I have read and enjoyed a couple of Jacqueline Woodson's book in the past so was immediately drawn to this one. I thought my daughter would enjoy this one but thought it was one we would read together as I suspected a memoir told in verse might be too much for her to read independently at almost nine. I was wrong. I downloaded this book for her the other night when she was going to bed as she wanted to try it. I snuck into her room a couple of hours later to retrieve my kindle and she sat up in bed and deplored me not to take it away, she was almost finished and she wouldn't be able to sleep unless she did. Despite it being a school night, I left her too it, remembering that feeling as a child when you find a book that completely enthralls you, how could I not.

She absolutely loved this memoir of Woodson growing up in South Carolina and New York in the 1960's and 70s looking for her place in the world and how her writing helped her find it. Her love of stories and writing really resonated with my daughter. My daughter has learned a little about the Civil Rights Movement in school and through other books and she loved reading about it from a child's perspective at that time. She asked to google and has been reading more over the last two days since reding Brown Girl Dreaming.

The language and verse is really accessible and made for a very different read to the books she usually consumes, she loved it. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this one, I have only read the first pages and it is one I will buy in paperback for our shelves and buy as gifts. My daughter has not stopped talking about it and I can see the impact this book had on her.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and to author for writing.

Engrossing memoir of Afro-American youth in verse living through momentous times.

Living in the UK, I hadn't heard of this title, but could see it's widely acclaimed over in America and knew it would be something very worthwhile to spend time with.

And it was. A memoir of a childhood, told in verse that does make it feel like a child's voice and perspective, Jacqueline shows us so many sides of America in the era of civil rights and Jim Crow, moving from Ohio to South Carolina dn finally to New York, she and her siblings experienced many different faces of a changing society.

Ending before she even reaches adolescence, readers watch her single mother raise four children by accepting the help of grandparents, we see the family still preferring to move to the back of a bus in certain areas of the country, we see siblings succeeding in school and a future writer finding a love of words and a direction even at a young age.

It was poignant and illuminating. And definitely a read for those even outside of America.

For ages 9-14.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample reading copy.