Works by
Jacqueline Woodson
(Writer)

• Martin Luther King, Jr. : And His Birthday (1990) with Floyd Cooper, Illustrator
  Describes the life of the civil rights worker who is honored on Martin Luther King Day.

• Last Summer with Maizon (1992)
  Margaret loves her parents and hanging out with her best friend, Maizon. Then it happens, like a one-two punch, during the summer she turns eleven: first, Margaret's father dies of a heart attack, and then Maizon is accepted at an expensive boarding school, far away from the city they call home. For the first time in her life, Margaret has to turn to someone who isn't Maizon, who doesn't know her heart and her dreams. . . . Ages 4 - 8.

• Maizon at Blue Hill (1992)
  Maizon takes the biggest step in her life when she accepts a scholarship to boarding school and says good-bye to her grandmother and her best friend, Margaret. Blue Hill is beautiful, and challenging-but there are only five black students, and the other four are from wealthy families. Does Maizon belong at Blue Hill after all? Juvenile.

• Between Madison and Palmetto (1993)
  Margaret and Maizon are back together on Madison Street, but their friendship is different now. Margaret needs more time alone, and it's not just the two of them any more-their new neighbor and classmate, Caroline, has become part of their lives. But that seems minor next to what is about to happen to Maizon. . . .  Juvenile.

• From The Notebooks Of Melanin Sun (1993)
  Melanin Sun's mother has some big news: she's in love with a woman. Now he has many decisions to make: Should he stand by his mother even though it could mean losing his friends? Should he abandon the only family he's ever known? Either way, Melanin Sun is about to learn the true meaning of sacrifice, prejudice, and love.

• The Dear One (1993)
  Twelve-year-old Feni doesn't see why her mother, who is already way too busy with her job, offers to take in her old college friend's fifteen-year-old daughter. Sure enough, sparks fly when Rebecca, a street-smart girl from Harlem, comes to spend the last months of her pregnancy in Feni's suburban home. As the weeks pass, tension grows in the household. Can Feni, her mother, Rebecca, and their friends draw together in time to help Rebecca decide what is best for herself, and for her baby? Young adult.

• I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This (1994)
  Twelve-year-old Marie is a leader among the popular black girls in Chauncey, Ohio, a prosperous black suburb. She isn't looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. Yet they are drawn to each other because both have lost their mothers. And they know how to keep a secret. For Lena has a secret that is terrifying, and she's desperate to protect herself and her younger sister from their father. Marie must decide whether she can help Lena by keeping her secret...or by telling it. Ages 9 - 12.

• The Book Chase (Ghost Writer) (1994) with Steve Cieslawski, Illustrator

• Autobiography of a Family Photo: A Novel - Winner, 1995 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction; Winner 1995 Lambda Literary Award for Children/Young Adults

• Way Out of No Way (1996)
  In this very special anthology, Jacqueline Woodson shares the writings that inspired her as a young African-American growing up in Brooklyn. Within these pages you will find the quiet poignance of Toni Morrison's Sula, the joyous proclamations of Bernice Johnson Reagon's "I Remember, I Believe," the biting colloquial brilliance of Paul Beatty's Big Bowls of Cereal . . . and a host of other masterful works.
  
  Filled with both poems and stories, A WAY OUT OF NO WAY is at once a deep and tender tribute to the delicacy of adolescence and a first-rate study of African-American literature.

• The House You Pass on the Way (1997) -- Winner 1997 Lambda Literary Award for Children/Young Adults
  Thirteen-year-old Staggerlee used to be called Evangeline, but she took on a fiercer name. She's always been different—set apart by the tragic deaths of her grandparents in an anti-civil rights bombing, by her parents' interracial marriage, and by her family's retreat from the world. This summer she has a new reason to feel set apart—her confused longing for her friend Hazel. When cousin Trout comes to stay, she gives Staggerlee a first glimpse of her possible future selves and the world beyond childhood. Young adult.

• We Had a Picnic This Sunday Past (1998) with Diane Greenseid, Illustrator
  A young girl describes her various relatives and the foods they bring to the annual family picnic. Ages 4 - 8.

• Lena (1999)
  At the end of I Hadn’t Meant to Tell You This, Lena and her younger sister, Dion, set off on their own, desperate to escape their abusive father. Disguised as boys, they hitchhike along, traveling in search of their mother’s relatives. They don’t know what they will find, or who they can trust along the way, but they do know that they can’t afford to make even one single mistake. Dramatic and moving, this is a heart-wrenching story of two young girls in search of a place to call home. Ages 9 - 12.

• If You Come Softly (2000)
  Miah and Ellie are in love. Theirs is a rare and special first love. But the people around them don’t see it that way. They can only see black and white: Miah is black, Ellie is white, and Jewish; and their love, no matter how real, is too strange and scary for the world they live in. Juvenile.

• Sweet, Sweet Memory (2000) with Floyd Cooper, Illustrator
  Ages 4 - 8.

• The Other Side (2001) with Earl B. Lewis, Illustrator
  Clover has always wondered why a fence separates the black side of town from the white side. But this summer when Annie, a white girl from the other side, begins to sit on the fence, Clover grows more curious about the reason why the fence is there and about the daring girl who sits on it, rain or shine. And one day, feeling very brave, Clover approaches Annie. After all, why should a fence stand in the way of friendship?
  
  Beautifully rendered in Earl B. Lewis's striking, lifelike watercolor illustrations, Jacqueline Woodson gives us a moving, lyrical narrative told in the hopeful voice of a child confused about the fence someone else has built in her yard and the racial tension that divides her world. Ages 4 - 8.

• Visiting Day (2001) with James Ransome, Illustrator
  Only on visiting day is there chicken frying in the kitchen at 6 a.m. And Grandma in her Sunday dress, humming soft and low,... As the little girl and her grandmother get ready for visiting day, her father, who adores her, is getting ready, too. The community of families who take the long bus ride upstate to visit loved ones share hope and give comfort to each other. Love knows no boundaries. Here is a story of strong families who understand the meaning of unconditional love. Ages 4 - 8.

• Hush (2002)
  Toswiah Green's life ended the moment her policeman father decided to testify against a fellow officer. The Greens have had to change their identities and move to a different city. Now Toswiah is Evie Thomas, and that is the least of the changes. Her defeated father spends his days sitting by the window. Since her mother can no longer work as a teacher, she puts her energy into their new church. Her only sister is making secret plans to leave. And Evie, struggling to find her way, wonders who she is now and how she can make her future as bright as her past once was.  Young adult.

• Miracle's Boys (2002)
  Lafayette would do anything to have things back the way they used to be—back before their parents died and back before his brother Charlie changed so much. But things have changed and all he can do now is ask why.... Why did Mama have to die? Why does Charlie hate him so much? And how are the three brothers—Miracle’s boys—supposed to survive when so much seems to be stacked against them? Young adult.

• Our Gracie Aunt (2002) with Jon J. Muth, Illustrator
  When a brother and sister are taken to stay with their mother's sister because their mother neglects them, they wonder if they will see their mother again. Ages 4 - 8.

• Locomotion (2003)
  When Lonnie Collins Motion—Locomotion—was seven years old, his life changed forever. Now he’s eleven, and his life is about to change again. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper. And suddenly, Lonnie has a whole new way to tell the world about his life, his friends, his little sister Lili, and even his foster mom, Miss Edna, who started out crabby but isn’t so bad after all. Jacqueline Woodson’s novel-in-poems is humorous, heartbreaking . . . a triumph.  Ages 9 - 12.

• Behind You (2004)
  Even though Miah was black and Ellie is white, they made sense together. Then Miah was killed. It was the end of their relationship, but it was the beginning of grief for the many people who loved him. Now Miah’s mother has stopped trying, his friends are lost, and Ellie does not know how to move on. And then there is Miah, watching; unable to let go. This beautiful novel explores the experiences of those left behind after a tragedy.
   Juvenile.

• Coming On Home Soon (2004) with E. B. Lewis, Illustrator -- Child Magazine Best of 2004
  Ada Ruth's mama must go away to Chicago to work, leaving Ada Ruth and Grandma behind. It's war time, and women are needed to fill the men's jobs. As winter sets in, Ada Ruth and her grandma keep up their daily routine, missing Mama all the time. They find strength in each other, and a stray kitten even arrives one day to keep them company, but nothing can fill the hole Mama left. Every day they wait, watching for the letter that says Mama will be coming on home soon. Set during World War II, Coming On Home Soon has a timeless quality that will appeal to all who wait and hope.  Ages 4 - 8.

• Show Way (2005) with Hudson Talbott, Illustrator
  Soonie’s great-grandma was just seven years old when she was sold to a big plantation without her ma and pa, and with only some fabric and needles to call her own. She pieced together bright patches with names like North Star and Crossroads, patches with secret meanings made into quilts called Show Ways—maps for slaves to follow to freedom.When she grew up and had a little girl, she passed on this knowledge.And generations later,Soonie—who was born free—taught her own daughter how to sew beautiful quilts to be sold at market and how to read. Ages 9 - 12.
  
  From slavery to freedom, through segregation, freedom marches and the fight for literacy, the tradition they called Show Way has been passed down by the women in Jacqueline Woodson’s family as a way to remember the past and celebrate the possibilities of the future. Beautifully rendered in Hudson Talbott’s luminous art, this moving, lyrical account pays tribute to women whose strength and knowledge illuminate their daughters’ lives.

See also:

• Jacqueline Woodson: The Real Thing, Scarecrow Studies in Young Adult Literature, 11 (2004 release) by Lois Thomas Stover
  oodson's seventh grade English teacher returned her first short story to her with the comment, You are the real thing (1). Jacqueline Woodson: The Real Thing explores how Woodson became the real thing, why she deserves to be acknowledged as one of the finest writers for young adults today, who her literary mentors have been, and how her family history has helped to shape her as an artist, beginning with the success of her first novel, Last Summer with Maizon.