Jacqueline Woodson Courtney Johnson Taylor Miller Caroline Snipes

Jacqueline Woodson Courtney Johnson, Taylor Miller, Caroline Snipes

About the Author… • Born on February 12, 1963 in Columbus, Ohio • Lived in Greenville, SC until age 7 then moved to Brooklyn, NY (where she still resides) • Attended Adelphi College and graduated with a B. A. in English and a minor in British Literature • As a child, she wrote on anything and everything. Wrote graffiti on a building wall, wrote on paper bags, her shoes and denim binders. She also chalked stories across sidewalks and penciled tiny tales in notebook margins • She loved everything about writing and wasn’t a big fan of sitting still unless she was reading • Wrote a poem in fourth grade about Martin Luther King Jr that was so good no one believed she had written it • Her major literary influences are James Baldwin, Virginia Hamilton, and Nikki Giovanni • She is known for the detailed physical landscapes she writes into each of her books.

Books Written This is The Rope Each Kindness • Coretta Scott King Honor Book • 2013 Jane Addams Peace Award • 2013 Charlotte Zolotow Award • Best Book of 2012 – School Library Journal Pecan Pie Baby Coming On Home Soon • Caldecott Honor • ALA Notable 2005 • Booklist Editor’s Choice • Child Magazine Best of 2004 The Other Side • ALA Notable • Riverbank Review Children’s Book of Distinction • Texas Blue Bonnet List • School Library Journal Best Book • Booklist Editor’s Choice • New York Public Library’s 100 Titles for Reading and • • • Sharing 2001 Time of Wonder Award IRA Teacher’s Choices 2002 2004 Louisiana Young Reader’s Choice Award (Honor) 2003 -2004 Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Master List California Young Reader Medal Nominee 2003 -2004 South Carolina Book Award Nominee

Books Continued… Sweet, Sweet Memory Visiting Day • Our Gracie Aunt We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past 2003 Skipping Stones Honor Award Show Way • Newberry Honor Medal Middle Grade Books: http: //www. jacquelinewoodson. com/category/books-ive-written/middle-grade -titles/ Young Adult Books: http: //www. jacquelinewoodson. com/category/books-ive-written/young-adulttitles/

Trends • 1 st person narrative • Dialect • Tough issues • loss, inequality, prejudice/discrimination, gender • African American families • Extended family and nontraditional household, blended families • Rural/urban setting • Writes across ages/genres • Historic and current content • She places boundaries everywhere—social, economic, physical, sexual, racial then has her characters break through physical and psychological boundaries to create a strong and emotional story

Curriculum Connection Using the book The Other Side o The students will. . . • Write a journal entry about a time you judged or excluded someone because they were different from you. Share an example of a time you felt judged or excluded. How did it make you feel? What can you do in the future to avoid these situations? o The students will… • Write a journal about what you think the fence symbolizes? Explain your reasoning. o The students will… • Describe how the main characters acted/thought at the beginning of the story. How do they change over the course of the story? o The students will… • Write a journal about why you think all the kids decided to play together at the end of the book? What do you think changed their mind?

Fun Facts • Has plays/movies/TV shows of her work: • Locomotion (play) • Show Way, The Musical (musical play) • Beneath A Meth Moon (upcoming movie) • Miracle’s Boys (mini-series) • There are many anthologies (at least 20) that include her work • Has a lot of her writing memorized so that she don’t have to carry her books everywhere • Once wrote a book in two weeks and it only needed a little revision…the next book took four years • She can only write with her notebook turned sideways. As a kid, she wrote with it turned upside down. • She doesn’t believe there is any such thing as “writer’s block”, it’s just your mind telling you what you’re writing isn’t the thing you really want to be writing • Has brothers named Hope and Roman and a sister named Odella • Has a son, Jackson-Leroi and a daughter Toshi

References http: //www. jacquelinewoodson. com/