Brown Girl Dreaming

Woodson, J. (2014). Brown girl dreaming. NY:  Nancy Paulsen Books. 

Jacqueline Woodson was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1963.  As a young child, she lived in Ohio with her mother and father, until her mother left him.  From there, they moved to South Carolina with her maternal grandparents.  During this time, she describes her childhood during the Civil Rights movement.  One day, her mother, Mary Ann, decides to move to the north in Brooklyn, New York to get settled, leaving her three children behind.  After getting settled, she comes back for her children with a new baby boy.  There in New York, she starts school and enjoys writing.  As the years go by, Jackie and her siblings visit their grandparents every summer.  Each summer, she sees how her grandfather’s health is diminishing.  In New York, she meets a Puerto Rican friend named Maria.  One day her grandfather passes away and her grandmother moves to New York with them.  At school, Mrs. Vivo tells Jackie that she is a writer and she continues to accomplish her dream.  I think this book is for children ages 10 and up.  I loved how the memoir was written in free verse poetry.  It was beautifully written and flowed from page to page. This is a good book that can be read during a history lesson about the civil rights movement and discussed with the students.  The theme of this book is family.  Her family is her focus during the entire book by all the love, compassion, and support they received from each other.   Jackie is the main character and author of this book. Woodson uses poetic elements throughout her memoir.  Her use of figurative language like: “Then I let stories live inside my head, again and again until the real world fades back into crickets lullabies and my own dreams.” (p.99) This is a great read.