keep on dreaming- lexi mitchell

I am reading Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson and I was so excited to read this book after reading a poem by her in Peter Kittle’s class last semester. This book is even better then I thought it would be and I’m so glad I chose it. I really love how her writing seems effortless and well thought out at the same time. I also really like that the book goes in the order of her life events, it makes you want to know what happens next. The form did change how I read the book and I feel like it is less daunting to look at the pages of this book. I made more pauses and I imagined her telling the stories, because she brings up how much she loves to tell stories out loud throughout the book. There is so many good lessons in this book and I think every school should have it in their curriculum.

It was really cool how she talked about how she was always being compared to her big sister by her teachers because her sister was a faster reader and always had the answers. This is one of the many points that students can relate to, and it shows that things like reading fast and knowing answers doesn’t mean you can’t become a writer. This is also an eye opener to how much influence a teacher has on a student! She has many poems about her teachers. It is also a good text to use as an example from the Civil Rights Movement. Even though I want to be a 2nd or 3rd grade teacher, I would like to read some of her poems out loud to my class. I really love poetry and this book is not difficult to understand, I think younger students will like it too. 

so much depends

upon 

the clock 

on the wall 

ticking 

as each moment passes 

deciding how much time 

we have left