Brown Girl Dreaming

Hullo and happy Word-Nerd Wednesday!  It's also the feast of the Holy Innocents!  Today, Catholics remember the Holy Innocents, the children who were slaughtered at the order of King Herod, in the hope that by killing every boy born in Bethlehem at the same time as Jesus, he would succeed in killing the new-born King of the Jews.  New Year's Eve is a few days away, and then January 1st is the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God.  Woot!  Be sure to get to Mass!  It's a holy day of obligation.

Today, I'm focusing on a very eye-catching book that piqued my attention because of the beautiful artwork on the cover:  Brown Girl Dreaming.  It's a 320 page memoir written in free-verse by Jacqueline Woodson.


Back cover reads:  Award-winning author Jacqueline Woodson shares her childhood growing up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s.  Touching and powerful, her story is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world.

Initial reaction:  First of all, the cover is absolutely GORGEOUS.  Secondly, I thought it would be a memoir or prose.  I opened it up and found out that it's poetry!  Since I love the some of these works by Ellen Hopkins, I figured I'd be pretty thrilled about this one.  It is kind of a semi-quick read, if I would just have had enough time to sit and read it all at once.  It really reminds me of the autobiographical vignettes in The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros.  This book has merit.  There are a few things that I could relate to, but several I couldn't.  It was an interesting little stroll down Woodson's memory lane, but there wasn't anything that I got too excited about.  I think it offers a unique perspective that I don't often think about.


Promote Virtue:  Yes.  Jacqueline and her family strive to be good people who do what is right.  Each character has their own shortcomings, but overall, the children and adults in this story are great role models for young readers.  Woodson's memories flip flop between her life down south with her grandmother, and her life in NY with her mother.  The Civil Rights movement is mixed in a bit, but nothing that is mentioned is violent or imbued with propaganda.

Transcendentals:  Her family (for the most part) are Christians (Jehovah's Witnesses) who strive to live and preach the truth.  The writing and descriptions are beautiful.

Overcome human condition?  Each person struggles with certain things, I'm sure, but we don't see a lot of their internal struggles.  We see Woodson's reactions, though.

Attitude toward Catholicism?  NA.  However, it does talk a little bit about the faith of the JWs, which made me quite curious to research a bit.

Paganry?  No

Swearing?  Not at all.  A few of the poems even focus on speaking appropriately (not saying y'all or using slang) and not swearing at all.

Violence?  None

Appropriate age? Because this is free-verse poetry and not prose fiction, I would say that any gals over the age of 11ish would be an ideal audience.  However, I'm not sure how many of them would enjoy or shy away from a "story written in poems."

Writing Style:  While I was initially excited about this one because it is written in free-verse, the pace of the writing is slow.  It kind of bored me at times and frustrated me in others.  I'm not really all that excited about it.  There were a few poems that kind of hit home for me.  The imagery overall was spectacular.  Woodson did a great job of painting mental images with her words.

Notable Quoteables:

Composition Notebook

And somehow, one day, it's just there
speckled black-and-white, the paper
inside smelling like something I could fall right into,
live there-inside those clean white pages.

I don't know how my first composition notebook
ended up in my hands, long before I could really write
someone must have known that this
was all I needed.

Hard not to smile as I held it, felt the breeze
as I fanned the pages.
My sister thought my standing there
smiling was crazy
didn't understand how the smell and feel and sight
of bright white paper
could bring me so much joy.

And why does she need a notebook?  She can't even write!

For days and days, I could only sniff the pages,
hold the notebook close
listen to the sound the papers made.

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.

And even though she's smarter than anything
this is something
my sister can't even begin
to understand.
(154-155)


Yes.  A thousand times yes.



Approval?  While Brown Girl Dreaming was an interesting read, it has merit, and there are several great qualities about it, I just didn't enjoy it very much.  Therefore,