A review by savaging
Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

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"

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.