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Jacqueline Woodson

Goodreads Author

Born

in Columbus, Ohio, The United States

Website

http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Children's Books, Young Adult

Member Since

June 2013

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I used to say I’d be a teacher or a lawyer or a hairdresser when I grew up but even as I said these things, I knew what made me happiest was writing.

I wrote on everything and everywhere. I remember my uncle catching me writing my name in graffiti on the side of a building. (It was not pretty for me when my mother found out.) I wrote on paper bags and my shoes and denim binders. I chalked stories across sidewalks and penciled tiny tales in notebook margins. I loved and still love watching words flower into sentences and sentences blossom into stories.

I also told a lot of stories as a child. Not “Once upon a time” stories but basically, outright lies. I loved lying and getting away with it! There was something about telling the lie-story and I used to say I’d be a teacher or a lawyer or a hairdresser when I grew up but even as I said these things, I knew what made me happiest was writing.

I wrote on everything and everywhere. I remember my uncle catching me writing my name in graffiti on the side of a building. (It was not pretty for me when my mother found out.) I wrote on paper bags and my shoes and denim binders. I chalked stories across sidewalks and penciled tiny tales in notebook margins. I loved and still love watching words flower into sentences and sentences blossom into stories.

I also told a lot of stories as a child. Not “Once upon a time” stories but basically, outright lies. I loved lying and getting away with it! There was something about telling the lie-story and seeing your friends’ eyes grow wide with wonder. Of course I got in trouble for lying but I didn’t stop until fifth grade.

That year, I wrote a story and my teacher said “This is really good.” Before that I had written a poem about Martin Luther King that was, I guess, so good no one believed I wrote it. After lots of brouhaha, it was believed finally that I had indeed penned the poem which went on to win me a Scrabble game and local acclaim. So by the time the story rolled around and the words “This is really good” came out of the otherwise down-turned lips of my fifth grade teacher, I was well on my way to understanding that a lie on the page was a whole different animal — one that won you prizes and got surly teachers to smile. A lie on the page meant lots of independent time to create your stories and the freedom to sit hunched over the pages of your notebook without people thinking you were strange.

Lots and lots of books later, I am still surprised when I walk into a bookstore and see my name on a book’s binder. Sometimes, when I’m sitting at my desk for long hours and nothing’s coming to me, I remember my fifth grade teacher, the way her eyes lit up when she said “This is really good.” The way, I — the skinny girl in the back of the classroom who was always getting into trouble for talking or missed homework assignments — sat up a little straighter, folded my hands on the desks, smiled and began to believe in me. ...more

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Jacqueline Woodson’s books

Average rating: 4.05 · 377,739 ratings · 53,931 reviews · 84 distinct works • Similar authors

	Brown Girl Dreaming 4.15 avg rating — 93,034 ratings — published 2014 — 50 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Red at the Bone 3.96 avg rating — 83,772 ratings — published 2019 — 31 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Another Brooklyn 3.87 avg rating — 41,834 ratings — published 2016 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Before the Ever After 4.17 avg rating — 16,061 ratings — published 2020 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Harbor Me 4.20 avg rating — 13,454 ratings — published 2018 — 26 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson (Goodreads Author), Rafael López (Goodreads Author) (Illustrator) 4.43 avg rating — 12,327 ratings — published 2018 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	If You Come Softly 4.03 avg rating — 12,583 ratings — published 1998 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson (Goodreads Author), E.B. Lewis (Illustrator) 4.51 avg rating — 8,575 ratings — published 2001 — 10 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson (Goodreads Author), E.B. Lewis (Illustrator) 4.41 avg rating — 7,895 ratings — published 2012	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Locomotion 4.02 avg rating — 7,372 ratings — published 2003 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jacqueline Woodson…

Series by Jacqueline Woodson

If You Come Softly (2 books)
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Jacqueline Woodson (Goodreads Author)

4.04 avg rating — 14,183 ratings

Locomotion (2 books)
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Jacqueline Woodson (Goodreads Author)

4.02 avg rating — 9,399 ratings

I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This (2 books)
by

Jacqueline Woodson (Goodreads Author)

3.93 avg rating — 1,800 ratings

Maizon (3 books)
by

Jacqueline Woodson (Goodreads Author)

3.84 avg rating — 813 ratings

Over at Amazon, the book editors are celebrating 25 years of curating the latest and greatest titles for Amazon Books. To mark the...

Polls

August BoTM Nominations ~ Color in Title ~ 1st Poll
Top 5 books move onto final poll

Red at the Bone

by Jacqueline Woodson

9 votes, 26.5%

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

by Fannie Flagg

5 votes, 14.7%

Bluebird, Bluebird

by Attica Locke

4 votes, 11.8%

The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman

by Margot Mifflin

4 votes, 11.8%

The Red Tent

by Anita Diamant

4 votes, 11.8%

White Rose, Black Forest

by Eoin Dempsey

3 votes, 8.8%

Gold

by Chris Cleave

2 votes, 5.9%

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays

by Damon Young

1 vote, 2.9%

Purple Hibiscus

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

1 vote, 2.9%

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

by Deepa Anappara

1 vote, 2.9%

34 total votes

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