Jacqueline Woodson: Brown Girl Growing Up in Brooklyn
- Marina Aris
- Jun 3
- 3 min read
A note from our founder
Our second tribute in this new chapter goes to a writer whose entire body of work grew out of two very different childhoods lived in two very different places. Jacqueline Woodson has spent decades writing Brooklyn onto the page with unmatched tenderness, and she still calls the borough home today.
Two Landscapes, One Voice
Jacqueline Woodson was born on February 12, 1963, in Columbus, Ohio, and raised first in Greenville, South Carolina, before later moving to Brooklyn, New York. That split upbringing, between the American South and the urban Northeast, runs through nearly everything she has written, giving her narrative voice a rare fluency in two very different Black American experiences.
Writing Difficult Things Gently
Woodson has built her career on tackling delicate, complicated subjects — race, gender, class, foster care, incarceration — with a rare combination of empathy, lyricism, and accessibility. She writes for children, young adults, and adults alike, often returning to the same hard truths at different points in a reader's life.
Brown Girl Dreaming
Her breakthrough came with Brown Girl Dreaming in 2014, a memoir written in verse about her childhood in South Carolina and New York during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras. The book won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and a Newbery Honor, cementing Woodson's place as one of the foundational voices in contemporary American letters.
A Career of Firsts
Woodson's honors include a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the Children's Literature Legacy Award. She served as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature from 2018 to 2019. She continues to live in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.
Selected Bibliography
Woodson has published over thirty books across various age groups and genres. Below is a selection of her most notable works.
Memoirs and Fiction for Young Adults / Middle Grade
Miracle's Boys (2000) — A moving story about three orphaned brothers trying to survive and heal after the death of their mother.
Locomotion (2003) — A novel written in various poetic forms following a young boy named Lonnie navigating the foster care system.
Show Way (2005) — A historical Newbery Honor book tracing the history of her maternal ancestors through generations of quilt-making.
Feathers (2007) — A story touching on faith, hope, and race as an all-Black classroom in the 1970s welcomes a new white student.
After Tupac and D Foster (2008) — An exploration of identity, community, and growing up in Queens against the backdrop of Tupac Shakur's music.
Beneath a Meth Moon (2012) — A harrowing yet hopeful look at a teenage girl dealing with the trauma of Hurricane Katrina and addiction.
Brown Girl Dreaming (2014) — Her masterful memoir written in verse about her childhood in South Carolina and New York during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights eras.
Harbor Me (2018) — Six kids are brought together in a school room to talk openly about their lives, fears, and undocumented families.
Before the Ever After (2020) — A novel in verse dealing with the painful realities of professional sports injuries and their impact on a family.
Remember Us (2023) — A coming-of-age story inspired by the frequent fires that swept through Woodson's childhood Brooklyn neighborhood in the 1970s.
Novels for Adults
Another Brooklyn (2016) — A lyrical, National Book Award finalist that captures the beauty and perils of growing up as a young Black woman in 1970s Brooklyn.
Red at the Bone (2019) — An intricate multi-generational novel focusing on two families from different social classes brought together by an unexpected pregnancy.
Children's Picture Books
The Other Side (2001) — A poignant story about two young girls, one Black and one white, who strike up a friendship across a segregated fence.
Each Kindness (2012) — An impactful anti-bullying story emphasizing the ripple effect of small acts of kindness.
The Day You Begin (2018) — A reassuring tale about finding the courage to share your story, even when you feel like an outsider.
The Year We Learned to Fly (2022) — A beautiful picture book encouraging children to use their imaginations to escape boredom and anger.
READ WOODSON
Start with Brown Girl Dreaming for the memoir that made her name, or Another Brooklyn if you'd rather meet her as a novelist for adults first. Either way, you'll be reading a writer who still lives in the borough she's spent her whole career writing about. Get the book.
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