Brown Girl Dreaming

Brown Girl Dreaming is an autobiographical memoir by Jacqueline Woodson. There is a dedication at the front of the book which reads, "This book is for my family—past, present and future. With...

Roman doesn't die in Brown Girl Dreaming. He does, however, get extremely ill. Roman is the youngest child of the family; his birth meant that Jacqueline was no longer the baby. However, when he...

Jacqueline Woodson seems to be aware of change right from the start. Yes, it's Woodson looking back. But in her recollection, Woodson draws our attention to how she was born during a time of...

Jacqueline Woodson's memoir Brown Girl Dreaming focuses around several key issues. First, Woodson addresses the issue of broken families. When her parents separate, Woodson's mother moves her...

This is an example of what's called personification, which involves the attribution of human qualities and characteristics to inanimate objects. In this case, thirst—which is, of course, a...

Throughout Brown Girl Dreaming, Jaqueline Woodson writes about many members of her large, extended family. As a child, she moves several times and lives with different family groups. Jackie retains...

The story begins with Jaqueline's birth in Columbus, Ohio in 1963, at the height of the Civil Rights movement, at almost exactly the time Martin Luther King was giving his "I Have a Dream Speech"...

Unfortunately, there is no love lost between certain members of Jackie's family. Her parents have a rocky marriage which eventually leads to them splitting up, getting back together, and splitting...

Brown Girl Dreaming, a fictionalized memoir by Jacqueline Woodson, shows the extreme importance of family in young Jackie’s life. The early disruption to the world as she knows it occurs through...

Odella's hobby is a very good one to have, especially for children: reading. Whenever Jacqueline and the others can't find Odella, they don't get in the least bit worried; they know she'll be...

The story of Brown Girl Dreaming comes to a climax and begins to reach its conclusion when it is revealed to the family that Robert, Jacqueline's uncle, has gotten into trouble and been put into...

Brown Girl Dreaming is an autobiographical account of Jacqueline Woodson's childhood. She writes stories of her childhood as free verse poems, using the fewest words possible to tell the story of...

"Coraandhersisters" are described in terms which suggests that they are spoiled, mean, careless, and infuriating. For example, they are described as "brag[ging]" about their anticipated Christmas...

I would say that in general, there was a lot of dissatisfaction going on with Jacqueline's mother. Her marriage is ruined, and she's actually moved away from her husband and taken the kids to...

In the poem entitled "the woodsons of ohio," Jacqueline's father's family claims to be able to "trace their history back / to Thomas Woodson of Chillicothe, said to be / the first son / of Thomas...

At the outset of the novel, Woodson constructs her own existence—her own birth—in the context of the narrative of racial injustice. Black historical figures like Rosa Parks, the Freedom Singers,...

Brown Girl Dreaming is an autobiographical account of Jacqueline Woodson's childhood in the 1960s. It is written as a series of poems and is divided into five different sections, arranged in...