Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson

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Jacqueline Woodson
photo courtesy of author

"I used to say I’d be a teacher or a lawyer or a hairdresser when I grew up but even as I said these things, I knew what made me happiest was writing."

Jacqueline Woodson has received numerous awards for her middle-grade and young adult books, which include the National Book Award Finalist Hush and the Coretta Scott King Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Miracle's Boys.

Lena
Amazon

ISBN: 0142406163
Pub. Date: December 14, 2006
Age Range: Young Adult
Format: Paperback, 144pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Edition Description: REISSUE

"I wrote Lena because I got so many letters asking me about the end of I Hadn’t Meant To Tell You This. I hadn’t planned to write a sequel but I’m glad I did." –Jacqueline Woodson

Thirteen-year-old Lena and her younger sister Dion mourn the death of their mother as they hitchhike from Ohio to Kentucky while running away from their abusive father.

At the end of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, Lena and her younger sister, Dion, set off on their own, desperate to escape their abusive father. Disguised as boys, they hitchhike along, traveling in search of their mother's relatives. They don't know what they will find, or who they can trust along the way, but they do know that they can't afford to make even one single mistake. Dramatic and moving, this is a heart-wrenching story of two young girls in search of a place to call home.

I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This
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ISBN: 0142405558
Pub. Date: June 2006
Age Range: Young Adult
Format: Paperback, 128pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)

Twelve-year-old Marie is one of the popular girls in the prosperous black suburb. She’s not looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. But the two girls are drawn to each other. You see, both Lena and Marie have lost their mothers. On top of that, Marie soon learns that Lena has a terrifying secret. Marie wants to help, but is it better to keep Lena’s secret, or to tell it? Their friendship—and Lena’s survival— may depend on her decision.

Hush
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Paperback
ISBN: 0142500496
Pub. Date: June 2003
Age Range: Young Adult

Finalist for the 2002 National Book Award, Young People's Literature

After Toswiah Green’s father testifies against a fellow police officer in a murder case, the Greens are forced to enter the Witness Protection Program and give up all traces of their past. For Toswiah—now Evie Thomas—her new life is completely different. Her defeated father spends his days sitting by the window, all her mother’s energy goes to their new church, and her only sister is making secret plans to leave. Evie is left wondering who she is and how she can make her future as bright as her past once was.

Other Side
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with Earl B. Lewis (Illustrator)

Hardcover
ISBN: 0399231161
Pub. Date: January 2001
Age Range: 4 to 8
Format: Hardcover, 32pp
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Age Range: 4 to 8

Clover has always wondered why a fence separates the black side of town from the white side. But this summer when Annie, a white girl from the other side, begins to sit on the fence, Clover grows more curious about the reason why the fence is there and about the daring girl who sits on it, rain or shine. And one day, feeling very brave, Clover approaches Annie. After all, why should a fence stand in the way of friendship?

Beautifully rendered in Earl B. Lewis's striking, lifelike watercolor illustrations, Jacqueline Woodson gives us a moving, lyrical narrative told in the hopeful voice of a child confused about the fence someone else has built in her yard and the racial tension that divides her world.

Show Way
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with Hudson Talbott (Illustrator)

ISBN: 0399237496
Pub. Date: September 2005
Age Range: 8 to 12
Format: Hardcover, 48pp
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

Soonie's great-grandma was just seven years old when she was sold to a big plantation without her ma and pa, and with only some fabric and needles to call her own. She pieced together bright patches with names like North Star and Crossroads, patches with secret meanings made into quilts called Show Ways -- maps for slaves to follow to freedom. When she grew up and had a little girl, she passed on this knowledge. And generations later, Soonie -- who was born free -- taught her own daughter how to sew beautiful quilts to be sold at market and how to read.

From slavery to freedom, through segregation, freedom marches and the fight for literacy, the tradition they called Show Way has been passed down by the women in Jacqueline Woodson's family as a way to remember the past and celebrate the possibilities of the future. Beautifully rendered in Hudson Talbott's luminous art, this moving, lyrical account pays tribute to women whose strength and knowledge illuminate their daughters' lives.

Locomotion
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ISBN: 0142401498
Pub. Date: December 2004
Age Range: 12 and up
Format: Paperback, 112pp
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Edition Description: REPRINT

Finalist for the 2003 National Book Award, Young People's Literature
An Honor Book for the 2004 Coretta Scott King Author Award
Honor book for the 2003 Boston Globe/Horn Book Award (Fiction category)

When Lonnie Collins Motion—Locomotion—was seven years old, his life changedforever. Now he's eleven, and his life is about to change again. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper. And suddenly, Lonnie has a whole new way to tell the world about his life, his friends, his little sister Lili, and even his foster mom, Miss Edna, who started out crabby but isn't so bad after all. Jacqueline Woodson's novel-in-poems is humorous, heartbreaking . . . a triumph.

“Its simple yet honest poetry gives you a clear look into the feelings and emotions of Lonnie as he takes what he is given and makes poetry out of it. Locomotion gives you a point of view not often told and takes you on a journey to remember.” —VOYA

Miracle's Boys
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ISBN: 0142406023
Pub. Date: June 2006
Age Range: Young Adult
Format: Paperback, 144pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Age Range: Young Adult

Lafayette would do anything to have things back the way they used to be—back before their parents died and back before his brother Charlie changed so much. But things have changed and all he can do now is ask why.... Why did Mama have to die? Why does Charlie hate him so much? And how are the three brothers—Miracle’s boys—supposed to survive when so much seems to be stacked against them?

Author's Official Website
http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/