It is a beautiful story. It addresses issues of racism, interracial marriage, a high school girl's crush..on another girl, a beautiful friendshp all without ever sounding preachy. The writing is crisp, descriptive and succinct.

I loved everything about it. Her selection of words how she put so much thought into such a small book it was wonderful. i couldn't put it down and finished it in 2 days!

VISITING DAY is a book about special day each month for the little girl who narrates this story. It is a day when she gets to dress up, look pretty, ride a bus with her grandmother, eat chicken and other goodies, but most of all she gets to visit her incarcerated father. Told and illustrated from a child's point of view, the story shows how children have unconditional love for their parents, even if a parent has made a mistake.

Jacqueline Woodson has taken a controversial topic and made an extraordinary book. The story does not criticize, but instead shows love, and James Ransome's true to life illustrations adds to the happy feeling and tone of the book. Although this is an excellent book for all children, I highly recommend this book to any child who is forced to deal with having a family member incarcerated.

Reviewed by Latoya Carter-Qawiyy
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Touching, loving, and real.

Told from the point of a little girl whose father is in prison, this is a book more about enduring love than anything else.

Too often, books about difficult times are preachy or too wordy. This one gets straight to the point: I love my dad. I see him when I can. He loves me and we are glad to have family.

Good for children in that situation, good for compassion for others, and also a very readable story.

We have 2 small children & this book is one of their favorites!! The pictures are bright & very eye catching & the story itself keeps you waiting for who will walk up next. My daughters 3rd grade class enjoyed all the characters. It reminds me of my family all the good food & times that we all share when we are together.

This book was just a joy to read to my two young children. The illustrations are so lively and colorful. The characters remind me of my own family. Everyone should read it!

This heartwarming book tells the story of a little girl whose grandfather passed away. The lovely pictures combine with the poetic words to convey the message that our loved ones live on in our memories. What a beautiful book to read to any child, but especially one who has lost a loved one.

"That summer the fence that stretched through our town seemed bigger. We lived in a yellow house on one side of it. White people lived on the other. And Mama said, "Don't climb over that fence when you play." She said it wasn't safe..." Soon our narrator, Clover, sees a little white girl, Annie, hanging on the fence and staring into their yard, day after day. She was always alone. Finally, one day Clover gets close enough to the fence to talk to the little girl. They exchange names, and smiles, and pretty soon the two are sitting together on top of the fence. "My mama says I shouldn't go on the other side," I said. "My mama says the same thing. But she never said nothing about sitting on it." "Neither did mine," I said. That summer me and Annie sat on that fence and watched the whole wide world around us..." Jacqueline Woodson's eloquent and understated prose captures the feel of the old South in the 1950's, before integration, and is both poignant and uplifting. E B Lewis's elegant watercolors complement the text with expressive heartwarming and lifelike illustrations in soft summer tones. Together, word and art paint an engaging portrait of times gone by with a gentle message that won't be lost on young readers. Perfect for youngsters 7-10, or as a read aloud for younger children, The Other Side is a sensitive and evocative story, told with great insight, wisdom, and truth. "Someday somebody's going to come along and knock this old fence down," Annie said. And I nodded. "Yeah," I said. "Someday."

I used this book last semester for both my seventh grade students, and my team of teachers. The teachers loved the story as well as the delicate illustrations. My seventh grade students listened patiently, seeming to wait for every breath of the story. We analyzed the story and the historical period. I love using picture books for middle school students, and I think this book makes an excellent addition to any bookshelf, old or young!

When reading through this book I was throughly impressed with the authour's talented description of the events that were taking place. The pictures protrayed a great image of actions of the girls. This book is for children who are just learning about how segragation used to be. Parents, this is a amazing book to read to your children, when teaaching them about old times. This book clearly gets the point across in an entertaining manner. I definately reccommend this to younger kids.

The descriptions make me want to love this book - the color of each person's skin, the way the mother's hands knead the bread, the thought of having no floor to stand on. These are all wonderful. The gradual development of Toswiah/Evie into her own person is also nice, although I thought she had it pretty much together, even at the start. There isn't much action in this book, and sometimes I felt like the book's plot was over, even before the book had really started. You knew the family had to go into hiding; you knew the mother turned to religion. But the descriptive characteristics of each person carry a lot of the story along. They are worth savoring.

The racism of white police officers is exposed in this excellent novel for young readers. While conservatives will find this book threatening, intellectuals, professors and everyone else with the courage to question the status quo will find this book exciting, exacting, challenging, and wonderfully written.
Superb!

This book I would recomend to any one who ever felt that ever felt that they had to change their identity and if you had a best friend that you had to leave becaus you were forced to move to a new city/town were you knew absolutly nobody.

I Give this book two tumbs up!!!!!!!!!!!

I read about this book in an article. So i decided to check it out. Well i thought the book was so wonderful and enlighting. You got envolved with the characters and there story line. For all you who love tear-jerkers this book has it,but thats not what the book is about. It really opened my mind and made me see things a little different.No matter what race you are it will make u think a little different. The main theme is a girl whos white and jewish and a boy who black. They run with a momnet and end up falling in love. I think everyone will love this book.

Its hard to put it down once you get going. I really enjoyed reading this and i think u will too. It really touched me!

Are you a romantic person? Or perhaps you like love stories? Well if your answers for these questions are yes then you would want to read if you come softly.
This book is about a black guy named Jeremiah and a white girl named Ellie and how they both fall in love at first sight. Everyone that sourrounds them dont agree to their choise of being together. Everyone looks at them wierd because they are not the same skin color, race, and religion. This young couple doesn't care about what other people think about them so they just go on with their relationship. But its not all happiness and joy, at the end of this wonderful book a trajic happens; but if you really want to know about it then you should read tis book.
Between my personal life and the book, there is really not much in common, but I do connect it with the book "Romeo & Juliet." Its very alike because its all basically the same thing except for the fact that they were raised are from families that hate each other and will just kill each other for anything at all.
If I were to rate this book in a scale from 1-5 and 5 being the best ever, I would give it a 5 because the book is incredibly good.

i liked this book a whole lot. all through the book it felt like my life was going to end if anything happened to them. my heart was so tight and when i read the end i all but burned the book. i was extremely attatched to it. but when i thought about it, i had to give woodson two thumbs up for this amazing story. miah and ellie's love was so thick and rich . . and real too. i think it really showed what two people of different races think when they get strange looks from people that see them hand holding on a steet corner. how they feel uncomfortable and yet, how they really just don't care.

For as long as thirteen-year-old Melanin Sun can remember, it's been just him and his mom. His father walked off before he was born. His mother never dated much. Usually after just two or three dates with a man she'd lose interest. Melanin Sun was happy with his life and family situation...until his mom discovered the pretty white lawyer named Kristin.

Melanin Sun was horrified. His mother! His very own mother was a dyke! Did this mean Melanin Sun would grow up gay? Kissing Angie from down the street gave him a rush of butterflies in his stomach, but still. What if his friends found out? He'd be the
laughingstock of his block.

Through diary exerpts and straightforward narrative, Melanin Sun bears his soul to the reader with painful clarity. Angry and confused about sex and love and racial issues, he tried to punish his mother by shutting her out of his life and refusing to even talk to Kristin. When his friends found out, one of them did indeed make fun of his mother and it became clear that they would not be friends anymore. However Melanin Sun's other friend accepted the situation, so things were not as bad as he originally thought.

Over the course of summer, Melanin Sun had to confront many issues he had about racism, sexuality, and tolerance. Shortly before school started he finally began to accept his mother's new lifestyle by accompanying her to the beach with her lover. The winner of the Coretta Scott King award, From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun is a very readable book that treats heavy issues in a gentle way.

I'm a new reader to Jacquelina Wodson and I already praise her.
I've started reading a few of her books but this one I enjoy the
most. It's one of the best books i've ever red. Its about a young boy and his mother who live alone without a father or anything. His farther left and started a new family so the mother and son had to live together with not much money in an appartment. But then he finds out that his mother is a lesbain which is very shocking to him. He has always thought that "dykes" and "fags" ( how he refered to them) were wrong and bad. So in this book he has to learn to except his mother and her girl friend even thou at first he doesnt like it all. This book is really great because not a lot of books are about sexuality. And I think writing about sexuality is very important because I dont think there is a wrong or right way in sexuality like some people do. I think that from reading her books I can speak for Miss Woodson too when I say that people shouldnt be judged as "wrong", "right" or "good" and "bad" when it comes to your sexuality. You cant assume you know everything about a person just becasue of who they love. We all are free to think and feel however we want. And as much as some people disagree with it, no one should have to stop or try and hide how they feel. This is excataly what Jacqueline explains in the notebooks of Melanin Sun and thats why I have gained and whole new respect for her and how open she is and to write books about things like this. So READ THE BOOK, ha ha ha, its the best!

I read this book for my class, Reading and Responding to Children's Literature. I really enjoyed the book, as it is written from a 13 year old boy's point of view. He writes in his 'notebooks'which makes the reader feel as though you are inside his thoughts. The only problem I had with the book was that because I'm in the education program, I don't feel that I could teach the book to children. I think it had some unnecessary parts about the coming of age of a young boy.

I really enjoyed reading this book, but wished Marie would have told someone Lena's secret. I feel that some children who read this book would get the impression that keeping secrets from adults can be a solution to the problem. Lena was sexually abused by her father and Marie kept that secret. Lena is a poor white girl and Marie is a middleclass black girl. These two girls establish a wonderful friendship and share the loss of their mothers. Lena's mother died from breast cancer and Marie's mother left the family two years ago. I feel the author did a nice job with racial relations and reaching children who have lost a parent. However, I would like to have seen her describe deeper feelings and solutions for children who experience sexual abuse. I was hoping for Marie to eventually tell the secret to an adult and Lena realizes that she was a true friend for doing so. In the end Lena finally decides to leave with her younger sister Dion so her father cannot touch either of them ever again. Marie is very upset Lena is leaving and tries to convince her to stay and tell the cops and things could be different. Lena says she cannot and will write her soon. The bond that Marie and Lena established will last forever. This book is rated for 4th grade to junior high level. Due to sexual abuse not be explained in depth, I feel fourth and fifth grade may be too young to understand the book unless the teacher does beforehand.

The book is about a young girl at the age of twelve named Marie has a friend that is in the same grade as her and how their friendship gets them closer together in a mostly an all African American school in Chauncey, Ohio. At the age of four Marie's mother left to be alone and go around the world to make her dreams come true. Every once in a while in the book she would mail Marie and her father a post card with a picture on the back that she drew of where she was at. One day at school in history class a new girl came and the teacher introduced her to the class and her name was Lena. The teacher gave her a seat over by Marie and at lunch they started to talk to each other and became friends.

I like the book because it talks about to kids getting to know each other and how both of them have no mother because something happened to them that changed their lives and once they found each other as friends. It is really sad how one mother died of cancer and one left because she wanted to go to other places in the world and become somebody in the world. If I was a judge of this book and give it a scale from one to ten on how good it was, I would give it a ten because it was really good in a way that it would make someone happy that would be interested in it.

A lonely girl named Lena just moved to Chauncey, Ohio but isn't making any friends. Marie is a black girl who thinks she is very raggedy. Evenetually, the find out that they both have a deep, secret. To find out, read the book!!!

This book is about three boys (Ty'Ree, Charlie and Lafayette.) Their mom and dad both
died. So now Ty'Ree has to take care of Charlie and Lafayette. Charlie is not very good.
He was sent to Rahway, which is like a type of jail for kids. He tried to rob a candy store.
While Charlie was gone his mom died. Charlie is now friends with another mean person.
His name is Aaron. Ty'ree and Charlie are both very nice people. This was a very good
book for people between the ages of eleven and fourteen. This book kept me interested
pretty much throughout the whole book. It was very exciting. I would recommend this
book to anybody who is struggling with family problems, or anything else having to do
with their family. Ty'Ree is very smart. Ty'Ree passed up college to take care of Charlie
and Lafayette. He used to go to the park and launch off rockets with his friends. He was
accepted to MIT. People call him St. Ty'Ree since he is so nice. Lafayette (Laf) is always
very nice. He calls Charlie Newcharlie. This is because after Charlie went to Rahway he
came back mean. Charlie calls him a Milagro killer. This is because their mother's name
was Milagro. Spanish for miracle. When Charlie was in Rahway their mother died. Laf
was the first one to see his mother dead. She died of an insulin attack from her diabetes.
He didn't call for help for awhile. It wouldn't have mattered though because she was
already dead. Charlie still calls him Milagro killer though. Charlie used to like animals
like dogs and cats a lot. Once he tried to save a dog that was hit by a car. Almost everyday
he called the vet to see if it was still alive. Then, one day he called and it was dead. He
felt very sad about that. This book has many flashbacks in it. There is one where Ty'Ree
is having a flashback about his dad's death. He is climbing on a tree while his dad is
reading the newspaper. They are at the park. There isn't very many other people there.
All of a sudden somebody screams. A dog and a woman have fallen into a hole in the icy
lake. Ty'Ree's father jumps up from the bench he was sitting on and runs out to help the
lady and her dog. He grabs a tree branch and holds it out to the woman, but when she
grabs a hold of it, it breaks. His father jumps into the lake, saves the woman and the dog
then, comes out freezing cold. Paramedics are there and his father assures them he is fine.
A couple of days later he died of hypothermia. This was a very good book. I found it quite
exciting. The reason I didn't give it five stars was because it didn't really keep me glued
to my seat waiting for what would happen next. I gave this book four stars.

My book is about a boy named Charlie when he goes to Rahway. Rahway is almost like a jail for children. But when he comes home his brother tells him that their mom and father died. The father died because he tried to save a dog in the ice. So now Ty'ree, their older brother has to take care of them. Their little brother gets in trouble so he needs to go to Rahway. Then their great-aunt Cecile comes up to take them down South. But they don't want to go. I thought the book was exalent. I wouldn't change a thing besides the title. I would do that because the title has nothing to do with the book. so that is my book review.

Miracle's Boys is a beautifully written story about the relationship between three half-black, half-Puerto Rican brothers living in New York City. It's a great book for boys who aren't big readers and anyone who wants a good story. The novel is dialogue driven and told by Lafayette who is twelve and coming to terms with his mother's death (a death he feels responsible for). Charlie who is fifteen has just returned from a juvenile detention center and Ty'ree, at twenty-one, has given up a college scholarship to take care of his brothers. At times sad, often elegant, this novel is ultimately powerful and honest. Woodson's genius lies in her ability to be subtle. There is nothing heavy-handed about Miracle's Boys. It's a beautiful, extremely well-written book. This reader wanted it to go on and on.