Catch If You Come Softly/Behind You Originated By Jacqueline Woodson Visible In Textbook

no secret that I adore Jacqueline Woodson, These two companion novels are a prime example of why, Woodson has an ability to pack so much into relatively short books, Her writing is effective and to the point, She strips away bullshit and gets right to the heart of her characters and their story,

If You Come Softly and Behind You are no exception, Theyre both beautiful examinations of first love and intense grief while weaving in themes of racism and family dynamics, I tore through both of these in a single evening and was left both heartbroken and hopeful, I got this book free from the library as part of the summer reading program, I enjoy Woodson's writing and have read all of her Newbery Honor books as well as Locomotion which I also enjoyed,

I believe Woodson mentions If You Come Softly in her essay about who could tell her story where she says that she can write about African Americans because she is African American but she call also write about being gay and Jewish because her partner is a Jewish woman.
The book is two companion novels, If You Come Softly tells the story of Jeremiah and Elisha, an African American boy and a Jewish girl who fall in love at school.
It chronicles how they met, their courtship and then trying to explain their interracial relationship to their friends and families, And then it ends extremely abruptly, I had to read the last few chapters several times to try to figure out what had just happened because at first it seemed like a dream sequence.
The second novel is an aftermath of the first book told by all the characters of the first book, each speaking in turn, I found the format interesting but it didn't fill in all the details of what exactly happened at the end of the first book, I could say more but I don't want to spoil the book,

So, even though, I enjoyed the first part of the first book, I really can't give this more than two, I'm kind of glad I got the book for free at least, I loved this book. A quick overview is a Jewish girl named Ellie and a black boy named Jeremiah fall in love, The book goes much deeper than just a multiracial book, but love, Their love throughout the book, and their desire to be with each other despite a huge barrier being in their paths will make any teenage girls heart melt.
I loved the way they confronted each other on the topic of being different, and their answers were so profound that it just made me proud reading the book.
I feel this book is applicable because of the love story, Every little girl wants be loved, desired, and cherished, Jeremiah makes Ellie feel all of these, In return, Ellie makes Jeremiah feel the same,

Pg."Let's say it's rain the people who got problems with us being together let's call them and their problems rain", This is one of the first Jacqueline Woodson books I have absolutely loved, It's haunting and I finished it in one sitting, I woke up at:AM with allergy problems, I took a pill to take care of the symptoms but needed something to read while waiting for it to take effect, I pulled this book out of my TBR pile and began, Two hours later and over an hour after the pill took effect I was still awake and reading,

I want my students to read books like these, It's a twoinone book. I want them to realize that identity issues are across the spectrum of teenagersit's not an issue limited to white teenagers, I'm also fairly tired of "ghetto" teenagers, These books cover average peoplewho just happen to be black/whitewho fall in love and who deal with death,

I want more copies of this book for book clubs, If You Come Softly: Ellie and Miah meet while attending a private school, Their relationship instantly becomes strong, despite the pressure and tension from others because of their interracial status, Told in alternating chapters, the reader is able to understand each of the main characters and the strength of their relationship,

Behind You: After Miah's death in If You Come Softly, everyone in his life is affected, This companion novel shows what each of the people are going through after the tragedy, Each chapter is told from a different person including Miah and the reader is able to see how people are moving on, growing closer, and dealing with life after Miah.


Both stories are very touching and Woodson has a great handle on creating reliable narrators that easily suck you in to their narration, An emotional ride I can't believe I missed this amazing Jacqueline Woodson title and its followup, but there it is, Elisha and Jeremiah 'meet cute' as new students at a fancy prep school and their connection is immediate,

A quiet and soft story with a central issue Ellie is Jewish and Miah is AfricanAmerican until its shattering conclusion, If You Come Softly is not to be missed.
Behind You is a kind of sequel, detailing how everything goes on after the aftermath of the first If You Come Softly/Behind You's ending, YA novel. Teenage love, one Black, one White, Both comfortable. Meet atin their private school, Hidden romance for a time, then not, The end, while not a surprise, is powerful here, Love Woodsons poetry, but this short novel was good, Will say that the conversations between Miah and Ellie did not always ring true to me, but Im noteither, I liked If You Come Softly slightly better than Behind You, but enjoyed reading them both very much, They were quick reads, with engaging characters about whom I cared, It was nice to get the thumbnail updates in Behind You for the characters we met in IYCS, and to meet other characters for the first time.
I appreciate these books particularly on a personal level as my daughter and soninlaw are in a "mixed" marriage, which works most of the time in urban settings, especially in the Bay Area, but which can hit unexpected bumps even here, and can hit bad, dangerous bumps elsewhere.
I love them both very much, and know their love is strong and beautiful, but there is always anxiety, especially when the current occupant of the WH encourages racism and violence.
We are SO not in a postracial world, or a world of equal rights for anyone but white straight males, . . it feels like all the fights are being refought, amp this is not what I wanted for my children, If You Come Softly

I picked this up off a sitelinkLife's Library recommendationand John Green chose well, Good story, good characters, easy to read, Flow came almost immediately and I had it done in one sitting,

But there I was: lightly sobbing at:PM, I didn't read the back of the book, I didn't expect this to be a tragedy,

There was plenty of foreshadowing when Miah's dad warned him about running in white neighborhoods, but this chapter didn't feel out of place in a story already discussing race.


Behind You

"The Lovely Bones" is one of my least favorite books, but as a concept novel it kind of worked.
Here: telling a story where look, he's okay, he's in heaven now! softened the blow in a way that seemed wrong,

Behind You is the kind of story I would tell myself when I was younger and got upset over a character's death, I guess Ellie found some solace, I guess Miah is in heaven, I guess Carlton got more comfortable with his sexuality, I guess the fictional officers went to jailbut none of that fixes Miah being murdered.
.