.
★★★★/★★★★★
November 8, 2018
I'm going to talk a little about the book, but mostly share some quotes. This book has a lot of blog posts, playlists, and poems. Warning for death of a parent (cancer), racism, sexism, fat shaming, slut shaming, harassment. There may be more, but each of these things are covered in the book.
Watch Us Rise has two narrators, Jasmine and Chelsea. They are best friends along with Isaac and Nadine. The four of them have been activists (artivists) since they were young. Each of them love a different art form (acting, poetry, drawing, singing) and they use this to get their message out.
The kids go to a school where they have to be in clubs. Jasmine quit her club after the adviser was trying to put her in roles where she was just loud and hysterical. Chelsea left her poetry club after feeling like her voice was being silenced. She didn't want to just cover the classics (mostly white men). The girls decide to start a new club for girls. They call it "Write Like A Girl" and it really takes off. However, their progressive school isn't thrilled with what they are doing and the principal shuts it down.
This book really focuses on fighting back and making sure your voice is heard. There is a lot about women who spoke out and made a difference. I loved so much about it, but the writing was incredible. Books like this make me want to do more.
"Uh no, it's real. All the princesses I grew up with were thin and white and had long straight hair-all of them. I didn't see myself in them. that's the main problem-when you don't have any diversity. You just have these generic models of women, marketed and manufactured to little girls all over the world, who are meant to value and want to look and act like those women. And what if you don't look like them? Then where can you even see yourself?"
"There is a definite divide, as if a shirt with a 3x tag will contaminate the other clothes. I look through the clothes-there's not much to choose from. Just two racks compared to a whole store of options for thinner girls."
"It says: Why Are There Period Ads Everywhere? And below, it says, The better question is, why shouldn't there be? There's a 1 in 12 chance that you're on your period now, yet we rarely discuss menstruation outside of whispers from woman to woman. Today we can change this."
"This is how I know these people are my people, though, the ones who you can dance around and act silly with-the ones who you can do shots of soda with and laugh until it comes out of your nose. They're also the ones you can cry with."
"I resolve to protest and rage like a girl."
"You know, ladies is old-fashioned, Mr. Smith. I like to use womyn, spelled W-O-M-Y-N, so I don't have to include the word 'man'."
I can easily keep going. There are so many parts that I could quote to show you how amazing this book is. There is a lot of diversity. It talks about loving yourself, no matter what. And the friendship is so special.
I gave this book 5 stars and would rate it higher if I could. Thank you so much to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy for review. I will definitely be ordering this one soon.
*quotes taken from arc and may change before final publication
Watch Us Rise has two narrators, Jasmine and Chelsea. They are best friends along with Isaac and Nadine. The four of them have been activists (artivists) since they were young. Each of them love a different art form (acting, poetry, drawing, singing) and they use this to get their message out.
The kids go to a school where they have to be in clubs. Jasmine quit her club after the adviser was trying to put her in roles where she was just loud and hysterical. Chelsea left her poetry club after feeling like her voice was being silenced. She didn't want to just cover the classics (mostly white men). The girls decide to start a new club for girls. They call it "Write Like A Girl" and it really takes off. However, their progressive school isn't thrilled with what they are doing and the principal shuts it down.
This book really focuses on fighting back and making sure your voice is heard. There is a lot about women who spoke out and made a difference. I loved so much about it, but the writing was incredible. Books like this make me want to do more.
"Uh no, it's real. All the princesses I grew up with were thin and white and had long straight hair-all of them. I didn't see myself in them. that's the main problem-when you don't have any diversity. You just have these generic models of women, marketed and manufactured to little girls all over the world, who are meant to value and want to look and act like those women. And what if you don't look like them? Then where can you even see yourself?"
"There is a definite divide, as if a shirt with a 3x tag will contaminate the other clothes. I look through the clothes-there's not much to choose from. Just two racks compared to a whole store of options for thinner girls."
"It says: Why Are There Period Ads Everywhere? And below, it says, The better question is, why shouldn't there be? There's a 1 in 12 chance that you're on your period now, yet we rarely discuss menstruation outside of whispers from woman to woman. Today we can change this."
"This is how I know these people are my people, though, the ones who you can dance around and act silly with-the ones who you can do shots of soda with and laugh until it comes out of your nose. They're also the ones you can cry with."
"I resolve to protest and rage like a girl."
"You know, ladies is old-fashioned, Mr. Smith. I like to use womyn, spelled W-O-M-Y-N, so I don't have to include the word 'man'."
I can easily keep going. There are so many parts that I could quote to show you how amazing this book is. There is a lot of diversity. It talks about loving yourself, no matter what. And the friendship is so special.
I gave this book 5 stars and would rate it higher if I could. Thank you so much to Bloomsbury for sending me a copy for review. I will definitely be ordering this one soon.
*quotes taken from arc and may change before final publication
August 19, 2020
don't get me wrong - I love feminist books and I definitely believe that this book contains a lot of important lessons and statements. I even learned one or two new things, so that's great!
however, I feel like this would've been much better without Chelsea's POV. while her intentions might be good, she's just a very privileged white feminist and her idea of feminism is not intersectional, which annoyed me.
I also think that the representation of teenagers in this book was weird. personally, I find it hard to imagine that teenagers would think "oh, that was a microaggression against me!". the language used felt too academic at times and was therefore rather unfitting.
all in all, this was a good read and it carried multiple important messages. however, some parts of it were unrealistic and Chelsea came across as straight up ignorant.
however, I feel like this would've been much better without Chelsea's POV. while her intentions might be good, she's just a very privileged white feminist and her idea of feminism is not intersectional, which annoyed me.
I also think that the representation of teenagers in this book was weird. personally, I find it hard to imagine that teenagers would think "oh, that was a microaggression against me!". the language used felt too academic at times and was therefore rather unfitting.
all in all, this was a good read and it carried multiple important messages. however, some parts of it were unrealistic and Chelsea came across as straight up ignorant.
February 5, 2019
Wow just wow !!! I knew from the blurb that this was going to be a very interesting book on intersectional feminism but the way it’s written in the form of poems, essays, quotes, art etc just blew me away. It made me think, rage, reflect, feel joy and also sadness. It’s been a great reading experience but I definitely don’t know if I can properly express my thoughts in this review.
Jasmine and Chelsea are two great realistic portrayals of teens who have a lots of thoughts and ideas, want to find a voice and express themselves but quickly learn that it’s not always easy, even at their very progressive New York high school. Jasmine is a big black girl actress and writer, Chelsea is a white girl poet ; their best friend Nadine is a Japanese Lebanese designer and Issac is a Peurto Rican artist and an ally to their cause. They are all encouraged especially by Jasmine’s dad who calls them “art-tivists” - people who can use their art to bring change and I loved the support he gave. Jasmine felt very relatable to me, mostly because I could feel everything she felt when she had to deal with conversations around her weight. She also came across as very thoughtful, even when dealing with the obstacles they face, along with her father’s terminal cancer diagnosis and the subsequent grief over her loss. On the other hand, Chelsea is very passionate about her ideas and doesn’t like to be stifled, so she can sometimes come across as rude/ stirring up the pot unnecessarily - however, I could also understand where she was coming from and she just needed a proper channel for her to voice her rage. But these two girls are not just feminists, they are also teenagers and I thought it was very realistically depicted. They have crushes, can get overwhelmed, have to deal with their feelings for boys and family issues; all the while wanting to be activists and not knowing how to reconcile all their various issues.
What I loved about this book is how it talks about broad issues but focuses on specifics that the girls face. The most relevant one I felt is the representation of women in the media, specifically women of color - how we are always subjected to the same old stereotypes which have racist origins, and how difficult it is to make people realize that stereotypes are harmful and affect so much of our thinking. The conversations about weight and how fat women are always represented as sad and needing to lose weight to be more happy; unable to find clothes in the usual sections because somehow, there has to be a separate but small plus size section ; how every movie and media and magazine reinforces the same old beauty standards which only leads to more self-esteem issues among young girls. There are also many many more conversations here about sexism and misogyny and sexual harassment and microaggressions and how even the Principal/ teachers of a progressive school can be tone deaf to certain issues that stem from intersectionality. Another thing I absolutely loved about this book is how it gives so much detail about historical women who have been great activists, their notable works and many more resources for young women and allies who want to make a change and want their voices heard in this day and age. There is so so much more in this book, I probably highlighted almost half of it, but I’m just not able to articulate how important this book felt to me.
If you’ve enjoyed reading The Nowhere Girls or Moxie, then this book is definitely for you. I highly recommend this book to everyone - young and old, feminists and those who are unsure - this has something to ponder and think for everyone. It’ll give you a chance to reflect on your thoughts and actions of the past and how we can do better, how we can change the people or society around us in our own little ways. Just pick up this book and prepare to join the conversation.
Jasmine and Chelsea are two great realistic portrayals of teens who have a lots of thoughts and ideas, want to find a voice and express themselves but quickly learn that it’s not always easy, even at their very progressive New York high school. Jasmine is a big black girl actress and writer, Chelsea is a white girl poet ; their best friend Nadine is a Japanese Lebanese designer and Issac is a Peurto Rican artist and an ally to their cause. They are all encouraged especially by Jasmine’s dad who calls them “art-tivists” - people who can use their art to bring change and I loved the support he gave. Jasmine felt very relatable to me, mostly because I could feel everything she felt when she had to deal with conversations around her weight. She also came across as very thoughtful, even when dealing with the obstacles they face, along with her father’s terminal cancer diagnosis and the subsequent grief over her loss. On the other hand, Chelsea is very passionate about her ideas and doesn’t like to be stifled, so she can sometimes come across as rude/ stirring up the pot unnecessarily - however, I could also understand where she was coming from and she just needed a proper channel for her to voice her rage. But these two girls are not just feminists, they are also teenagers and I thought it was very realistically depicted. They have crushes, can get overwhelmed, have to deal with their feelings for boys and family issues; all the while wanting to be activists and not knowing how to reconcile all their various issues.
What I loved about this book is how it talks about broad issues but focuses on specifics that the girls face. The most relevant one I felt is the representation of women in the media, specifically women of color - how we are always subjected to the same old stereotypes which have racist origins, and how difficult it is to make people realize that stereotypes are harmful and affect so much of our thinking. The conversations about weight and how fat women are always represented as sad and needing to lose weight to be more happy; unable to find clothes in the usual sections because somehow, there has to be a separate but small plus size section ; how every movie and media and magazine reinforces the same old beauty standards which only leads to more self-esteem issues among young girls. There are also many many more conversations here about sexism and misogyny and sexual harassment and microaggressions and how even the Principal/ teachers of a progressive school can be tone deaf to certain issues that stem from intersectionality. Another thing I absolutely loved about this book is how it gives so much detail about historical women who have been great activists, their notable works and many more resources for young women and allies who want to make a change and want their voices heard in this day and age. There is so so much more in this book, I probably highlighted almost half of it, but I’m just not able to articulate how important this book felt to me.
If you’ve enjoyed reading The Nowhere Girls or Moxie, then this book is definitely for you. I highly recommend this book to everyone - young and old, feminists and those who are unsure - this has something to ponder and think for everyone. It’ll give you a chance to reflect on your thoughts and actions of the past and how we can do better, how we can change the people or society around us in our own little ways. Just pick up this book and prepare to join the conversation.
February 17, 2020
DNF @36%
Chelsea just really got to me and I just can’t read her chapters anymore which is a shame since I am interested in Jasmine’s story. It’s just that I don’t want to read Chelsea’s perspective anymore. I’m all down for a feminist character but I just absolutely hate it when they’re shoving their opinions down my throat, and for someone who always preached feminism, Chelsea had moments of hypocrisy and naivety. Gosh it was freaking irritating hearing her long-winded monologues.
Chelsea just really got to me and I just can’t read her chapters anymore which is a shame since I am interested in Jasmine’s story. It’s just that I don’t want to read Chelsea’s perspective anymore. I’m all down for a feminist character but I just absolutely hate it when they’re shoving their opinions down my throat, and for someone who always preached feminism, Chelsea had moments of hypocrisy and naivety. Gosh it was freaking irritating hearing her long-winded monologues.
April 21, 2019
"Don't call me baby, ma, sexy. Do not rename me. You can't name what you do not own. You don't own my body. My body is not yours."
This is one of those books that everyone seems to have rated either 5 stars or one star. And here I am, right in the middle. I totally get the critical voices but I also understand why people liked this. I basically read this in one sitting, it was very easy to get through. I also feel like I learned stuff from this book, especially from the plus-sized character Jasmine. Chelsea I didn't hate as much as everyone else but she is kinda a pain in the ass.
Now what I didn't like at all was the unrealistic-ness of this story, especially the dialogues were ridiculous sometimes. Some things were just badly written, especially the "love-stories".
I did like the description of grief though, especially cause the family member isn't already dead from the beginning of the story.
I would definitely recommend you to try this out if you like feminist reads, though there is a chance you might really hate it.
This is one of those books that everyone seems to have rated either 5 stars or one star. And here I am, right in the middle. I totally get the critical voices but I also understand why people liked this. I basically read this in one sitting, it was very easy to get through. I also feel like I learned stuff from this book, especially from the plus-sized character Jasmine. Chelsea I didn't hate as much as everyone else but she is kinda a pain in the ass.
Now what I didn't like at all was the unrealistic-ness of this story, especially the dialogues were ridiculous sometimes. Some things were just badly written, especially the "love-stories".
I did like the description of grief though, especially cause the family member isn't already dead from the beginning of the story.
I would definitely recommend you to try this out if you like feminist reads, though there is a chance you might really hate it.
February 20, 2019
This book totally misses the mark. It is a shallow look into much deeper issues of current feminism. I was so disappointed
May 13, 2019
Oh boy, oh boy. I wasn’t a fan of this. Look – I’m all for feminism and social justice. I think it’s especially important to represent intersectional feminism in YA literature. Howeverrrrr…I really didn’t enjoy this book.
There are two protagonists in this novel: Jasmine, a fat black girl whose father has terminal cancer, and Chelsea, an Irish-Italian. Both call themselves art-ivists and like to write poems and stuff. The book is about them founding a women’s rights club and blog at their very liberal school. (Seriously, do schools like this exist? Every student has to take part in a club and everything is centered around social justice. It feels unreal.)
I don’t know if each of the authors wrote one perspective, but there’s a noticeable difference in the writing and tone of the two. I wasn’t particularly fond of either, but while I understood Jasmine’s thoughts and struggles, I couldn’t stand Chelsea.
Chelsea is the incarnation of a millenial girl who just learned about feminism and wants to teach everybody her ways while assuming that everyone doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about and she’s the first person ever to learn about feminism. And it’s annoying as fuck.
Jasmine is at least being reasonable, but the whole book isn’t particularly well-written and just reads very preachy. This kind of in-your-face-feminism might be suitable for young readers who haven’t had much contact with the topic yet, but I don’t like feeling like authors are forcing their opinions down my throat. And I say that as a feminist.
It feels like they want the characters to be strong and empowering, but they just sound whiny af. That’s another point – I’d actually taken a break from YA the last months and books like this remind me what I dislike about it. So much teenage angst. So many brats. Also, they say some things that are undoubtedly against feminism ???
Jasmine and Chelsea make some progress in the process of the story, but you don’t see them learn these new things. They just suddenly have a slightly different opinion and as a reader, this is really confusing because you don’t know where that came from.
There are better books about girls fighting for feminist issues out there – check out Moxie or the Spinster Girls series
There are two protagonists in this novel: Jasmine, a fat black girl whose father has terminal cancer, and Chelsea, an Irish-Italian. Both call themselves art-ivists and like to write poems and stuff. The book is about them founding a women’s rights club and blog at their very liberal school. (Seriously, do schools like this exist? Every student has to take part in a club and everything is centered around social justice. It feels unreal.)
I don’t know if each of the authors wrote one perspective, but there’s a noticeable difference in the writing and tone of the two. I wasn’t particularly fond of either, but while I understood Jasmine’s thoughts and struggles, I couldn’t stand Chelsea.
Chelsea is the incarnation of a millenial girl who just learned about feminism and wants to teach everybody her ways while assuming that everyone doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about and she’s the first person ever to learn about feminism. And it’s annoying as fuck.
Jasmine is at least being reasonable, but the whole book isn’t particularly well-written and just reads very preachy. This kind of in-your-face-feminism might be suitable for young readers who haven’t had much contact with the topic yet, but I don’t like feeling like authors are forcing their opinions down my throat. And I say that as a feminist.
It feels like they want the characters to be strong and empowering, but they just sound whiny af. That’s another point – I’d actually taken a break from YA the last months and books like this remind me what I dislike about it. So much teenage angst. So many brats. Also, they say some things that are undoubtedly against feminism ???
Jasmine and Chelsea make some progress in the process of the story, but you don’t see them learn these new things. They just suddenly have a slightly different opinion and as a reader, this is really confusing because you don’t know where that came from.
There are better books about girls fighting for feminist issues out there – check out Moxie or the Spinster Girls series
August 14, 2018
Wow. Powerful, thought-provoking. The themes and messages are timely and timeless. Great for book club. Perfect for parent-child book club! Amazing poetry. Can't wait to share!
April 8, 2020
i,,, loved this?? so much more than I thought I would??? honestly it is PERFECT for what it is (an empowering YA novel about two best friends rallying against the system they find themselves in) and I would really recommend it to everyone who is struggling to read right now - it's such an easy and quick read!!
UPDATE: lowered this to a four star on here even though its a 4.5 or 4.75. I'm just trying to be more picky with my 5 star ratings and I don't think this is going to be a book that sticks with me like my favourites do (HOWEVER this makes me even more angry that Goodreads doesn't offer half star ratings bc 4 stars feels like a disservice :///// )
UPDATE: lowered this to a four star on here even though its a 4.5 or 4.75. I'm just trying to be more picky with my 5 star ratings and I don't think this is going to be a book that sticks with me like my favourites do (HOWEVER this makes me even more angry that Goodreads doesn't offer half star ratings bc 4 stars feels like a disservice :///// )
March 26, 2019
Yeah... I didn’t love this. It had its good moments but overall it failed on a lot of levels. Chelsea was unbearable for 90% of the book, she was a feminist... that’s it. She was so one dimensional that I just could not be bothered to care about her. What made her so unbearable was that she never spoke about anything other than feminism. Every topic during every conversation was turned into some form of feminist discussion or not really even a discussion just Chelsea giving you a big monologue. Jasmine was fine, nothing special and definitely more interesting than Chelsea. Jasmine had more characteristics to her personality and that made her a lot more interesting and enjoyable.
I think this book suffered from having too many ideas and too many points that it was trying to make. So much so that it felt preachy and over the top and truly didn’t give you much information other than a very basic idea. I felt like I was being beaten over the head while reading this. It was also so over the top that it almost felt like a parody.
The writing was mediocre. This book tells you almost everything and rarely are you shown anything. Whole weeks go by after “big” events and their never mentioned again or are in very brief one sentence lines. What I did like was the incorporation of the girls blog Write Like A Girl, I liked a lot of that. The friendships were also great and supportive and we had some mild character growth and a small romance for one of the characters.
Overall I’m very very disappointed with this one. You might like it but it certainly wasn’t for me.
I think this book suffered from having too many ideas and too many points that it was trying to make. So much so that it felt preachy and over the top and truly didn’t give you much information other than a very basic idea. I felt like I was being beaten over the head while reading this. It was also so over the top that it almost felt like a parody.
The writing was mediocre. This book tells you almost everything and rarely are you shown anything. Whole weeks go by after “big” events and their never mentioned again or are in very brief one sentence lines. What I did like was the incorporation of the girls blog Write Like A Girl, I liked a lot of that. The friendships were also great and supportive and we had some mild character growth and a small romance for one of the characters.
Overall I’m very very disappointed with this one. You might like it but it certainly wasn’t for me.
February 14, 2021
i had to read this for a class and after having finished it, i realize it's a book i would probably have not picked up myself or likely would have dnf'ed. while i appreciate that this novel brings the important idea of intersectional feminism to young readers, it felt very rudimentary to me. there was very little complexity or nuance to conversations regarding body image, racial stereotyping, and "smashing the patriarchy."
i think if i'd read this book when i was a teenager, i would have really connected with it and learned a lot. but now, as a woman in her early twenties? it just didn't work.
i think if i'd read this book when i was a teenager, i would have really connected with it and learned a lot. but now, as a woman in her early twenties? it just didn't work.
February 12, 2019
This book captures so perfectly that fierce vulnerability of smart teenage girls in their first head-on collisions with the injustices of the world. Sensitive, immersive, and so good.
February 20, 2019
I am sooo excited to be talking about Watch Us Rise finally! I loved reading this book soo much like I can not even describe how much. I knew a little about what the book was about going into it but once I started this book I could not stop, I was hooked.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This book centers around two main characters with a cast of side characters that include their two other best friends, kids at their school, teachers, the principal, their families, and the boys they like. Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends living in NYC attending a high school that is supposed to be progressive. Each student at the school is required to be a part of an after-school club however, the girls decide its time to step away from their clubs and make their own. One about women’s rights and one where they can speak their minds about issues at the school and in the community. However, the clubs required blog soon begins to cause a stir at the school and the principal threatens to shut the girls and their club down. Meanwhile, the girls each have their own crush and boy drama going on and Jasmine has some big changes coming at home that not only affect her but will affect her whole social group.
As things progress someone reads one of the girl’s blog posts at an open mic and the video goes online. From here things only get bigger, and the girls have to make some really tough choices about what exactly they are fighting for and what they plan to demand.
I really love this book and I plan to get a finished copy at some point. I am really shocked I liked this book because if I am honest I have not read a lot in this type of genre and I felt like it was not my thing. I think this book was a five star read for me for several reasons, for example, I loved the plot of Jasmine’s family (despite how heartbreaking it truly was) and the each of the subplots were just as interesting to read as the main plot. I definitely recommend picking this up even if you do not think this is the book for you, grab it from a library and give it a try.
SPOILERS AHEAD
This book centers around two main characters with a cast of side characters that include their two other best friends, kids at their school, teachers, the principal, their families, and the boys they like. Jasmine and Chelsea are best friends living in NYC attending a high school that is supposed to be progressive. Each student at the school is required to be a part of an after-school club however, the girls decide its time to step away from their clubs and make their own. One about women’s rights and one where they can speak their minds about issues at the school and in the community. However, the clubs required blog soon begins to cause a stir at the school and the principal threatens to shut the girls and their club down. Meanwhile, the girls each have their own crush and boy drama going on and Jasmine has some big changes coming at home that not only affect her but will affect her whole social group.
As things progress someone reads one of the girl’s blog posts at an open mic and the video goes online. From here things only get bigger, and the girls have to make some really tough choices about what exactly they are fighting for and what they plan to demand.
I really love this book and I plan to get a finished copy at some point. I am really shocked I liked this book because if I am honest I have not read a lot in this type of genre and I felt like it was not my thing. I think this book was a five star read for me for several reasons, for example, I loved the plot of Jasmine’s family (despite how heartbreaking it truly was) and the each of the subplots were just as interesting to read as the main plot. I definitely recommend picking this up even if you do not think this is the book for you, grab it from a library and give it a try.
February 17, 2019
Jasmine and Chelsea are entering their junior year at a Liberal Arts high school and are sick and tired of the conventionalized and overt discrimination they see at their school and decide to do something about it. By starting a club and blog to educate and inform the student body of everyday racism, sexism, and body shaming they start a revolution!
Watch Us Rise is an incredibly topical and relevant title that examines discrimination and intersectionality through a teen girl lens. Imagine the ideal friend and family dynamic you would want if you were a young person today; that is the relationship between Jasmine and Chelsea. These characters were so real I could feel what they were going through.
Just like real friends, they are sometimes insensitive and have conflict. When the Write Like a Girl blog creates promotional shirts not considering plus size womyn, Jasmine talks to Chelsea about how not considering individuals outside of normative body types is it’s own type of conventionalized discrimination. Both characters grew from the rift emotionally, and there are multiple instances of true sisterhood throughout this book which I think will resonate with young social justice warriors.
All characters are well thought out, and I think this book could very well be one of the best fiction books to be published this year.
Watch Us Rise is an incredibly topical and relevant title that examines discrimination and intersectionality through a teen girl lens. Imagine the ideal friend and family dynamic you would want if you were a young person today; that is the relationship between Jasmine and Chelsea. These characters were so real I could feel what they were going through.
Just like real friends, they are sometimes insensitive and have conflict. When the Write Like a Girl blog creates promotional shirts not considering plus size womyn, Jasmine talks to Chelsea about how not considering individuals outside of normative body types is it’s own type of conventionalized discrimination. Both characters grew from the rift emotionally, and there are multiple instances of true sisterhood throughout this book which I think will resonate with young social justice warriors.
All characters are well thought out, and I think this book could very well be one of the best fiction books to be published this year.
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