Amanda Gorman is using her renowned way with words to inspire young girls around the world – this time, through a new children’s book.
The poet and activist explained in a recent Instagram announcement that she wrote the book, called “Girls on the Rise,” to share a message “that was all about the pride and the joy — and most importantly, the power — that comes with being a girl.” She added, “I think it’s an incredibly important message, now more than ever.”
It is, indeed, a timely topic, as girls and women’s rights all over the world are increasingly under attack. And it was one such infringement that inspired Gorman’s newest work, she told CBS Mornings. Watching psychology professor Christine Blasey Ford’s 2018 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee about then Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh – during which she detailed his sexual assault of her in high school – proved formative. Gorman wrote a poem that very same night, she added, “because I knew that feeling of being a woman in a room screaming to be believed.” Her desire to encourage such strength in girls and women through her writing only grew from there – eventually becoming “Girls on the Rise.”
Gorman is already an inspiration to girls everywhere. In 2021, she captured hearts around the world as she read “The Hill We Climb” during the inauguration of President Joe Biden. In doing so, she became the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history – less than a year after graduating with honors from Harvard University.
In addition to her latest project, Gorman has authored several other children’s books, including “Change Sings,” a lyrical picture book released in 2021 that urges kids to create change in their communities. In 2023, she also released “Something, Someday,” a children’s book that reveals “how even the smallest gesture can have a lasting impact.”
When Gorman posted about the release of “Girls on the Rise,” on Instagram, she also excitedly offered a sneak peek at the vibrant illustrations accompanying her prose, each of them designed by Los Angeles-based artist Loveis Wise. The art accompanying her prose shows women of different ethnicities enjoying nature through activities ranging from gardening to relaxing in an oasis.
Yet in addition to honoring the beauty of diversity, Gorman’s new book also focuses on the strength of unity, which she says girls can find through allies, friends and community. The powerful women in her life, including her mother, have helped Gorman build her own strength, she added during the CBS Mornings interview.
Now, she wants to pay that fortification forward — reads one excerpt: “We are girls like never before, speaking out more and more, because when our quiet is broken, the world must hear us roar.”
