In Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming, the memoir’s chapters are written in verse.
The book is a memoir in verse, telling Woodson’s childhood through a sequence of poems rather than conventional prose chapters. Its lyrical structure reflects memory, family history, place, and the experience of growing up during the civil rights era.
Woodson describes childhood in both Ohio and South Carolina, including the influence of her family and the changes surrounding African American life in the United States. The verse format allows individual moments to stand as concise, vivid recollections.
Brown Girl Dreaming is sometimes grouped only as a novel because of its narrative continuity, but it is autobiographical. It won the 2014 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.