Who is...

Jacqueline Woodson?

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“I do not know if these hands will be Rosa’s or Ruby’s gently gloved and fiercely folded calmly in a lap, on a desk, around a book, ready to change the world. . .”  From Brown Girl Dreaming [2014].

Woodson’s words are from her National Book Award and Newbery honor award-winning autobiographical book, Brown Girl Dreaming. As a writer, Woodson has penned poems, young-adult and adult novels, and picture books, and though Ms. Woodson won the Margaret A. Edwards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006 (an award given for writing), she has continued to pursue writing quality literature for young people. Ms. Woodson has had to persevere through her parent’s divorce and racial prejudice, and yet she, and her work, have risen above those difficulties. To learn more about Ms. Woodson, read her memoir Brown GirlDreaming or visit the following sites:

Jacqueline Woodson’s official site 

New York Times article about Jacqueline Woodson being namedNational Ambassador for Young People’s Literature 

Woodson, J. (2014). Brown Girl Dreaming. Nancy Paulsen Books, an Imprint of Penguin Group: New York. P. 5.   

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Sources:

Patton, J. R. (2006). Jacqueline Woodson: Poetry in Motion. Teaching Pre K-8, 36(7), 46-48.

Woodson, J. (2014). Brown Girl Dreaming. Nancy Paulsen Books, an Imprint of Penguin Group: New York.