When Lonnie was seven years old, his parents died in a fire. Now he's eleven, and he still misses them terribly. And he misses his little sister, Lili, who was put into a different foster home because not a lot of people want boys-not foster boys that ain't babies. But Lonnie hasn't given up. His foster mother, Miss Edna, is growing on him. She's already raised two sons and she seems to know what makes them tick. And his teacher, Ms. Marcus, is showing him ways to put his jumbled feelings on paper.
Told entirely through Lonnie's poetry, we see his heartbreak over his lost family, his thoughtful perspective on the world around him, and most of all his love for Lili and his determination to one day put at least half of their family back together. Jacqueline Woodson's poignant story of love, loss, and hope is lyrically written and enormously accessible.
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Published: 01/06/2003
Pages: 128
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.57lbs
Size: 8.66h x 5.72w x 0.56d
ISBN: 9780399231155
Audience: Ages 9-12
Accelerated Reader:Reading Level: 4.7
Point Value: 2
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 64368 / Locomotion
Award: Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award - Nominee
Award: Massachusetts Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Virginia Readers Choice Award - Nominee
Award: Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award - Nominee
Award: Nutmeg Book Award - Nominee
Award: Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards - Honor Book
Award: National Book Awards - Finalist
Award: Bluebonnet Awards - Nominee
Award: Coretta Scott King Award - Honor Book
Award: Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award - Nominee
Review Citation(s): Kirkus Review - Children 11/15/2002 pg. 1704
Publishers Weekly 11/25/2002 pg. 68
School Library Journal 01/01/2003 pg. 172
Voice of Youth Advocates 02/01/2003 pg. 484
BookPage 02/01/2003 pg. 21
Horn Book Magazine 03/01/2003 pg. 219
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2003 pg. 294
Qbr the Black Book Review 09/01/2003 pg. 26
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2003 pg. 377 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style
Kirkus Review - Children 12/01/2003 pg. 1405
Multicultural Review 12/01/2003 pg. 95
SLJ's Best Books 12/01/2003 pg. 49
Booklist 02/15/2004 pg. 1073
ALA Best Books Young Adults 03/15/2004 pg. 1284
ALA Notable Children's Books 03/15/2004 pg. 1286
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2003 pg. 377 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style
Booklist 02/15/2003 pg. 1083
School Library Journal 10/01/2004
About the AuthorJacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children's Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People's Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her
New York Times bestselling memoir
Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books
Red at the Bone, a
New York Times bestseller, and
Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award winner
Before the Ever After; New York Times bestsellers
The Day You Begin and
Harbor Me;
The Other Side,
Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book
Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners
Feathers,
Show Way, and
After Tupac and D Foster; and
Miracle's Boys, which received the
LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.