I haven’t read a book in three months as I was going through a reading slump. Everytime I tried picking a new book, I couldn’t read more than a few pages, and it didn’t work for me. I’ve had reading slumps before, but it has never lasted so long. I’ve missed reading and so a few days back, I thought I’ll try again and read slowly and ease myself back into reading. I picked up Jacqueline Woodson’s ‘Brown Girl Dreaming‘.
‘Brown Girl Dreaming‘ is Jacqueline Woodson’s childhood memoir and it is written in verse. It starts from the time she was born in Ohio, and tells the story of how her family moved to South Carolina and later to Brooklyn, New York. As she was born in 1963, in the middle of the Civil Rights movement, we get to know how things were at an everyday lived experience level through the eyes of a child. The poetry is written in free verse and so there are no sonnets or iambic pentameter here. So the poetry is not intimidating but it is inviting and beautiful. I loved most of the characters in the story, but my favourite was Jacqueline Woodson’s South Carolina grandfather, who was a person who worked hard, loved his family, and enjoyed the little pleasures in life. I felt that his was the life which any of us could aspire to live.
One of my favourite relationships in the story is the friendship between Jacqueline and her friend Maria which is very beautifully depicted. Maria is from Puerto Rico and her native language is Spanish and before long Jacqueline becomes fluent in Spanish and her grandparents are amazed by that. Maria’s mom loves Jacqueline and makes her treats, and Jacqueline is treated as part of the family. In the note at the end of the book, Jacqueline says that she and Maria are still best friends after fifty years. I cried when I read that.
I also loved the contrast between the South and the North that we see through young Jacqueline’s eyes. The first time when she ends up in New York and discovers that it is not the glorious place that people dream of – that description is very beautiful. There is also a scene in which Jacqueline’s brother, who is very quiet at home, suddenly sings at a school event and the whole family discovers that he has a beautiful voice and a hidden talent that they didn’t know about – that scene is very beautiful.
I loved ‘Brown Girl Dreaming‘. I got it two years back, when I first discovered Jacqueline Woodson’s work through her novel, ‘Red at the Bone‘. I loved that so much that I wanted to explore more of her work, and that is how I got ‘Brown Girl Dreaming’. I don’t know why I waited for two years to read it, but I’m glad I read it finally. It is a beautiful book. I hope there are further sequels to this in which Jacqueline Woodson takes the story forward.
I’m glad I’m out of my reading slump, finally. Yay! 😊
I’m sharing some of my favourite pages from the book, in the pictures below.
Have you read ‘Brown Girl Dreaming‘? What do you think about it? Which is your favourite Jacqueline Woodson book?
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