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savaging's review against another edition
4.0
Anti-racist free-verse memoir: I think I've finally found YA lit I can appreciate.
This is mostly because of the end section, which explores Woodson's first understandings of Black Power and the Panthers as a young girl. Like this section from "the revolution"
This is mostly because of the end section, which explores Woodson's first understandings of Black Power and the Panthers as a young girl. Like this section from "the revolution"
When I hear the word
revolution
I think of the carousel with
all those beautiful horses
going around as though they'll never stop and me
choosing the purple one each time, climbing up onto it
and reaching for the golden ring, as soft music plays.
The revolution is always going to be happening.
I want to write this down, that the revolution is like
a merry-go-round, history always being made
somewhere. And maybe for a short time,
we're a part of that history. And then the ride stops
and our turn is over.
We walk slow toward the park where I can already see
the big swings, empty and waiting for me.
And after I write it down, maybe I'll end it this way:
My name is Jacqueline Woodson
and I am ready for the ride.
barbarab's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
A fantastic book written in small poems about the young Jacqueline growing up first in Ohio, then South Carolina and lastly in New York. About her large family that surrounds her and how that family is more distant when they live in New York and only see them again during the summers in the south.
Loved it!
Loved it!
rebeccasarine's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed listening to the audiobook read by the author very much.
erins_bookshelf_'s review against another edition
fast-paced
4.0
I don’t read much poetry but I really liked the poems in this! I liked that they weren’t all necessarily the same type of rhyme scheme and that they all told a story when read together.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Death of parent, Death, and Grief
bibliobrandie's review against another edition
5.0
Jacqueline Woodson is a national treasure and I don't know why I waited so long to read this. I wanted to book talk it for poetry month so I finally picked it up (maybe I was just trying to save it). The thing with Woodson is she can really tell a story through verse. Some authors try and it is clunky but her storytelling and the way she writes is just so lyrical and beautiful. Beyond her writing, I loved hearing her story.