Readings & Materials (Unless otherwise noted, all course readings can be found on our course Blackboard site):

-Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming (BHCC bookstore)

-Mother Goose, “How Much Wood Could a Woodchuck Chuck,” “Hey, Diddle, Diddle,” “Humpty Dumpty,” “Jack Be Nimble” (Blackboard)

-Sampling of Tongue Twisters (Blackboard)

Homework Assignment:

1. Read through the assigned Mother Goose nonsense poems independently, with a friend, or with a child. What was your or your reading partner’s response to these poems? Were you able to make sense of the poems? Do you feel as if you (or your reading partner) gained anything from reading them?

2. Why do you think Woodson chose to begin her collection with “February 12, 1963” and “Second Daughter’s Day on Earth,” two poems which establish the contentious setting and timing of her birth? What will become an important shaping force in Woodson’s life?

3. In “It’ll Be Scary Sometimes,” Woodson’s mother warns her children that they will “face this in their life someday…A moment when you walk into a room and/no one there is like you.” What does she mean by this? Do you think this is an important message to impart to children and young adults?

4. Woodson split her childhood between South Carolina and New York. As a result, many of the poems in Brown Girl Dreaming convey a sense of being torn between two homes: North and South. Choose two poems from Woodson’s work which speak to this conflicting sense of home and identity: what do your chosen poems seem to associate with the North? What do they suggest about the South?

5. Many of the poems which make up Brown Girl Dreaming deal with heavy, adult concepts. For instance, in “South Carolina at War” (p.72), the young narrator is forced to consider the price African Americans are willing to pay for freedom. However, these heavier poems are often juxtaposed with lighter, happier poems: consider that the poem which precedes “South Carolina at War” is “The Candy Lady” (p. 70), a poem in which Woodson shares a lighthearted memory of her grandfather taking her and her siblings to buy candy on a Friday afternoon. Why do you think Woodson chose to arrange the collection in this way? Does this affect the way we view her childhood?

6. Memories—what Woodson remembers about her childhood and how she remembers it—play a central role in the shaping her identity. Why do you think Woodson chose to convey her memories through a series of short poems? What does this form allow her to do that a traditional narrative or memoir would not?

7. The final poem in Woodson’s narrative, “Each World,” sheds light on the author’s love of reading and writing. According to this poem, what does the author enjoy about writing? How is it an act of creation and imagination? Have you ever experienced this sort of engagement when reading or writing?

8. “What I Believe” (p. 317) can be read as Woodson’s attempt to articulate the lessons she’s learned through her experiences. Note that many of her “beliefs” appear to conflict; in doing so, perhaps the author is pointing to the complex nature of truth. Like so many things in life, truth is not black and white. There is room for overlap. Reflecting on your own experiences, try to come up with your own list of “beliefs” or truths.

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