Book Review:

Brown Girl Dreaming is the story of Woodson’s childhood of growing up during the Civil Rights Movement. It is written in verse and covers her birth through age ten. I loved reading a child’s perspective on the Civil Rights Movement. That was very interesting. I’m not a huge poetry fan and neither is my daughter, so this book was more of a struggle for us. We enjoyed it, but it wasn’t our favorite style of book.

Discussion Questions:

1. Do you enjoy reading a book written in verse or a standard biography/novel better?

2. Do you think it is easier or harder to writer in verse?

3. Can you think of other books that you have read in verse?

4. Even though each chapter/verse is short, do you feel like you got a good sense of 5.the moment or place that the author was trying to convey?

6. In the chapter “Stevie” the author talks about being excited to find a book with people that look like her. Do most books you read have people that look like you or people from other cultures and backgrounds? Why is this something to think about?

7. In the beginning of the book, the author talks a lot about issues that happen in 1963 and the civil rights movement. How did these issues affect Jacqueline Woodson’s life?

8. Do you agree or disagree that this should be a National Book Award Winner?

9. What do you think about the dad? What about the mom leaving them to go to NYC?

10. What are your favorite characters and why?

(Questions taken from http://www.book-cubs.com/2015/02/09/brown-girl-dreaming-by-jacqueline-woodson/)