A Poetic Memoir

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the lyrical way this book was written. The author made her life poetic! Woodson's life was not always easy, but it's clear she felt very loved.

In one area of the book, when neighbor children are playing with the Woodson swingset, Woodson and her siblings are complaining.Their grandmother says:

Let them play, for heaven's sake. . . Your hearts are bigger than that! But our hearts aren't bigger than that. Our hearts are tiny and mad. If our hearts were hands, they'd hit. If our hearts were feet, they'd surely kick somebody!"

Who can't relate to feelings like that!

Woodson struggled to learn to read, but knew she was a storyteller from a young age. She knew she wanted to be a writer. I think that must be true for all writer's, they just know. In the Chapter: Composition notebook, Woodson shares her memory of her first notebook. Even though she could not write as yet, she says:

Nothing in the world is like this--
a bright white page with
pale blue lines. The smell of a newly sharpened pencil
the soft hush of it
moving finally
one day
into letters.

It seems odd to say this memoir was a beautiful story, when much of it showcased a challenging life, but that's what it was to me.



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