The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López (Children's Week #8)

There will be times when you walk into a room

and no one there is quite like you. 

The Day You Begin is about being different, whether that means looking different, sounding different, or any other characteristic that leaves a child feeling alone in his or her uniqueness. It's about sensing that you're out of place, knowing that in the room you walked into or the classroom you're always in, something sets you apart. Maybe everyone in class went somewhere during summer vacation but you. Maybe you're the only person in your class who brings a packed lunch or whose lunch is unfamiliar to everyone else. Maybe you're not athletic and you're the last to be chosen for team sports.

In beautiful, gentle prose, author Jacqueline Woodson talks about being set apart but learning to embrace and share your own story, whatever that may be. And, the thought that maybe when you tell your story you will find something in common with someone else in the room.

This is the day you begin 

to find the places inside

your laughter and your lunches,

your books, your travel and your stories, 

where every new friend has something

 a little like you -- and something else 

so fabulously not quite like you

at all

Here's the final spread so you can see the vibrant illustrations in the final spread quoted above:

Highly recommended - A new favorite. I love everything about The Day You Begin. Beautiful prose, stunning illustrations, and a subject that absolutely everyone can relate to. It's a great way to get a head start explaining that there will be times a child feels totally out of place. Even now, I can relate to the subject matter in The Day You Begin and recall times in school that I felt like I was the odd duck in a room full of swans. Highly recommended for any and all children and libraries.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson

In Harbor Me by Jacqueline Woodson, a group of children are sent to talk amongst themselves -- nothing else, no teacher accompanying them, just the six of them chatting without any rules.

There were eight of us then. Our small class had come together because the school wanted to try something new: Could they put eight kids together in a room with one teacher and make something amazing? Eight special kids?

~p. 5

The children are understandably confused, at first, and the number of them drops almost immediately from eight to six. What's the point? Why are they here and what should they say to each other?

The walls are broken down a little by Esteban. We think they took my papi, he says. His father, an undocumented immigrant, has disappeared. Esteban is shocked, hurt, terrified. Where is his father? The other children, it turns out, have challenges of their own. But, it's Esteban's pain that helps them to open up.

The story is narrated by Haley. Her mother is dead, her father in prison. Haley lives with her uncle and keeps her story close to her chest. But, as Esteban, Holly, Amari, Ashton, and Tiago open up about their own struggles, Haley is encouraged to share. During the months that they meet in the classroom alone to talk, their stories unfold and the children learn that everything is easier when you can share it with friends.

Recommended but not a favorite - I have mixed feelings about Harbor Me. I love Jacqueline Woodson's writing. The characters are interesting people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, all living in Brooklyn. They're believable and well-rounded. I liked the theme that sharing with friends created a safe harbor of sorts, that in opening up they were able to think about what it means to harbor someone else in need. But, the children are younger than they sound and far more understanding of each other's difficulties than I can imagine in reality. To me, they sounded more like young adults. I had to keep reminding myself they were only -- I think this is correct -- 5th graders.

I also struggled with understanding the purpose of this experiment. Would a school really agree to leaving children alone in a room for no other reason than to talk to each other? I think I would have easily bought into the concept if there had been some sort of school requirement -- a report about what they learned, for example, or a book that they read together and discussed, rather than only talking. The problem was not the writing or even the story, simply the single element that stretched my ability to suspend disbelief. Fortunately, I do think middle grade readers will likely enjoy the book without worrying about that particular element and Harbor Me will be a particularly good addition to classrooms and school libraries. It's a book that could very well make children feel a little less alone in their uniqueness and encourage them to empathize with others.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson

If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson is a story of young love. Ellie and Jeremiah literally bump into each other in the hall of their Manhattan school, knocking her books to the ground. There's an immediate attraction between them but neither knows the other and it takes time before they manage to connect. And, when they do, and they become a couple, they experience the expected: stares, questions, surprise. What is a white, Jewish girl doing with a black boy with dreadlocks? It doesn't matter. They are smitten and spend every moment they can together. And, then tragedy strikes.

I knew If You Come Softly is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet because of the preface to this 20th Anniversary edition by the author, but somehow I got so caught up in the love story that I completely forgot and was caught a little off-guard when I got to the tragic part. Tragedy is not the ending, though, and I absolutely loved the ending. It's a warm, contented ending, if not a happy one.

Highly recommended - I can see why this bittersweet tale of love and loss has been reissued. It took a while for me to warm to the story because, even though it's a "love at first sight" tale, it takes some time before the two get together. It's kind of a slow burn sort of story but a gentle one. The relationship between Ellie (short for Elisha) and Jeremiah (who goes by Miah) is all the more lovely and sweet and believable because of the pacing.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A few minis - Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson, Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans, Defining Moments in Black History by Dick Gregory

There are a few books I've been thinking about not reviewing (and one I loved but don't want to give full review treatment) so I've decided to do a few mini reviews. Most of these were read some time ago, at least long enough that plenty of the details will probably escape me.

Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson is a beautifully written story about a young girl and her family after their move to New York. Told in reflection after she meets an old friend on the train and refuses to speak to her, the story describes the fiction she told herself about her mother and how eventually the missing mother would show up, the friendships that she formed after she was finally allowed to roam outside her apartment, and the horror when one of her friends was raped. I read Another Brooklyn in July and that's about all I can remember, apart from how it made me feel.

And, here is where the surprise comes. Most everyone seems to love this book but it simply did not resonate for me. Jacqueline Woodson's writing is impressive, evocative, a little dreamy and very honest. It wasn't so much that I couldn't relate because that doesn't necessarily matter to me. It was that I couldn't always follow; in other words, sometimes the book was a little too lyrical or metaphorical and I wasn't entirely certain what she was trying to say or what had just happened. And, in the end, I was left with questions. I no longer recall what those questions were, but I definitely would have loved to talk to someone about it when I closed the book. Maybe that would have made it a better read for me, having someone to discuss with. But, I found it just an above-average read because of the confusion. Apparently, it was just me. The book gets rave reviews. All of my friends have given it either 4 or 5 stars at Goodreads and I love Woodson's writing so I still recommend it. I may even reread Another Brooklyn, someday; it's very likely I missed something.

Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans is a book that's been on my radar since Andi of Estella's Revenge talked about it. Till then, I was unfamiliar with the author or her blog (where she appears to now seldom write an entry) and her heartfelt posts about her struggle between the Christian beliefs that have taken a sharp direction away from those of the evangelical church in which she was raised and her yearning to be a part of a church community. Subtitled, "Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church," the book tells about Evans' childhood in a Southern Baptist church, her devotion to learning about the Bible and saving people, her Bible-scholar father's calm explanations, and then . . . the questions, the creation of a new church with friends, and the gradual changes in her beliefs that led her to search for a new church home.

With the exception of having a Bible scholar as a father (mine was an accountant) there were some striking similarities between Evans' church history and mine. I grew up in the Southern Baptist Church (a cheerful, small-town church where I always felt happy and loved). I was an eager student of the Bible, although maybe not a very good one, and I wanted everyone to feel the kind of acceptance and love I felt at church so I was constantly trying to convert people. I can only hope I wasn't too much of a prig, but it all boiled down to the fact that my home church was a joyful place. Like Evans, I also went through a stage when I finally began to seriously question the church's stance on particular modern issues, although I had long since moved to the Methodist church and my move away from the church was decidedly slower. Still, the similarities stunned me and I found Searching for Sunday an incredibly affirming and comforting read.

Highly recommended, especially to those who find themselves questioning the church but not their Christianity.

In the opposite vein, I'd really like to say as little as possible about Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies by Dick Gregory because I have such mixed feelings about it. It starts out great. Gregory, who recently passed away, lived quite an interesting life as an actor, comedian, and writer, and appeared to know just about every black person of fame that you can think of. He was around during the Civil Rights Movement and was knowledgeable about the events, the people, the movement itself and the many organizations working for change. At the beginning, he shares a great deal of history in fairly short chunks. They're not necessarily cohesive, but they're interesting and revealing. The audience he addresses is black; he talks as if he's talking to a young person, offering his knowledge as well as advice.

However, as the book progresses, Gregory begins to occasionally contradict himself and dig deeply into conspiracy theories. While I felt like some of them were absolutely plausible, there were many others (particularly involving the deaths of celebrities) that simply didn't make sense to me, even when I sat back and thought about them and twisted them around in my head.  He believed, for example, that Tiger Woods' downfall was not due to his infidelity but due to generic white supremacists who didn't want him to surpass the success of Jack Nicklaus. How he came to that conclusion in spite of Tiger's own confession and decided that Tiger's back surgery was a fiction forced upon Tiger by these unknown white supremacists is beyond me. That's simply one example. I'd like to give Gregory the benefit of the doubt and say that perhaps the contradictions and conspiracy theories were due to the fact that he was aging and died shortly before publication but I haven't read any of his other books so I can't compare to know if there's been any change.

At any rate, I liked parts of Defining Moments in Black History and found some of the history particularly fascinating (music, movies, movements, you name it - he spoke broadly). Iffy on recommendation but I wouldn't tell you not to give it a try. I'd love to hear other folks' thoughts about this book.


©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

I bought Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson when it was recommended to me for the #Diversiverse reading challenge, which I completely failed. But, when I realized it's Black History Month, I thought, "Yes! Another excuse to read Brown Girl Dreaming!" Not that I needed an excuse but it's kind of fun to read thematically, isn't it?

Brown Girl Dreaming is a memoir written in verse and it tells the story of the author's life, from her birth in Ohio to her move to South Carolina and then to New York City (and onward).

What I loved about Brown Girl Dreaming:

• It is written in a way that places you squarely in the author's shoes, so that you really get an understanding of what it's like to experience racial prejudice.
• There are many people to absolutely fall in love with. I adored Jacqueline's South Carolina grandparents. She described them with genuine affection; you can't help but love them as much as she clearly did. I also loved her best friend in New York and her best friend's mother.
• I loved reading about the differences in culture between the three places that the author lived in her youth and how they shaped her.
• The story of her childhood writing and how she grew in her writing parallels my own writing experiences in many ways, except, of course, for the fact that she is a very successful author and I'm not. I have to say Brown Girl Dreaming stirred up that yearning to try harder in a way very little has, in recent years. 
• The author is also much like me in having experienced a great deal of loss. She's so positive, though, never maudlin but simply grateful for the ways her loved ones have contributed to making her the person she is. 
• She has such a friendly, upbeat voice that you can't help but come out of the book wishing you knew the author. 

What I disliked about Brown Girl Dreaming:

• Nothing. It's a 5-star book.

A favorite excerpt:

Highly recommended - An absolutely perfect choice for expanding your reading by people of color, a wonderfully-written memoir that evokes time and place brilliantly, and a good read for anyone interested in writing, as well.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.