Brown Girl Dreaming

Title: Brown Girl Dreaming

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Publisher: New York: Penguin

ISBN: 978-0-399-25251-8

Summary: Jackie was named for her father and raised by her mother during the turbulent 1960’s. Too young to comprehend the complexities of the marches, black power, and the social revolution, Jackie holds on to her family’s love as the world changes around her. Brown Girl Dreaming is Jacqueline Woodson’s autobiography.

Critical Analysis: Don’t be fooled by its title, Brown Girl Dreaming is a book for all of us—black, white, purple, boy or girl. A novel written in free verse, Woodson’s spare text is carefully chosen—just enough words to evoke an emotion and hint at complex social underpinnings. The book is made up of snippets: a haiku here, a sentence fragment there, fresh laundry, the death of a loved one. Each event is touched lightly, but solemnly.

“Somewhere in my brain

each laugh, tear and lullaby

becomes memory.”

Woodson’s words are lyrical; descriptions of the South and New York City take you there. From the yellow dots of her grandmother’s cheese grits left on the plate to the heat of a Brooklyn sidewalk, Woodson’s vivid details share with you her love for each place.  She crafts her poetry not only with affection for the words, but also with attention to the surrounding space, leaving room for self-reflection.

Although it is a coming-of-age book, no single event marks the line between childhood and young womanhood. The self-awareness of the author is built line upon line, poem after poem. The final poems of the novel are exclamations of personal belief.

“I believe in one day and someday and this

            perfect moment called Now.”

The book begins with a family tree and ends with photographs of the people you have come to know. Jacqueline Woodson’s free-style poetry will remind you of the pull of home, wherever that may be.

Awards:

National Book Award 2014

Coretta Scott King Book Award 2015

Newberry Honor Book 2015

Margaret A. Edward Award for Lifetime Achievement

Reviews:

New York Times: “The triumph of “Brown Girl Dreaming” is not just in how well Woodson tells us the story of her life, but in how elegantly she writes words that make us want to hold those carefully crafted poems close, apply them to our lives, reach into the mirror she holds up and make the words and the worlds she explores our own. This is a book full of poems that cry out to be learned by heart. These are poems that will, for years to come, be stored in our bloodstream.”

National Book Foundation: “…an intimate journey of victory, sorrow, and discovery. Sharp social commentary of a country’s struggle to live up to its ideals, an honest portrayal of the strength of family, and the delicate blossoming of a young writer make this memoir in verse a gift to all who read it.”

Kirkus Reviews: “Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.”

Author Quote:

Regarding memories: “It comes in these small moments with all of this white space around it, and I think that that’s what you get in reading [Brown Girl Dreaming]—you get that small moment…then the moments are of course linked together to tell the story.” –NPR Fresh Air interview, 12/10/14

Extras:

Listen to author Jacqueline Woodson on the NPR show Morning Edition 9/19/14

http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/09/18/348992638/jacqueline-woodson-on-being-a-brown-girl-who-dreams

Activities:

A great resource with lots of activities using Brown Girl Dreaming as a springboard:

http://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2014/10/02/putting-books-to-work-i-brown-girl-dreaming-i-

Created for course 5603.21 at Texas Woman's University