Books with author Jacqueline Woodson

Melanin Sun has a lot to say. But sometimes it?s hard to speak his mind, so he fills up notebooks with his thoughts instead. He writes about his mom a lot? they?re about as close as they can be, because they have no other family. So when she suddenly tells him she?s gay, his world is turned upside down. And if that weren?t hard enough for him to accept, her girlfriend is white. Melanin Sun is angry and scared. How can his mom do this to him?is this the end of their closeness? What will his friends think? And can he let her girlfriend be part of their family?

When Lonnie was seven years old, his parents died in a fire. Now he's eleven, and he still misses them terribly. And he misses his little sister, Lili, who was put into a different foster home because "not a lot of people want boys-not foster boys that ain't babies." But Lonnie hasn't given up. His foster mother, Miss Edna, is growing on him. She's already raised two sons and she seems to know what makes them tick. And his teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper. Told entirely through Lonnie's poetry, we see his heartbreak over his lost family, his thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and most of all his love for Lili and his determination to one day put at least half of their family back together. Jacqueline Woodson's poignant story of love, loss, and hope is lyrically written and enormously accessible.

A lyrical story of star-crossed love perfect for readers of The Hate U Give, by National Ambassador for Children’s Literature Jacqueline Woodson--now celebrating its twentieth anniversary, and including a new preface by the authorJeremiah feels good inside his own skin. That is, when he's in his own Brooklyn neighborhood. But now he's going to be attending a fancy prep school in Manhattan, and black teenage boys don't exactly fit in there. So it's a surprise when he meets Ellie the first week of school. In one frozen moment their eyes lock, and after that they know they fit together--even though she's Jewish and he's black. Their worlds are so different, but to them that's not what matters. Too bad the rest of the world has to get in their way. Jacqueline Woodson's work has been called “moving and resonant” (Wall Street Journal) and “gorgeous” (Vanity Fair). If You Come Softly is a powerful story of interracial love that leaves readers wondering "why" and "if only . . ."

A Newbery Honor BookJacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s LiteratureThe day D Foster enters Neeka and her best friend’s lives, the world opens up for them. D comes from a world vastly different from their safe Queens neighborhood, and through her, the girls see another side of life that includes loss, foster families and an amount of freedom that makes the girls envious. Although all of them are crazy about Tupac Shakur’s rap music, D is the one who truly understands the place where he’s coming from, and through knowing D, Tupac’s lyrics become more personal for all of them.The girls are thirteen when D’s mom swoops in to reclaim D—and as magically as she appeared, she now disappears from their lives. Tupac is gone, too, after another shooting; this time fatal. As the narrator looks back, she sees lives suspended in time, and realizes that even all-too-brief connections can touch deeply.

This is a large (8 1/4" x 10 3/4") paperback book, beautifully illustrated in watercolor on Arches paper. It is wartime, and "colored women" are being hired in Chicago to fill in for the men who are off fighting. Ada Ruth is left with her grandmother while her mother takes a job washing trains. Ada Ruth watches for the postman and adopts a stray cat to fill the endless days until her mother finally writes that she will be "coming on home soon." It's a gently, almost poetically told story, and the watercolor illustrations are captivating...every time you look at one of them you see something more. I'd give this book a 10 on a scale from 1 to 10 for elementary age students, but it speaks to us older readers as well.

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s LiteratureMaizon takes the biggest step in her life when she accepts a scholarship to boarding school and says good-bye to her grandmother and her best friend, Margaret. Blue Hill is beautiful, and challenging-but there are only five black students, and the other four are from wealthy families. Does Maizon belong at Blue Hill after all? "Simply told and finely crafted." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's LiteratureA #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson and two-time Pura Belpré Illustrator Award winner Rafael López have teamed up to create a poignant, yet heartening book about finding courage to connect, even when you feel scared and alone. There will be times when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.There are many reasons to feel different. Maybe it's how you look or talk, or where you're from; maybe it's what you eat, or something just as random. It's not easy to take those first steps into a place where nobody really knows you yet, but somehow you do it. Jacqueline Woodson's lyrical text and Rafael López's dazzling art reminds us that we all feel like outsiders sometimes-and how brave it is that we go forth anyway. And that sometimes, when we reach out and begin to share our stories, others will be happy to meet us halfway.(This book is also available in Spanish, as El Día En Que Descubres Quién Eres!)

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s LiteratureThe companion to the Coretta Scott King Honor-winning I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, now available in paperback. At the end of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, Marie's friend Lena and her little sister Dion run away to escape their abusive father, leaving Marie full of longing and readers full of questions. Now those questions are answered.After cutting off all their hair, Lena and Dion leave one evening as the sun sets. Disguised as boys, they set out in search of their mother's family. But will they ever make it? Whom can two young girls trust? They can't afford to make even one mistake.Now, Lena tells what happened to the two girls out in the world, and of their search for a place to belong and the home they dream of and deserve.

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s LiteratureLaurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she's still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel's new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past. When T-Boom introduces Laurel to meth, she immediately falls under its spell, loving the way it erases, even if only briefly, her past. But as she becomes alienated from her friends and family, she becomes a shell of her former self, and longs to be whole again. With help from an artist named Moses and her friend Kaylee, she's able to begin to rewrite her story and start to move on from her addiction. Incorporating Laurel's bittersweet memories of life before and during the hurricane, this is a stunning novel by one of our finest writers. Jacqueline Woodson's haunting - but ultimately hopeful - story is beautifully told and one readers will not want to miss.