African American Literature Book Review: Brown Girl Dreaming

 

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. Hachette UK, 2023.

 

PLOT SUMMARY:

This poetic narrative is a collection of experiences from a girl’s adolescence. But it’s not that simple. This is a biracial girl during the 1960’s where racial tensions are high. You follow her through her experiences growing up in New York City and South Carolina. You experience the differences between the South and progressive North. Jackie spends most of her younger years in South Carolina after her parents divorced. You witness the racial bias this family goes through. The relationships between these family members are featured. It shapes them into who they are and how they want to live their lives. Even though they are repressed and discriminated against, they support each other and uplift  each other. Jackie ends the book as an author.

 

CRITICAL REVIEW:

This book features poetry prose. It flows so beautifully in the expression of this young African American girl’s experiences growing up in a tumultuous time. It is interesting to observe her experience in New York and also in the South during the 1960’s and 1970’s. These experiences are very different and offer cultural markers to reflect on. This book is a shining example of YA literature but would also be a nice way to introduce others’ experiences with younger children. It lends to questions of how life was different during the civil rights movement and in different places. The experiences she has in South Carolina and New York City contain similarities but also are vastly different. It’s almost like you are reading a girl’s journal. She is expressing something that is personal and intimate to her. Race, religion, social aspects and gender all play a role in this book. She discussed her religious journey and choices she makes that are important to her beliefs. You witness interactions between herself and different family members. A lot of her expressions are sharing what her family is like and typifying them in certain ways.

 

AWARDS:

National Book Award for Young People’s Literature

John Newberry Medal

Coretta Scott King Award. 

CONNECTIONS: 

This book would be a great model of what a collection of poetry or a poetry book can be.

It’s important for African Americans and their experiences to be represented in literature. This is a good book to recommend to anyone, or a girl specifically, who is growing up and going through those growing pains.

 

Book Review by Barbara Jean Thompson