FEATHERS- Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson, Jacqueline. (2007). FEATHERS. New York: Puffin Books. ISBN: 978-0-399-23989-2
Woodson’s novel FEATHERS is a story of hope and change. In less than 120 pages Woodson tackles such issues as religion, prejudice, family, friends and disability. It all begins with the arrival of the “new boy” and a line from Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers.” Frannie didn’t understand how her life would change when she wrote those words, but it did in a good way. It was in the quiet moments with her friend Samantha that she questioned her own faith, and then finds hope when she tells Samantha “Maybe Jesus is the hope you were feeling.” Hope grows as Frannie and her brother Sean make dinner while mama rests, and she sees her brother’s strength and hope for the future, not his disability. Hope replaces sadness when mama finds out everything is fine with the baby. Something changed for Frannie that day when the new boy dubbed “Jesus Boy” came into her class from across the highway. Her friendships and family, but most importantly she found the meaning of “Hope is the thing with feathers.”
Woodson weaves many cultural markers throughout the story that connect the reader to the African American culture. She uses language to give the reader a sense of the times. As we read about Frannie we know that she is a young girl in the sixth grade of a school that is “across the highway” with no white students. There are no real clues as to where the school is located, but we know from the reaction of the students that the school is located in an all black community and the highway is what divides the “white side “ from the African American side of town, When the “white boy enters the class with is white or “pale” skin and long hair it causes the class bully to question why he is there and when Trevor gets no response he says” You better learn how to answer a soul brother when they be talking to you, Jesus Boy.” Phrases such as “soul brother”, “jive turkey”, ‘brother man”,” Black Power”, and “Black is Beautiful” are markers of the language used in 1971. The references Frannie made to having her hair in an Afro was popular in the 70’s. She talked about having a “pick with the red, black and green Black Power fist can be traced back to the late 60’s and the very early 1970’s. At that time the Black Power fist was seen as a symbol for hope. Sean speaks about Wilt Chamberlain as he makes NBA history something that would not be recognized with such coverage just a few years earlier. The music of African American musical groups such as the 5th Dimension and the Jackson 5 were heard more often on the radio. I believe Woodson uses the references to organizations, music and people that show the change that is happening in the country and as examples of “hope.” Frannie’s brother Sean makes the comment,” Everything is changing”, but the change is slow as in 1971 it had been several years since the Civil Rights Movement and there are still segregated schools and communities. Woodson’s story shows the change in Frannie as she discovers the words she wrote on her paper on that winter day mean; “Hope is the thing with feathers.” Frannie begins to look forward and see how hope and change can be wonderful.
Reviews & Awards
Book Links (A.L.A.) 07/01/08 Publishers Weekly starred 01/08/07
Horn Book starred 10/01/07 School Library Journal starred 04/01/07
Newbery Medal/Honor 01/01/08 Wilson's Children 10/01/10
Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.) 01/01/08 Wilson's Junior High School 08/01/07
Full-Text Reviews
Booklist (November 15, 2006 (Vol. 103, No. 6))
There's a lot going on in this small, fast-moving novel that introduces big issues--faith, class, color, prejudice, family, disability, and friendship. Woodson tells her story with immediacy and realism through the stirring first-person narrative of a young girl, Frannie, growing up in 1971. The new boy in school is the only white kid in Frannie's sixth-grade class, and she wonders why he doesn't go to the white school across the highway. He's pleased when some of the kids call him Jesus Boy, and Frannie's devout friend, Samantha, thinks he may be the savior. A few of the boys harass him, especially bullying Trevor--who looks white himself. When the new kid turns out to be far from perfect, Frannie wonders: Was he God's child? Aren't we all? In her loving home, filled with light, hope, and laughter, a deaf older brother has always enriched her life, but Frannie realizes that she still has bridges of prejudice to cross. A good choice for discussion.

Horn Book (March/April, 2007)
As sixth-grader Frannie puzzles over the meaning of a line from an Emily Dickinson poem, "Hope is the thing with feathers," lots of questions start coming up. What does the music her deaf brother hears sound like? Why is Mama so tired during the day? How come the new white boy in class named Jesus says he's not white, and could he possibly be the Jesus, as Frannie's friend Samantha thinks? How does it feel to have that kind of faith, anyway? Frannie eventually works out her own answers, finding hope not in Samantha's big miracles but in everyday bits of goodness-the "moments" her teacher tells her to write about. Woodson deftly, even lyrically, weaves some large ideas through her story, set in the 1970s during a snowy winter, but as in much of her work it's those small moments-sitting on Grandma's lap one afternoon watching the sky outside turn gray-that linger so profoundly.

Kirkus Review (February 1, 2007)
One wintry day, a white boy with long curly hair enters Frannie's sixth-grade classroom. "Jesus Boy" is told he's on the "wrong side of the highway," and becomes a catalyst for a shift among friends and enemies in the classroom, all observed from Frannie's point of view. She's also got her eye on things at home: Suddenly her mother is strangely weary, while her older brother, who is deaf, seems impossibly quick to recover when girls attracted to his good looks are turned off by his silence. Frannie's questions about faith, friendship and bridging differences are expressed in a vibrant and accessible narrative set in the early 70s. The theme of "hope" recurs in the description of the Black Power movement, and in Frannie's musings on the Emily Dickinson poem, "Hope is the thing with feathers." Developing this metaphor, Woodson captures perfectly the questions and yearnings of a girl perched on the edge of adolescence, a girl who readers will take into their hearts and be glad to call their friend. (Fiction. 9-13)

School Library Journal (April 1, 2007) Gr 4-7-"Stepped through that door white and softly as the snow," notes sixth-grader Frannie, on the arrival of a pale, long-haired boy to her predominantly black middle school on a winter day in 1971. He is dubbed the Jesus Boy by the class rowdy, and the name seems to suit the newcomer's appearance and calm demeanor. Frannie is confused, not only by declarations that he's NOT white, but that her friend Samantha, daughter of a conservative Baptist minister, also seems to believe that he is Jesus. In light of this and other surprises in her life, Frannie questions her own faith and, most of all, the meaning of the Emily Dickinson poem that she is studying in class, "Hope is a thing with feathers/that perches in the soul/-." How does she maintain hope when her newly pregnant mother has lost three babies already?
Connections:
As a first grade teacher I would not be able to use this book in my classroom, but will be able to recommend this book to the upper grade teachers. After reading FIRST PART LAST by Angela Johnson I found that I was recommending it to not only middle school teachers I knew but to colleagues and friends with teen aged children. FEATHERS is another book I will recommend to colleagues and friends. . It tells a story of a time that really was not that long ago, in a way that I believe will make young adults think about how slow change can happen.
I noticed that Woodson included some excellent questions for discussion at the end of the book to use with older students to begin conversations. Having the students look for connections to the issues that are still relevant today; making connections. Questions for discussion is an excellent resource.