I love writing for young people. It's the literature that was most important to me, the stories that shaped me and informed my own journey as a writer.
Interpretation
The author expresses the significance of writing for young people, reflecting on how it shaped their own life.
In this quote, Jacqueline Woodson emphasizes the profound impact that literature aimed at young audiences has had on her personal development as a writer. She highlights the importance of storytelling in nurturing young minds, suggesting that the stories they encounter can significantly influence their understanding of the world and their own identities.
In practice
A teacher might use this quote to inspire students to appreciate the literature they read.
'Brown Girl Dreaming' was a book I had a lot of doubts about - mainly, would this story be meaningful to anyone besides me? My editor, Nancy Paulsen, kept assuring me, but there were moments when I was in a really sad place with the story for so many reasons. It wasn't an easy book to write - emotionally, physically, or creatively.
In the midst of observing the world and coming to consciousness, I was becoming a writer, and what I wanted to put on the page were the stories of people who looked like me.
Sometimes you do have to laugh to keep from crying. And sometimes the world feels all right and good and kind of like it's becoming nice again around you. And you realize it, and realize how happy you are in it, and you just gotta laugh.
I don't want anyone to walk through the world feeling invisible ever again.
The strength of my mother is something I didn't pay attention to for so long. Here she was, this single mom, who was part of the Great Migration, who was part of a Jim Crow south, who said, 'I'm getting my kids out of here. I'm creating opportunities for these young people by any means necessary.'
I would have written 'Brown Girl Dreaming' if no one had ever wanted to buy it, if it went nowhere but inside a desk drawer that my own children pulled out one day to find a tool for survival, a symbol of how strong we are and how much we've come through.
Books and all forms of writing have always been objects of terror to those who seek to suppress the truth.
What I've found about it is that there are some folks you can talk to until you're blue in the face--they're never going to get it and they're never going to change. But every once in a while, you'll run into someone who is eager to listen, eager to learn, and willing to try new things. Those are the people we need to reach. We have a responsibility as parents, older people, teachers, people in the neighborhood to recognize that.
Not everyone realises that to write a really good piece of journalism is at least as demanding intellectually as the achievement of any scholar.
The main reason people struggle financially is because they have spent years in school but learned nothing about money. The result is that people learn to work for money...but never learn to have money work for them.
Black children need to see their lives reflected in the books they read. If they don't, they won't feel welcome in the world of literature. The lives of African-Americans are rich and diverse, and the books our children read should reflect that.
A democratic society depends upon an informed and educated citizenry.
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