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Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson writes books for adults, children, and adolescents. Her work includes the National Book Award-winning memoir Brown Girl Dreaming and the Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel Miracle's Boys. She served as Young People's Poet Laureate and National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and received the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 2020.

Titles5
Editions9
Media6
Years covered1994–2000

Works on Favedom.com

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Cover of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This

I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This

1994 · Contemporary

2 editions: Print | eBook · 1995

About this work & edition details

Twelve-year-old Marie is a leader among the popular black girls in Chauncey, Ohio, a prosperous black suburb. She isn't looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. Yet they are drawn to each other because both have lost their mothers. And they know how to keep a secret. For Lena has a secret that is terrifying, and she's desperate to protect herself and her younger sister from their father. Marie must decide whether she can help Lena by keeping her secret...or by telling it.

Print · English

eBook · Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers · 1995 · English

Cover of From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun

1995 · Contemporary

2 editions: Print | eBook · 2010

About this work & edition details

Three-time Newbery Honor author Jacqualine Woodson explores race and sexuality through the eyes of a compelling narrator Melanin Sun has a lot to say. But sometimes it's hard to speak his mind, so he fills up notebooks with his thoughts instead. He writes about his mom a lot--they're about as close as they can be, because they have no other family. So when she suddenly tells him she's gay, his world is turned upside down. And if that weren't hard enough for him to accept, her girlfriend is white. Melanin Sun is angry and scared. How can his mom do this to him--is this the end of their closeness? What will his friends think? And can he let her girlfriend be part of their family?

Print · English

eBook · Penguin · 2010 · English

Cover of If You Come Softly

If You Come Softly

1998 · Romance

2 editions: Print | eBook · 2006

About this work & edition details

A lyrical story of star-crossed love perfect for readers of The Hate U Give, by National Ambassador for Children’s Literature Jacqueline Woodson--now celebrating its twentieth anniversary, and including a new preface by the author Jeremiah feels good inside his own skin. That is, when he's in his own Brooklyn neighborhood. But now he's going to be attending a fancy prep school in Manhattan, and black teenage boys don't exactly fit in there. So it's a surprise when he meets Ellie the first week of school. In one frozen moment their eyes lock, and after that they know they fit together--even though she's Jewish and he's black. Their worlds are so different, but to them that's not what matters. Too bad the rest of the world has to get in their way. Jacqueline Woodson's work has been called “moving and resonant” (Wall Street Journal) and “gorgeous” (Vanity Fair). If You Come Softly is a powerful story of interracial love that leaves readers wondering "why" and "if only . . ."

Print · English

eBook · Penguin · 2006 · English

Cover of Lena

Lena

1999 · Contemporary

2 editions: Print | eBook · 2006

About this work & edition details

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature The companion to the Coretta Scott King Honor-winning I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, now available in paperback. At the end of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This, Marie's friend Lena and her little sister Dion run away to escape their abusive father, leaving Marie full of longing and readers full of questions. Now those questions are answered. After cutting off all their hair, Lena and Dion leave one evening as the sun sets. Disguised as boys, they set out in search of their mother's family. But will they ever make it? Whom can two young girls trust? They can't afford to make even one mistake. Now, Lena tells what happened to the two girls out in the world, and of their search for a place to belong and the home they dream of and deserve.

Print · English

eBook · Penguin · 2006 · English

Cover of Miracle's Boys

Miracle's Boys

2000 · Contemporary

1 edition: Print

About this work & edition details

Twelve-year-old Lafayette's close relationship with his older brother Charlie changes after Charlie is released from a detention home and blames Lafayette for the death of their mother.

Print · English

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