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Brown Girl DreamingJacqueline Woodson’s memoir Brown Girl Dreaming is set in the places where she grew up and where other family members continued to live after she left. Born in 1963, she spent her early years in...
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Brown Girl DreamingRoman 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingBrown 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingJacqueline Woodson contrasts the rain in Greenville, South Carolina, to the rain in Brooklyn, New York. Mentioning the Southern rain in two poems, the poet connects them with evocative sensory...
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Brown Girl DreamingThe 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingBrown 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingThroughout 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingThe very fact that Jacqueline Woodson writes an entire memoir in verse speaks to her phenomenal talent as a writer. Further evidence of Jackie's talent lies in her successful endeavor to prove that...
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Brown Girl DreamingUnfortunately, 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingOdella'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...
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Brown Girl DreamingThis 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingWhich famous person does Jacqueline's father's family claim to be related to in Brown Girl Dreaming?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...
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Brown Girl DreamingBrown 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingJacqueline 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...
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Brown Girl DreamingThe 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"...
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Brown Girl DreamingAt 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,...
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Brown Girl DreamingI 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...
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Brown Girl Dreaming"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...
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Brown Girl DreamingIt takes Jackie some time to recognize her talents as a writer because there is so much going on in her life. Over and above living through the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, Jackie has...