# Brown Girl Dreaming

**Author:** Jacqueline Woodson
**Lexile:** 990L
**Grade range:** Grades 5–8
**Age range:** 10–14
**First published:** 2014
**Page count:** 352
**Genre:** Memoir / Verse
**ISBN-13:** `9780147515827`
**ISBN-10:** `0147515823`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/brown-girl-dreaming
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

Jacqueline Woodson's National Book Award-winning memoir in verse tells the story of her childhood growing up in South Carolina and New York in the 1960s and 70s. A Newbery Honor book and frequently assigned in 5th-8th grade units on identity, memoir, and civil rights-era America.

## Themes

- identity
- family
- civil rights
- writing
- memoir

## Content notes

- racial segregation

Common Sense Media age recommendation: 10+

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: CCSS ELA grades 4-5 verse-memoir Newbery Honor](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · South Carolina — [source: SC ELA grade 5 — SC-set memoir alignment](https://ed.sc.gov/)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: CCSS ELA grades 6-8 civil rights memoir exemplar](https://achievethecore.org/page/2699)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · New York — [source: NY Next Gen Standards grade 6 — Brooklyn-set memoir](https://www.nysed.gov/)

### Coretta Scott King Author Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2015 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2015 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2015 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2015 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2015 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)

### Great Stone Face Book Award

- **recommended** · 5th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · New Hampshire — [source: Children's Librarians of New Hampshire / NH Library Association — Great Stone Face Book Award (student-choice, grades 4-6; 20 nominees/year, annual since 1980). Winner + nominee rolls via the LibraryThing award/757 mirror of the official sponsor records.](https://www.librarything.com/award/757/Great-Stone-Face-Book-Award)

### National Book Award for Young People's Literature

- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners (National Book Foundation), via Wikipedia — 2014 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award_for_Young_People%27s_Literature)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners (National Book Foundation), via Wikipedia — 2014 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award_for_Young_People%27s_Literature)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners (National Book Foundation), via Wikipedia — 2014 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award_for_Young_People%27s_Literature)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: National Book Award for Young People's Literature winners (National Book Foundation), via Wikipedia — 2014 winner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award_for_Young_People%27s_Literature)

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