Shelly's Book Blog

Feathers, by Jacqueline Woodson, was a Newbery Honor Book in 2008. It's a short novel about a sixth-grade girl named Frannie whose older brother is deaf. The title comes from an Emily Dickinson poem ("Hope is the thing with feathers / that perches in the soul ..."). I liked that this book's theme is based on this beautiful metaphor, and I think Woodson makes the meaning clear through Frannie's gentle, thoughtful narration of the everyday events in her school and home life. This is a story about being different (being deaf, being African-American, being without a father) and some of the different ways kids cope with that. There are certainly plenty of kids who will relate to and appreciate this book, and I liked it a lot.