Woodson, Jacqueline. (2004). The Dear One. New York: Penguin Group. 144 pp.

Grade Range: 10-12

Genre: contemporary fiction

Summary and Critique

In this poignant tale, Jacqueline Woodson tells the story of Feni, her family, and a young girl named Rebecca. The story begins on Feni's 12^th birthday in Seton, a small town in Pennslyvania. Feni awakens to the sound of her mother's voice as she talks on the phone to her old college friend Clair. Clair asks Catherine, Feni's mother to take in her 15 year old daughter Rebecca. Rebecca is entering the third trimester of her pregnancy and comes to stay until the baby arrives. In the beginning Feni is outraged at the thought of sharing her house and her bedroom with a girl who is pregnant. Initially Feni and Rebecca have an extreme dislike for each other. Feni finds Rebecca rude, intrusive, and ignorant and Rebecca finds Feni cold, jealous, and mean. Through conversations, family interaction and daily experience the girls'dislike grows into a beautiful and strong friendship that mirrors their mothers'friendship.

With engaging easy flowing text, the story illustrates the complexity of family interaction and the structure of friendship. This book will strike a chord with girls, but boys will have a hard time relating to it. The book also addresses some controversial issues such as teen pregnancy, premarital sex, and homosexuality.

Awards

The Coretta Scott King Award

Themes/Topics

Families

Friends & Enemies

Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Challenges and Triumphs

Love, Sex, and Romance

Author/Illustrator/Editor Information

Jacqueline Woodson was born in Columbus, Ohio, but she grew up in Greenville, South Carolina and Brooklyn, New York. As a young child she wanted to be a teacher, lawyer or a hairdresser. However, she loved writing and telling stories more than anything else. She called her storytelling lying. It was in fifth grade that she discovered that writing down her lies brought her respect and prizes instead of consequences from lying. She graduated from college with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She spent time as a drama therapist for troubled Teens in New York. She now writes full time and resides in Brooklyn, New York.

For more information on Jacqueline Woodson:

http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/index.html This website is maintained by Ms. Woodson herself. It is written in first person and is directed to the site visitor. It includes her biography, titles she's written, frequently asked questions, and how to contact her.

Media Connections

Movies/Documentaries

The Color Purple (1985) This excellent film is based on the book by Alice Walker. It follows the life of Celie a poor African American girl who moves from an abusive home with her stepfather to an abusive home with her husband Albert. The story is one of triumph over challenge as Celie struggles to overcome the abandonment she feels when her stepfather forces her to give up her two children for adoption and her sister is forced to leave her because of Albert. Despite these traumatic events Celie prevails by making powerful friendships with other characters until she is reunited with her children and her sister.

Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) This film tells the story of the friendships of four women. The friendship between Evelyn and Mrs. Threadgoode is set in the present day. This friendship flourishes through the stories Mrs. Threadgoode tells of the friendship between Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison.

Steel Magnolias (1989) This movie gives excellent portrayal of friendship between women. It is also gives an excellent picture of family dynamics and interaction as it tells the story of Shelby and her life as seen by her mother and her mothers three friends.

Beaches (1988) This movie chronicles the life-long friendship of CC Bloom and Hilary Whitney. It follows the girls as they grow into women through their celebrations, conflicts, and tragedies.

Where the Heart Is (2000) Nova Lee Nation is a young pregnant woman who is abandoned by her deadbeat boyfriend at a Wal-Mart in Oklahoma. So begins this touching story of a strong young woman who builds an eclectic family in a small town for her new daughter.

My Girl 2 (1994) In this sequel to the movie My Girl Vada travels to California in search of information about her mother and in turn about herself. Through her journey she learns about family, friendships, and what it means to belong.

Television

Reba – any episode (family relationships)

The Gilmore Girls – any episode (family relationships)

Music

"Reason to Believe." Lyrics by Kelly Willis. Easy. 2002. (a song written by Kelly in celebration of the birth of her son)

Online Resources

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/lessons/ This website is a huge resource for lesson plans in a large variety of subjects. It is organized in an easy to use way so that teachers can search for lessons based on topic. It was developed by The New York Times in partnership with the Bank Street College of Education in New York.

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/index.htm This is an incredible site with a wealth of resources for teachers. It includes lesson plans, thematic units and seasonal resources. The most unique thing about this site is it has a calendar of events for each month that notes the important events for each day. You can click on an event and it will link you to a website that correlates with the event.

http://www.adoptionsbygladney.com/html/pregnant/index.htm This is the website for The Gladney Center. A center devoted to helping pregnant Teens and an advocate for adoption. It is a good site for learning more about the intricacies of adoption.

http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/ This is the official site for Al-Anon and Alateen. It is designed to support the friends and family of alcoholics. It is also a great resource for learning more about alcoholism and how it effects family members and friends.

http://www.babynamesworld.com/ This is a great site for researching a name, its origin and its meaning.

Related Texts

McWilliams, Kelly. (2004). Doormat. New York: Random House Children's Books. 144pp. This is the fictional story of fourteen year old Jaime. As she becomes involved in high school her life is changed when her best friend becomes pregnant.

Bauer, Joan. (1998). Rules of the Road. New York: Penguin Group. 208pp. This is the story of Jenna Boller. Jenna's life has never been completely serene. She has an alcoholic father and a grandmother with Alzheimer's. To get away from it all Jenna agrees to be Mrs. Gladstone's driver. Mrs. Gladstone is the CEO of the shoe store that Jenna works at and she needs someone to drive her from Chicago to Dallas. It is a meaningful trip that changes Jenna and Mrs. Gladstone.

Hearn, Julie. (2005). The Minister's Daughter. New York: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing. 272pp. This book is set in the 17^th century. It is the story of a minister's daughters who accuse a woman and her granddaughter of using witchcraft to conceal an unwanted pregnancy.

Halls Johnson, Lissa. (1984). Just Like Ice Cream. London: Starfire. 176pp. When sixteen year old Julie finds herself pregnant she turns to a friend to help her decide the future of her baby.

Heath, Mary and Shaughn Leach (Eds.). (2000). An Endless Afternoon: An Anthology of Poetry, Stores, and Images. Australia: Lioness Publications. 180pp. This is a collection of poems and stories that focuses on motherhood and family.

Patterson, Katherine. (1973). The Sign of the Chrysanthemum. New York: Harper Trophy. 128pp. Set in 12^th century Japan this is the story of Muna the orphan as he travels to the capital in search of his father and a name.

Kingsolver, Barbara. (1988). The Bean Trees. New York: Harper Perennial. 232pp. This is the story of spunky Taylor Greer. She wants more than anything to get out of her hometown and make something of her life so she leaves Kentucky in an old car. On her way to Tuscon, Arizona takes in a three-year old American Indian whom she names Turtle. This book is written for adults, but its style and significant family issues make it applicable for using with this unit.

Teaching Ideas

(1) "What's In a Name?" An important part of the story centers around Feni's name and the meaning behind it. Ask the students to research their names and the meaning behind them. Have them look for the country of origin for the name, it's actual meaning, and any other interesting fact about their name. Then ask them to interview the person who gave them their name for the story or the reason behind it. A written account of their findings completes this investigation.

(2) "On the Day You Were Born…" Have students talk to and interview people who were involved with, present for, or remember their birth. Have them research important world events that happened on that day. They should look for important cultural trends that were present that day like prices of food, popular movies and music, fashion trends, etc. Also ask the students to collect memorabilia important to their birthday.

Once everything is collected have the students create a scrapbook chronicling the events that occurred on their birthday. The book should not be a specified length, but should be organized into 3-4 sections: 1) Family Stories – This section should include information obtained from interviews with family and friends. 2) World Events – This section should include information such as who was President, important national and world events, etc. 3) Cultural Trends – This section should include information such as prices, movies, music, fashion, icons, etc. 4) Interesting Facts – This section is optional and is merely a place for the student to include any other findings that don't fit into the previous sections.

(3)"Friendly Advice" Ask the students to think about important characteristics and qualities in a good friend. Have the students write down the good and bad characteristics/qualities. Then ask them if they know someone who embodies these qualities. Tell them to write a description of this person and why they are a good friend. Ask them to include a poignant story of an event or experience that symbolizes their friendship.

(review written by Lesley Fields)