Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson

 I listened to this as audiobook. I am so glad I did. 

Brown Girl Dreaming is my second read by Jacqueline Woodson, the first was If You Come Softly, which I loved even as it shattered me. 

This book is a young reader/middle grade book. It is the story of her childhood told in poetic verse. And hearing Jacqueline Woodson read the words of her story, how she came to be, how and where she grew up, the loves and hurts of her very early years, and how she came to love words and stories was like being taken into her confidence and having tea with her on a porch swing and just listening...just falling into the words being spun like a blanket being weaved around me. 

I too and from the same Brooklyn area where Jacqueline landed as a child. She is only 7 years older than me so the streets we both walked, the shops that existed, the Brooklyn neighborhoods we both inhabited was very much the same. Our experiences were our own but the scenery was the same and I could see it. And fall into her words and the magic of her storytelling. 

She is open and shares her family story without flinching, the good and the bad, the easy and the hard. Your can feel her love of her grandparents, their home in Greenville, the love she has for her siblings, even  when her sister tells her that she couldn't have written something because it is too good. Her love of school and her best forever friend Maria, her uncle Robert and his dance moves, her grandpa Gunnar and his love of his garden...you can see it all in your mind's eye as she paints a picture with words. 

Jacqueline Woodson is a master at her craft and anything she writes is worth your time. But if you can also listen to her, you will be made better for it. 

(Finished March 7, 2021)