A Place Inside Me, A Poem to Heal the Heart, written by Zetta Elliott and illustrated by Noa Denmon, was challenged in a school libraries in Virginia in May and in Tennessee in October. The poem works through the feelings a boy has after a girl in his neighborhood is killed by the police. It’s a book of healing, not blame, or activism. It doesn’t address racism.

Zetta Elliott was born and raised in Canada. She moved to the United States to attend college, and has remained in this country. Zetta earned a PhD in American Studies from NYU. She has published plays, novellas and poems, and she’s also has taught. Her picture book, Bird, won the Honor Award in Lee & Low Books’ New Voices Contest and the Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers.  A Place Inside Me, A Poem to Heal the Heart was named an ALA Notable Book and a Notable Poetry Book by the National Council of Teachers of English; it won a 2021 Skipping Stones Honor Award and Noa Denmon won the Caldecott Honor Award for illustrations. Zetta delivered the Zena Sutherland Lecture in May 2023. She has published over 40 books for children, teens, and adults.

Contact
website: https://www.zettaelliott.com/
X: https://twitter.com/zettaelliott
IG https://www.instagram.com/zettaelliott/

Books
Next: [patiently waiting]
Most recent: The War on Witchers (Dragons in a Bag #5)