Jacqueline Woodson is a very daring writer. She likes to tackle all sorts of controversial issues. Common themes throughout her work are gender, African American society and history, economic status, sexual identity and sexual abuse among other things. Her books range from picture to young adult to adult books all with the same purpose of addressing universal questions that surround the reader.
Although many of her books end sadly there is still a feeling of hope. When the characters are dealing with split families, divorce, death, desertion, loneliness, racial conflicts, violence, etc. the reader is left to wonder can this book end happily? But all her characters have such strength. They may not start out that way but with the help of a friend you see them grow. Woodson shows the harsh realities of life and doesn't dance around the truth. She does such an excellent job of portraying her characters, settings and struggles so realistically that as a reader you can see everything going on in your mind's eye.
The topics that Woodson address in her books can be seen as very controversial. She covers all sorts of uncomfortable issues like child abuse. Many do not believe this should be read by school age children but Woodson defends her work by saying that these are the realities of the students' lives. They may not be dealing with these issues themselves but they may know someone else who is. She chose content she experienced and saw around her which is similar to many students. "[I wanted] to write about communities that were familiar to me and people that were familiar to me. I wanted to write about communities of color. I wanted to write about girls. I wanted to write about friendship and all of these things that I felt like were missing in a lot of the books that I read as a child."
Woodson's website
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