Crosspoint Library adds new title: Brown Girl Dreaming

The CCA Library is accepting donations of gently used books. We are always looking for MS/ HS literature and fiction, science, math, biographies, graphic novels, and history in English, Mandarin, and Spanish.
Latest addition to the CCA library:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kqv2qEyOAk3f-BWFs3ddblIWlJB_7t27RJVTfTMheRY/edit?usp=sharing

KIRKUS REVIEW

A multiaward-winning author recalls her childhood and the joy of becoming a writer.Writing in free verse, Woodson starts with her 1963 birth in Ohio during the civil rights movement, when America is “a country caught / / between Black and White.” But while evoking names such as Malcolm, Martin, James, Rosa and Ruby, her story is also one of family: her father’s people in Ohio and her mother’s people in South Carolina. Moving south to live with her maternal grandmother, she is in a world of sweet peas and collards, getting her hair straightened and avoiding segregated stores with her grandmother. As the writer inside slowly grows, she listens to family stories and fills her days and evenings as a Jehovah’s Witness, activities that continue after a move to Brooklyn to reunite with her mother. The gift of a composition notebook, the experience of reading John Steptoe’s Stevie and Langston Hughes’ poetry, and seeing letters turn into words and words into thoughts all reinforce her conviction that “[W]ords are my brilliance.” Woodson cherishes her memories and shares them with a graceful lyricism; her lovingly wrought vignettes of country and city streets will linger long after the page is turned.For every dreaming girl  (and boy) with a pencil in hand (or keyboard) and a story to share. ~ Kirkus

WHAT’S TO LIKE

• Novel in Verse

• Positive Messages

• Positive Role Models

WHAT’S THE STORY?

In this memoir in verse, Jaqueline Woodson depicts growing up in different places during a unique time in American history. She’s born in Ohio, to which her father’s family traces a proud lineage, but raised in the South, where she encounters the sweetness of life with grandparents as well as the sting of Jim Crow. She moves back to the North and navigates a noisier place with hard edges and warm friends. How can she reconcile her different worlds? Will she be able to find her voice, not only so she can stand out but so she can make sense of the topsy-turvy world around her?

LET’S TALK ABOUT IT

• How does your family’s influence on you differ from those of your peers? Ask your parents to tell you about your family’s stories and history. You can start by asking your parents to tell you about their childhood, their family, and what world events they lived through.

• Talk with your friends or family about the importance of finding what each of us, as individuals, does well. Jacqueline found her voice as a writer despite her reading difficulties. What do you do well? How do you best demonstrate your thoughts and feelings?