Biography of Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson is an American author of novels, picture books, and poetry for children and young adults.

As described in her autobiography in verse Brown Girl Dreaming, Woodson grew up between Ohio, South Carolina, and New York in the 1960's and 1970's and was greatly affected by the different treatment of African-Americans in those places. Her experiences in early life have impacted the themes of her writing, leading her to focus on race, gender, socioeconomic status, and civil rights. Her books also often concern the topics of family and history.

Woodson's best known works are Miracle's Boy, Brown Girl Dreaming, After Tupac and D Foster, Feathers, and Show Way. She has won over ten prestigious awards for her writing including the Coretta Scott King Award, the National Book Award in Young People's Literature, the Newbery Honor, and the ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Woodson currently lives in Brooklyn, New York with her son, daughter, dog, and cat.


Study Guides on Works by Jacqueline Woodson

Another Brooklyn is a novel by Jacqueline Woodson published in 2016. Although Woodson is primarily known as the author of several successful books for younger readers, Another Brooklyn is directed toward an adult readership with its themes that...

Harbor Me is a middle-grade novel written by the American author Jacqueline Woodson and published in 2018. Woodson had earned the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature for her previous book Brown Girl Dreaming. In this book, she writes...

If You Come Softly is a young-adult novel by American author Jacqueline Woodson. It was initially published in 1998 and later in 2006 by Speak Publishers. Set in New York, Elisha and Jeremiah are both students attending Percy Academy. The school...

Released in September 2019, Red at the Bone tells the story of a young woman named Melody, a sixteen year old who is celebrating her birthday in her grandparents house in Brooklyn, New York. Although it tells the story of Melody's family history,...