Jacqueline Woodson

1. Jacqueline Woodson Latrice Ferguson Marta Siuba LIS 721

2. Biography • Born on February 12, 1963 in Columbus, Ohio. • Discovered writing as a career in the fifth grade. • Received a BA in English from Howard University. • Wrote her first novel in 1990, Last Summer With Maison. • “I have a daughter named Toshi and a son named Jackson-Leroi. Toshi was named after her Godmom, ToshiReagon who is a really cool singer.” • Wrote her first picture book in 1997, We Had a Picnic This Last Sunday Past.

3. I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This Issues: race, economics, sexual abuse Age Level: 12 and up “I wanted to write a novel about friendship and in it, I wanted to show how destructive racism and classism can be. I also wanted to write about the ‘secret’ in the book—to say to young readers—‘Don’t be afraid. You are not alone’”. “Woodson’s characters are deftly drawn, the whole individuals; her sparse prose and crystal images create a haunting, poetic novel.” The Horn Book Guide, 1994

4. “This was the first time I wrote from the point of view of a boy. I wanted to challenge myself and see if I could actually do it. I also wanted to write about different kinds of love and different kinds of families because I hadn’t seen many books written about what Melanin goes through. Just like with If You Come Softly, I wanted to say that it’s important to love who you want as long as you’re happy.” From The Notebooks of Melanin Sun Issues: homosexuality, homophobia, acceptance Age: 12 and up “There is no easy solution in this courageous novel which addresses the fear that fuels homophobia, but there is honest emotion and real love, and these are what begin to open Melanin's mind.” CCBC 1995

5. Miracle’s Boys Issues: brotherhood, death of a parent, incarceration, poverty Age: 12 and up “I wanted to write a story that had no girls in it. I also wanted to write about how hard it is to be poor sometimes. I also wanted to write about how hard it is to lose someone you love—in this case, both parents—and how that pain starts shaping itself into other things sometimes like anger and isolation.”

6. “I wanted to write about how powerful kids can be. Clover and Annie fight against segregation by becoming friends. They don’t believe in the ideas adults have about things, so they do what they can to change the world We all have this power.” • Age level: 5-9 • Issues: segregation and friendship “Jacqueline Woodson’s hopeful story takes place around the middle of the 20th century, but its message carries weight at the start of the 21st.” Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices, 2002 The Other Side

7. HUSH I read an article about the Witness Protection Program and it fascinated me. I kept asking myself “What if....” “Her compelling story, told mostly in flashbacks, reveals the slow unraveling of her family, cut off from everything familiar and everyone they know and love, making for a richly complicated backdrop against which the more typical story of a teenager's search for identity is played out.” CCBC Review 2003 Issues: race, identity, religion, and depression Age: 10 to 14

8. “I had been reading stories about Rosie the Riveter and couldn’t find any with African American women in them so I started researching. With the small amount of information I gathered, I began to write this book.” “Coming on Home Soon” is a story that takes place decades before I was born, but I know what it’s like to have to say goodbye to someone you love, so even though the story is made up, the feelings in it are familiar.” Coming On Home Soon Issues: gender struggle, longing, separation Age level: 5-9

9. Peace, Locomotion “Woodson again captures the hearts of young readers – and much older reviewers – through poetry and prose, masterfully juxtaposing sadness and loss with hope and optimism. Readers’ hearts will ache for Lonnie and his longing to be with his sister, but they will find relief in his optimism and in knowing he has love and happiness in his life” DominaDaughtry, VOYA Februar 2009, Vol. 31, No. 6 • Issues: war, foster care, loss • Age level: 10-14

10. SHOW WAY Issues: family history, slavery, Civil Rights Movement Age: 5-12 “After my grandmother died and my daughter was born, I wanted to figure out a way to hold on to all the amazing history in our family. I wanted a Show Way for my own daughter.” “Fabric is sewn into the strikingly attractive quilts that decorate the endpapers and lead us into this tale of generations of an African-American family as they move from slavery to freedom. In colloquial language and almost poetic cadence, Woodson brings us in time to Soonie, her life of work and sewing quilts, and to her children and grandchildren “walking in a line to change the laws” of segregation. Having traced the generations, the story ends as it began. With watercolors, chalk, and fabrics Talbott sometimes creates double-page scenes of events. Other pages include gray interpretations of contemporary documents, and still others are designed like pieces of quilts with vignettes.” Ken and Sylvia Marantz

11. “Woodson balances the plotlines with subtle details, authentic language, and rich development. Beautifully capturing the girls’ passage from childhood to adolescence, this is a memorable, affecting novel about the sustaining power of love and friendship and each girl’s developing faith in her own ‘Big Purpose.’ Gillian Engberg Booklist Feb 2008 After Tupac and D Foster “I think Tupac was an amazing activist and I wanted to create a story around his story. The more I wrote, the more there was to say Ð about Tupac and about the girls. Issues: friendship, incarceration, sexuality, foster care, identity Age: 12 and up

12. A few of Woodson’s contemporaries • Nikki Grimes • Angela Johnson • Walter Dean Myers • Victor Martinez • An Na • Christopher Paul Curtis • Laurie Halse Anderson