Brown Girl Dreaming

Woodson, J. (2014). Brown Girl Dreaming. New York, NY: Puffin Books.

This book reminds me a little of Crossover since it is written in free verse and autobiographical. It reminds me a little of How I Discovered Poetry since they are both accounts on growing up as black girls in America. Then there was also similarities to The Watsons Go to Birmingham. Both have black families that live in the north and are exposed to new culture when they travel to the south.Also the characters' mothers in both books are originally from the south but have been brought to the north through marriage to raise their families.

Jacqueline Woodson tells the story of being born in Ohio and moving to South Carolina while still very young.  She was raised by her grandparents pretty much while her mother went to New York to try to make a living. Her mother returns with a new baby in tow to bring Jacqueline and her siblings back to New York to live with her. Now they must readjust to living in a big city; much different than the country life they had in South Carolina. She writes of spending her summers down south and returning to New York. She shares stories of learning to read, having her hair pressed, going to church and understanding how African-American were expected to "act" when living in the south as opposed to living up north.  She meets a girl who will become a life long friend and becomes embraced by another family and their culture. She shares about living during the civil rights era as a young child. For her it was hearing about it from family members or on the news not really understanding what the fighting was about. Both because of age and perhaps because of location, New York, she was saved from some of the harsher realities of that time. If she had stayed in South Carolina with her grandparents her experiences would have been different.

I enjoyed this book so much.  It took me a long time to read it and I finally figured out it was because I kept reading the passages over and over again.  It must have been my subconscious not wanting me to stop reading it. This should be on a list for upper elementary or middle school grades. The structure of the story shows students that there is more than just one way to write. The way the tone changes from chapter to chapter and sometimes within a chapter shows students that writing is not one dimensional especially when you are writing about your life. I can see why this book is a National Book Award Winner. It is a wonderful piece.