Videos

Woodson reads from her book Peace, Locomotion. The book is written as a series of letters from a brother to his sister, while they are living apart.

Forget writer’s block! Once you free up children to tell their own stories, the words can flow. “Write as much as you want and tell everything and put it all on the page. Then rewrite it …”

Though her family didn’t completely understand her passion for writing, Woodson wrote all the time and had teachers who nurtured her talent.

Woodson doesn’t set out to be “controversial”—she writes what she calls “realistic fiction” that can help young people discover the richness of the real world.

Multicultural books are a powerful way to introduce kids to different kinds of people, even if their own community is not diverse.

Young people are looking for stories that deal with issues that feel familiar and stories that help them figure out who they are in the world.

Jacqueline Woodson tries to bring her readers into the wider world and inspire them to start asking questions like “What would I do in this situation?” 

Sometimes kids aren’t reading because they can’t find themselves in the stories. 

The achievements, courage and stories of her family, way back to her great-great-grandparents, inspire Woodson to bear witness to the African-American experience in the U.S.

Show Way pieces together the history of the Underground Railroad and Woodson’s own ancestors’ experience with slavery in South Carolina.