Feathers

For my second Newbery selection, I chose the 2008 Honor Book Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson. This book is about a young girl named Frannie.

Frannie has dealt with her fair share of grief and heartache in her short lifetime, with her brother being deaf and her mother losing a child and having several miscarriages. She becomes obsessed with an Emily Dickinson poem that contains the message “Hope is the thing with feathers” and wonders about its meaning. When a new boy (nicknamed Jesus) comes to their all black school, she learns a lot by watching his interactions with the other kids and eventually begins to make sense of the poem’s words and finds hope in her own life.

I really wanted to like this book. The message is good but it just didn’t hold my interest like I had hoped it would. I did like how Frannie went from a vulnerable, confused girl to a confident young lady. Even though she had dealt with a lot of obstacles in her short life, she eventually found peace with her situation.

This book has a very honest tone, which is refreshing. I believe it would speak to students who have dealt with prejudice, loss, or other family problems. It would also be a good book for discussion with a class.