From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun [Library Binding]

Jacqueline Woodson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 9, 2009

A fourteen-year-old African-American boy struggles to come to terms with his mother's homosexuality. By the author of I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Woodson's (I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This) perceptively wrought novel imaginatively tackles such weighty issues as racism and sexuality. At age 13, Melanin Sun, an African American boy growing up in Brooklyn with his single mother, sometimes longs for the days when life was as "simple as chocolate cakes and Lego sets." Instead, his feelings grow more complicated after his mother explains that she is gay and in love with Kristin, the white woman whom she has recently invited home. "You're a dyke! A dyke!" he screams at her, enraged. His shock and sense of alienation are quickly exacerbated when the neighbors begin to gossip and he becomes the object of cruel taunts. Through Melanin's voice, Woodson frankly expresses the resentment and confusion of an adolescent desperately struggling to reestablish normalcy. She shatters stereotypes even as she evokes the tenderness of a mother/son relationship. Offering no easy answers, Woodson teaches the reader that love can lead to acceptance of all manner of differences. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-11?Fourteen-year-old Melanin Sun has a lot to say?not out loud, but in notebooks he keeps. Named for his dark skin, he knows about being on the outside of things. "Difference matters," he writes early on. What follows is not the ususal identity crisis, however. His mother, a law student who sometimes acts more like a best friend, tells him she's in love with a woman?a white one, at that. His reaction is negative, strong, and hurtful. Nonetheless, at the end, Melanin seems to have sorted out his feelings?slowly, believably?and recognized in his mother and her lover a vulnerability he feels himself for other reasons. He comes around because of who he is, not because it's the "right" thing to do. Woodson has made Melanin an affecting and memorable, even admirable, character. Once thought "slow" in school because of his reticence, he is in fact a well-read, gifted young man with a talent for writing. The author effectively alternates excerpts from his notebooks?the thoughts intended for his own eyes only?with first-person descriptions of the action. Unfortunately, neither the cover nor the title will draw kids in; the book will need introduction and perhaps booktalking.?Claudia Morrow, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439574154
• ISBN-13: 978-1439574157
• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Jacqueline Woodson's awards include 3 Newbery Honors, a Coretta Scott King Award and 3 Coretta Scott King Honors, 2 National Book Awards, a Margaret A. Edwards Award and an ALAN Award -- both for Lifetime Achievement in YA Literature. She is the author of more than 2 dozen books for children and young adults and lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A good book on a worthy topic, October 13, 2002

By 

Meaghan Good "meggilyweggily" (Venedocia, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From The Notebooks Of Melanin Sun (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF MELANIN SUN, May 2, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: From The Notebooks Of Melanin Sun (Mass Market Paperback)

From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun

By:Jacquuelin Woodson

This book is about a boy. Melanin Sun and his mama have always been a whole family with a special kind of love and care. Soon Melanin is finding out that his mom is shutting doors that were always open.And now?,they have been having problems. Mel has been finding out that his mama is keeping secrets since he was a child. I think that this is a good book because it makes you laugh and cry. This book is interesting because it's in racial times.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars NOTEBOOKS: A RELEVANT, DISCRIMATING YA NOVEL, April 28, 2000

By 

Sherry S. Korthals (Vermillion, SD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From The Notebooks Of Melanin Sun (Mass Market Paperback)

Melanin Sun--a sensitive, thirteen-year-old African American living in Brooklyn, New York--finds himself struggling one summer with the conflicting emotions caused by his mother's revelation that she is a lesbian. In anger, Melanin withdraws from his mother and turns to his notebooks for comfort, journaling about the insecurities, doubts, and confusion generated by his mother's disclosure. Melanin's journal entries reveal a young man endeavoring to come to terms with his own adolescence, fears of peer rejection, and the pain caused by his self-imposed isolation. Through his writing, Melanin experiences profound and positive personal growth. As summer wanes, he is drawn inexorably toward acceptance of his mother's homosexuality. In NOTEBOOKS, Woodson treats a highly emotional issue with acute sensitivity. She provides readers with a painfully realistic view of the complex emotional crisis experienced by an adolescent plunged into turmoil by his mother's homosexuality. Despite the fact that Woodson's characterizations succumb to stereotypes at times, and her plot appears to capitulate to the need for an affirmative resolution, NOTEBOOKS delivers an intelligent and discriminating treatment of the controversial topic of homosexuality. The novel, moreover, proves a welcome addition to the body of adolescent novels treating relevant social issues and concerns. NOTEBOOKS will appeal particularly to adolescents in grades seven through twelve who possess a special interest in the topic of homosexuality. Woodson's sensitive and age-appropriate treatment of the issue, however, makes it accessible reading for all individuals in this age group. Highly recommended for adolescents struggling with conflicting emotions related to parental homosexuality.