Brown Girl Dreaming

It took me considerably longer to find this last 2015 honor for the slightly odd reason that I was under the impression until three weeks ago it was entitled Brown Girl Crossing. I'm not sure why I didn't look up the title again after a handful of library databases claimed they had no Brown Girl Crossing books on record, but I did eventually (three weeks ago) do just that and discovered I had the name wrong. The next day I had Brown Girl Dreaming in my possession. The following day, I finished it.

And what a lovely book! I'm becoming more and more a fan of this free verse form of narrative. Some thoughts while reading this beautiful autobiographical story of Jacqueline Woodson's childhood:

1. How on earth does she remember so many minute and colorful details from her toddler years?! I think I remember, like, two things that happened to me before I was 6. How did she fill 200 pages of pre-6-year-old memories?!

2. I am so glad she included a family tree at the beginning of the book (I referenced it often).

3. This is beautifully written.

4. All the "how to listen" pages are haiku (I may not have figured this out until how to listen #8 (and then went back and checked the syllables on all the others)) (and who knew haiku was the plural form of haiku?!)!!

5. Seriously, how does she remember all of this?

As a related aside, I participated in a book group for the first time ever this week. Friends from church invited me and despite the fact that I had not read the two novels they would be discussing, I decided to just check it out (I mean, I love books and yet have never attended a book group?! It's time!). I brought Brown Girl Dreaming and True Grit because they were the last books I'd read. Upon entering the hostess's home, the first person to speak to me was the hostess's ten-year-old daughter, Katie. Pointing at Brown Girl Dreaming, she exclaimed, "I just read that! Isn't it so good?" We then chatted for several minutes about the story and what we loved and what surprised us. I discovered it was on her list for reading bowl this year and she was surprised to find out it had won a Newbery honor. The book group then began and all the women started discussing adult fiction books they had been reading and I didn't recognize a single title. Politely attentive but disengaged, I noticed Katie lying under her chair with a book. Quietly, I whispered, "Hey, Katie, what else have you been reading?"