Poetry Saves the Day

Jacqueline Woodson frequently weaves poetry through her stories. Her poems help to give her stories a richer voice and a more personal touch. Her use of poetry allows her characters to become more dynamic and vital. A good example of her use of poetry can be found in her book "Locomotion" and its companion "Peace Locomotion". These two books chronicle the life of Lonnie C. Motion and his sister Lili who are placed in foster care after the death of their parents in a fire. In "Locomotion", Lonnie turns to writing poetry in an effort to come to terms with his parents' untimely deaths. The story continues in "Peace Locomotion" which is told through a series of letters that Lonnie writes to his sister who has been placed in a separate foster home. He writes them as he says, "to be the rememberer" until they can be together again.

Some of Her Favorite Things!

With twenty-four titles to her name, multi-award winning author Jacqueline Woodson is still as passionate as ever about her writing "because it makes me happy. Even when the words are slow in coming and the story seems all lopsided, writing keeps me happy." Her favorite subject in school was English "and anything where we got to do writing." She loved to read, often reading the same books over again. Among her favorite childhood authors were Virginia Hamilton and Judy Blume. Beloved stories include Oscar Wilde's The Selfish Giant, Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Match Girl and Jon Steptoe's Stevie.

The last book, Stevie, is about the relationship between a young boy and his foster brother....does this ring any bells?

More from Jeacqueline Woodson

Many of Jacqueline Woodson's stories are very poignant and filled with sorrow. She frequently writes about loss and how to cope with it, whether it be loss of a parent, a best friend, one's freedom, one's identity, or one's home. Some excellent stories that deal with loss include:

I hadn't Meant to Tell You This Lena

Miracle's Boys If You Come Softly


Behind You


For full descriptions of these stories (and more) visit:
http://jacquelinewoodson.com/ya.shtml#

Jacqueline Woodson Picture Books

Similar to After Tupac and D Foster, Jacqueline Woodson's picture books have deep meaning and mature themes.
Show Way details her own lineage from slavery to the civil rights movement to the present. This book literally gave me goose bumps because it was so well written. I could feel the emotions coming through the words and illustrations.
The Other Side depicts an African-American child and a white child on opposite sides of the fence. They defied cultural norms of segregation by building a friendship.

As a social studies teacher, I would supplement my lesson with these books to help my students get a grasp on the lives and culture of those times.

Other books by Woodson

Here is a list of books that were also authored by Woodson. Click Here

Personally, I think Behind You looks pretty interesting and I will probably pick that up the next time I go to the library.

Double Dutch

"Young girls at play are unaware that they are socially performing the embodied memories of a black musical past, but this explains the subconscious links between the generations of youth, between youth and adults, over time…. In other words, girls are telling stories through their embodied play: dramatizing the "infinite process of African-American and black musical identity construction" by practicing and performing the mnemonic rituals of a kinetic orality."

Excerpt from The Games Black Girls Play: Learning the Ropes from Double Dutch to Hip Hop.