Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

From Goodreads,

"Jacqueline Woodson, one of today's finest writers, tells the moving story of her childhood in mesmerizing verse.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child’s soul as she searches for her place in the world. Woodson’s eloquent poetry also reflects the joy of finding her voice through writing stories, despite the fact that she struggled with reading as a child. Her love of stories inspired her and stayed with her, creating the first sparks of the gifted writer she was to become."

Goodreads - Brown Girl Dreaming

Awards and Nominations:

• Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Middle Grade & Children's (2014)
• National Book Award for Young People's Literature (2014))
• Newbery Medal Nominee (2015)
• Sibert Medal Nominee (2015)
• Coretta Scott King Award for Author (2015)
• Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2015)
• Claudia Lewis Award for Older Readers (2015)
• YALSA Award Nominee for Excellence in Nonfiction (2015)

Favorite quote from Brown Girl Dreaming,

"Look with your heart and your head, he tells me

his own head bowed.

It's out there in front of you.

You'll know when you get there."

Brown Girl Dreaming is the story of Jacqueline Woodson's childhood.  The book is sectioned off into "chapters" and inside each is a series of poems that tell the story about different parts of Woodson's life.  The book starts when Jacqueline is born and follows all the way into what seems to be her teen years.

I wasn't really sure what I was expecting when I started this book.  I honestly thought this was a work of fiction and was definitely surprised when I realized this was an autobiography.  This book had some really good inspirational moments, and one of my favorites was tied to the quote above.  Jacqueline's Uncle Robert said, "'Look with your heart and your head,' he tells me his own head bowed.  'It's out there in front of you.  You'll know when you get there.'"  I absolutely loved this quote because it hit me on a personal level.  Sometimes I feel so lost in life and ask myself if I'm on the right path and doing the right thing.  I need to follow what I love, but also be smart about my decisions.  And if you do just that you will find exactly what you are looking for...happiness.

I felt like this book lacked a solid storyline.  I felt like we just kind of skimmed through various aspects of Jacqueline's life and we never got a good story with lots of details.  I think a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that the book is written in poetry.  Poetry is great if strong vocabulary and details are included.  However, I felt like Woodson didn't want to include lots of details and decided to write in poetry instead of writing a regular novel.  This book really needed more details and I was extremely disappointed in the fact that there weren't more details about her life.  I wish this had been written as a full fledged story instead of short glimpses.

It was really difficult for me to get into this book in the  beginning.  I felt like it was slow and wasn't really progressing.  Which it turns out that a third of the way through the book, that it really wasn't progressing.  I finally sat down and powered through the book so that I could finally be finished with it.  I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  I recommend this to anyone looking for a well awarded book or anyone who is a fan of poetry.