Time Was...

when I would feel bad if I didn't know when one of my favorite authors was coming out with a new book.  I felt like I was "slipping."  Well, I KNOW I am slipping!  So that doesn't bother me anymore.  Also, it was actually an awesome surprise to see Harbor Me sitting on the desk at my local library!  And then an even GREATER surprise to see that the audiobook available for download.  And then NO SURPRISE that Jacqueline Woodson has written another beautiful, incredible book.  This was timely and timeless.  Very typical of Woodson in her atypical ability to write like that.  That is what makes her such an incredible author. 

The 70s

After reading Be True to Me, I ended up reading another book set in the 70s, but in a very different community.  Another Brooklyn was less about the 70s, maybe than BTTM, or maybe it was just the community that appealed to me much more.  In any case, I didn't find myself put off by the time period setting in AB like I did in BTTM.  Jacqueline Woodson works her magic with words for adults this time and she does it equally well.  So much in such a slim book. Stephen King, are the listening?  Fantastic.

Ahhhh...with a big, big smile

Brown Girl Dreaming is a lovely, beautiful, eloquent, eye-opening, heart-opening memoir.  I hope that Jacqueline Woodson will do as Roald Dahl and Gary Paulsen have done and continue on with autobiographical works.  There are many, many reasons why I hope that she does this.  In no particular order:  anything and everything she writes is beautiful.  She has an unique story to tell.  Woodson is one of the most important writers of our time.  We can all learn about history through her rich experiences.  BGD is Woodson's story of growing up in Columbus, where she was born, Greenville, South Carolina and Bushwick.  It is written beautifully in a free verse that is like music.  Her words make her feelings come alive in a way that a very, very few writers can do.  With every book Woodson proves that she is one of the greats.

Not Easy

Life isn't easy.  I have friends who say that life is wonderful and all that.  I am thankful for my life.  But I know that I am in the world, but not of the world.  And man, I can't wait until that glorious day when I see my Savior.  Life is never easy for the folks in Jacqueline Woodson's books.  Because she writes just the way that life is.  I don't know how she does it.  But man, she gets it.  She gets the pain and struggle.  She also writes about hope, too, though.  So she isn't quite as depressed as I am!  Melanin Sun has a tough situation going on.  From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun is another rip-your-heart-out, this-kid-is-a-real-kid kinda book.  Melanin Sun finds out that his mom is in love with another woman.  That brings all kinds of decisions and worries and turmoil to his young life.  Woodson addresses it all with grace and love and truth.  Great stuff.  Great Woodson again.

It is Very Hard

to catch up on all of these books that I failed to write about while I was going through my surgery and all of that stuff with my dad.  It is even harder to think about different ways to praise Jacqueline Woodson.  I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This is the first book, which I read second, about Lena and Marie.  This one is told from Marie's POV and I have to say, even though I read them out of order, I loved them both and can't recommend them enough. 

Light as a Feather

stiff as a board"- remember that thing?  Do kids still do that? It was creepy. Feathers isn't creepy, it is another short, solid, lovely book of wonder from Woodson.

Pass Me By, If You're Only Passing Through

Janie Fricke has one of the best voices in music. There's no way to argue otherwise. This is one of her earlier tunes.  Great song.  The House You Pass Along the Way is written by one of the best writers of today, Jacqueline Woodson.  It is told from the POV of a girl who has renamed herself Staggerlee- which of course, is because of the song, Stagger Lee, which is a bizarre but good song made famous by Lloyd Price! Stagger Lee knows that she is different from other girls.  When her cousin comes to visit one summer, she finds an ally and someone with whom she can be her real self.  Beautiful, heart-breaking.  Lovely.

Another Woodson

So yes, Peace, Locomotion, is another wonderful book.  It is the sequel to Locomotion, which I listened to on a trip last year and loved.  It continues the story of Lonnie who is still in foster care and still missing his dead parents and his sister, who is in a different foster home.  It also speaks volumes about the importance of the right kind of teacher.  And is a reminder that we need really great teachers, not just good ones, and certainly not ones like one Lonnie has to deal with in this book.

It's a Miracle

Yeah.  How can you not like Barry Manilow's songs?  How?  How?  Another miracle is the way that Jacqueline Woodson writes.  She is just amazing.  This was a beautiful story about three brothers who are on their own, following the separate death's of their parents.  Miracle's Boys is mostly the story of Lafayette and how is dealing with the loss and also the acting out of his brother Charlie, who has already spent time in juvie for holding up a candy store.  They kind of reminded me of the Curtis brothers- Soda, Darry and Ponyboy.

Saying Good-bye

Yes another chance to use this fantastic Anne Murray song. There is a line in Lena that made me think of it right away.  "Seemed like someone was always leaving someone, like that's the way the world worked- people were born and people died, people left and people came."
Lena is a sequel to I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This.  I wish I would have read that first, but I didn't take away any of goodness of reading Lena.  It was pretty much just what you would expect from Jacqueline Woodson- beautiful.
This is the story of two young girls, Lena and her sister Dion, who have run away from home because of their abusive father.  A story of strength and heart-break and courage.  Highly recommended.

Poetry in Locomotion

What a book.  Beautiful.  Beautiully read by Dion Graham, too.  Lonnie Collins Motion, nicknamed Locomotion by his mom, is a brilliantly gifted poet.  The book is made up of his poem book, that his teacher makes everyone write in at school.  Locomotion writes about the death of his parents in a house fire and his life now and all kinds of of other things.  I don't know how this didn't get the Newbery.  Oh yeah, the Newbery is usually wrong, that's right.  .  One part of the foster care story is realistic though, Lonnie and his little sister are in two different foster homes and the sister's "mother" doesn't want Lonnie.    Wonderful book.

More Meth

So another book about meth.

NOT.

Beneath a Meth Moon isn't just another book about meth addiction. Jacqueline Woodson can't write "just another book" because Jacqueline Woodson is amazing.

This is a heart-breaking story. Not just the story of fifteen-year-old Laurel and her fight with the monster that is meth, but it is also about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This is the second post-Katrina book I've read and equally as emotionally tough. Laurel and her family live in Pass Christian, but she and her father and little brother head for Jackson, MS when the rains come, Laurel's mom and grandmother want to tough out the storm. If you know what happened to Pass Christian during Katrina, you know what happened to Laurel's loved ones.

Eventually Laurel and her father and little brother end up in a small town in Iowa. That's where Laurel ends up falling in love with meth to escape the pain of her past.

An excellent book, just such a quick read, I couldn't put it down.

Or across the seat

Hmm. Another wonderful book, so good that it is really, really hard to find words to describe it.
Jacqueline Woodson is incredible. I just don't know how to talk about Behind You, the sequel to If You Come Softly.
This is the story of what happens after Miah's death, to Miah, and to those who loved him.
If you have lost someone you love and yet you still feel them sitting beside you in the car, you will fall in love right away with this book.
Behind You is told from the POV of Miah, his mom, dad, his grandma, Ellie, Carlton and Kennedy. I didn't remember Kennedy too much from If You Come Softly, but he was on Miah's team at Percy and his POV here is important, everyone's is.

What a Strange World

We live in a world that has a lot of vile ugliness in it. Yet in that same world there exists a lot of incredible beauty. If You Come Softly is book that contains both. The book itself is incredibly beautiful, written by the amazing Jacqueline Woodson. As you know she was robbed of the not-so prestigious Newbery Award in 2009. I find it incomprehensible that If You Come Softly was not at least an Honor Book in 2008. What won that year? Ah yes....Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. Yeah. Kids LOVE this book. Oh man. Okay. Moving on.

If You Come Softly is the story of Ellie and Jeremiah. A story of the incredible beauty that is there love. It is also the story of vile ugliness. Prejudice, especially from Ellie's ridiculous, buffoon of a sister, Anne, who belongs to among the lowest of the low- the ranking of the revolting hypocrite. Ellie is Jewish and Jeremiah is African American. They are in love, something that repulsive frauds such as Anne can't seem to understand.

This story is beautiful but it reminds us of the evil and the depravity that exists in this world. I pray that Ellie and Jeremiah will be together, always. And I pray for the day that all will celebrate their love.

1954 all over again

We all know what happened in 1954. It was the year that the Academy Awards became a complete joke. I won't even dignify them with a hyperlink. That year Judy was nominated for Best Actress for A Star is Born. For some unknown reason, one that still puzzles even the most brilliant minds of today, Grace Kelly won for The Country Girl. Have you ever seen The Country Girl? All I can say is what I always say, the blow-up doll in Lars and the Real Girl showed more emotion. I am not kidding.
After reading After Tupac and D Foster the whole 1954 disgrace came back to me. After Tupac was named a Newbery Honor Book in 2009. Yeah. An HONOR book which means it didn't with the Newbery. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman won. Yeah. That's right. Now don't get me wrong, I like the Graveyard but how could anyone, anyone, anyone in their right mind could pick Graveyard over After.
This book is simply beautiful.
I will admit upfront that I love Tupac Shakur. When I Get Free, Changes (which is part of the Vatican's official playlist), Picture Me Rollin....man I could go on and on...his music is pure poetry. To me, Pac and Judy are music. But before you haters start saying that I like After just because it's about Tupac, I dare you to read this book. I dare you to say it didn't deserve the Newbery.