This was AMAZING. I love that The poem structure changed Between each one, and there was a touch of mixed media thrown in there too: the experimentation of colour of the page and text size and placement. Highly, highly recommend this one! Beautiful poems!

This is a beautiful collection of poetry, perfect for someone finding herself, someone moving through heartbreak, or someone who simply loves poetry. There is beautiful writing here, and a strong voice.

4 Stars!

This collection of poetry was written flawlessly and I can certainly feel the message and the various emotions of the author while writing each and every poem. I always love reading works by an ownvoice author and this surely did not disappoint. This collection was able to explore different themes and issues such as race, pain, love, heartbreak and friendship that are also prevalent in our society today. Although there are parts which I was not able to deeply connect with, nevertheless this is something that everyone should give a try as there is certainly something for everyone in this collection.

Huge thanks to Candlewick Press for providing me an ARC in exchange of an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Earlier today I finished reading Genesis Begins Again by Alicia D. Williams. There are so many poems in this collection that I would read to Genesis so that she would learn see that she is not alone, so that she can be proud of who she is, so that she can acknowledge and embrace her gifts.

Somebody Give This Heart a Pen was a quick read for me, and I would 100% read it again.

There is so much wisdom and vulnerability in these poems, and I love Thakur's use of rhythm and imagery. Her words are empowering, validating, therapeutic, and encouraging, which so many of us need. Many of the poems brought tears to my eyes because of Thakur's talent in capturing and evoking true emotions.

This is a fantastic addition to anyone's poetry collection.

Thank you Netgalley and Candlewick Press for a copy of Somebody Give This Heart a Pen for an honest review.

This was a collection of beautiful poems. Talking about different points in life. I'm not a big poetry reader so it's hard to write a great review about this book. I liked it!

This is a short book, but not a quick read for me as I found myself rereading some of the powerful lines again and again. A few of my favorite lines include "What matters is not what you are called But what you answer to." and "Beautiful melanin, set you apart. Beautiful melanin, work of art.", Thakur's poem Journey of Mirrors is a beautiful reminder to embrace who we are just as we are. This is a great book to press into the hands of almost anyone, but most especially teens and young women of color.

3.5 stars - Like with most collections of stories and/or poetry, there are always some that I enjoy more than others. Thakur is a very talented writer, and it is very obvious that she performs poetry. I feel like I would love if this was performed or read to me - it had the perfect flow for it. There were a lot of really important poetry that tackled race relations that I thought were extremely impactful (Excerpt from a Letter to My Little Black Girl being my personal favourite). But, there were also poems that I could not relate to, and others that confused me. Overall, I still do recommend this novel and I am looking forward to seeing another collection from this author.

I spent the second half of my twenties immersed in performance poetry, chasing down poetry slams and open mic nights at bars every weekend. While I had no knowledge of Thakur when I picked up her collection (likely because she's based in the UK), I could tell she was probably a stage poet as soon as I started reading her work out loud. Her writing has the hypnotic melody and rhythm that drew me out to poetry venues night after night. Thakur tackles issues of identity, assimilation, family, and self-love in an accessible way that will surely make her a crowd favorite for both newcomers to poetry and seasoned readers alike.

I think poems like "When the Strong Friend Cries" and "DIY Romance" will resonate well with teens. I could see this being the perfect gift for a young person that is interested in exploring modern poetry.

Thank you to Netgalley and Candlewick Press for providing a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Somebody Give This Heart a Pen by Sophia Thakur

5 stars

Y'ALL! Y'all this collection is amazing. I want everyone to read it and bask in and I recognize that there is a group of people who will not like it because there is a lot of Thakur's relationship with Christianity and God interwoven in here through talks about policies of injustice in Europe as well as being a Black woman, but immediately after finishing this I went into my group chat with four of my best friend's and shouted about this book and hyped it up because this poetry collection is so powerful. It has heart and is interwoven with pain and bravery and boldness and the fierceness that is inside all women, but doesn't come out due to oppression and the world being a horrible place in general. You can feel that this collection was therapeutic for Thaku and the message of using a pen to write is so important and writing unleashes the mind and helps soothe the spirit. I highlighted almost every single poem and I can't wait to purchase my own copy.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 5

Plotastic Scale: 5

Cover Thoughts: I adore this cover. I love the font, the photography, and the background. Just a great cover.

Thank you, Netgalley and Candlewick Press, for providing me a copy of this collection in exchange for an honest review.

What a beautiful poetry collection. Somebody Give This Heart a Pen is so emotionally charged that I had to read it in multiple sittings. Sophia's voice is so clear in this book, I could tell she preforms poetry by the way it was written so I went to find videos of her speaking so I could hear her voice through this even clearer.

I really loved this, it was lyrical and magical and emotional and smart. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys poetry but especially young adults!


Thanks so much to Candlewick Press and Netgalley for this egalley to review!

This was a heartwrenching collection of poems. There is so much pain and heartbreak and worry in between these lines but also a lot of strength, empowerment and girls not giving up and I think that was absolutely marvelous!

'Somebody Give This Heart a Pen' was a masterpiece. I don't usually read poetry, but this one makes me want to read more.
This collection talks about loss, race and relationships in such a raw way. It even teared me up sometimes.
I didn't read this book fast. The biggest reason is because I wanted to soak in every poem. Every sentence. Every emotion.

I didn't expect to relate to some of the poems, but I did and it felt good.
It really did.
It made me feel all kinds of emotions.
Please read this poetry collection. You won't regret it.
I would also recommended this book to people who aren't familiar with poetry and would like to be introduced to the genre.

A good poetry collection. Unique perspective. Many put me right back into angst and heartbreak of that is part of being a teen girl. Recommend for teens.

Thank you Candlewick Press for the advanced copy.

Originally I thought this was a novel in verse . Once I realized it was a collection of poetry I thought it was absolutely breath taking and will be great to share with students that are looking for poetry or discover modern poetry. I will definitely purchase for our library. We only have a few poetry books in YA and I look forward to adding a current poet.

This was hard hitting, interesting and a great read! The characters were great to get to know and I really enjoyed this!

I've been drawn into the world of poetry by all those beautiful instagrammable poetry (milk & honey, etc.). While those modern poems are beautiful in their own way I have found more and more a sense of repetitiveness. This collection, although still modern, have so much more complexity. These beautiful poems are exactly what I needed to reignite my love of poetry.

I'll admit I'm no poetry expert, but Sophia writes in such emotional, beautiful poems with so much strength. Her words tug at my soul. Sophia tackles so many different topics in her poems from friendship to race to self-empowerment. This is not a book to speed read through. Each poem has so much depth to discover and be savored!

What is the point of putting spoken word poetry into book format? Is this a regular thing I'm not aware of or something? I liked how the poems in Somebody Give This Heart a Pen were written, especially a few that I thought were almost beautiful, but otherwise spoken word should be left spoken, I think. This book would have made a lot more impact on me if I had heard what was written instead of just reading it in my head.

I couldn't have written anything like this, but I didn't think this book was that great, either. A lot of the sections didn't make sense to me and felt out of order with the previous or next parts. I'm not a big fan of poetry in the first place, though.

I thought this was a good Poetry collection. It had a bunch of different types of poems involving a lot of things that happen when we are young. I was not a huge fan of the love poems, but I highly enjoyed the way Sophia was able to intertwine girlhood and politics throughout the collection. I feel like I have an idea of who Sophia is and what she has struggled with.

Poetry is not usually a genre I read a lot soooooo....I am reading more poetry! My students generally love poetry and I need some poetry to feed their souls that aren’t from dead white men, or dead white women! They deserve poems that reflect their voices and in this powerful book I know I have found poems I will e corpo rate into my classroom because they speak so loudly to your soul! Below are some of my favorites!
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“His 1,000 years in 75 with Her”- I want someone to love me like this, where you and your partner have lived so many lives together, good and bad, but there is no one else who could have lived them with you.
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“Risky Nostalgia”- it is easy to look back, but are we wearing rose colored glasses and when we take them off what do we really see in the past!
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“When the Strong Friend Cries”- understanding that everyone needs support sometimes and sometimes you have to pick up the burden your friend is carrying because they have helped you carry yours for so long
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“Scary Everyone”- a look at anxiety and how it changes how you see the world
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“Fairground Lenses”- a look at the self criticism we put on ourselves from society and how to find satisfaction without comparison