Author | Renée Watson |
---|---|
Publisher | Bloomsbury USA |
February 14, 2017 | |
Pages | 264 |
Awards | Coretta Scott King author award, Newbery Honor |
ISBN | 978-1-68119-105-8 |
OCLC | 948336456 |
Grades in which Piecing Me Together is Assigned. No educators have yet completed this 'grades used' section of the Literary Text Complexity Qualitative Measures Rubric for Piecing Me Together, where they share what grades this text is assigned. Perhaps you can help. Piecing Me Together is a novel about life as a young African-American in modern-day America. Set in Portland, Oregon, the main character is Jade Butler who attends St. Francis High School on the other side of town, away from her friends and family in predominantly poor, black Northside.
Piecing Me Together is a 2017 children's book by Renée Watson. The first person novel tells the story of Jade, an ambitious African American high school student. The book was well reviewed and won several awards.
Plot[edit]
Jade, who is also the book's narrator, is a sixteen-year-old African American student attending a mostly white private school in Portland, Oregon on a scholarship. Heeding her mother's advice, Jade works to take advantage of every opportunity presented to her. Hoping to be afforded the opportunity to study abroad so she can utilize her fluent Spanish Skills, Jade is instead offered the chance to be paired with a mentor in the Women to Women program by her school's guidance counselor. Paired with Maxine, Jade initially has high hopes for this mentorship, hopes which are dashed when Maxine proves unreliable and Jade begins to wonder if its she or Maxine who is getting more out of the program. Through her art, Jade begins to act on the realization that she needs to make her own opportunities.
Reception and awards[edit]
The book was well reviewed including starred reviews by The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books,[1]Kirkus Reviews, which also named it a best book of 2017,[2] and School Library Journal, which also named it a best book of 2017.[3][4]
The book was recognized by the American Library Association at the 2018 Youth Media Awards. Watson was awarded the Coretta Scott King Author Award; in her acceptance speech Watson thanked the award committee for, 'bring visibility to black characters who are bold and brave, beautiful and brilliant.'[5]Piecing Me Together was also named a Newbery Honor book with the award committee citing its, 'Through artful and poetic language, Watson explores themes of race, class, gender and body image in this dynamic journey.'[6]Bank Street College of Education also recognized the novel with its Josette Frank Award.[7]
References[edit]
- ^Stevenson, D. (2017). Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson (review).Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books 70(8), 384. Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved December 1, 2018, from Project MUSE database.
- ^PIECING ME TOGETHER by Renée Watson | Kirkus Reviews. Kirkus. 2016-11-02. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^Anderson, Kristin (2017-01-12). 'Piecing Me Together by Renée Watson | SLJ Review'. School Library Journal. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^Journal, School Library. 'School Library Journal | Best of 2017'. School Library Journal. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^Watson, Renee (2018-06-28). '2018 CSK Author Award Acceptance by Renée Watson'. The Horn Book. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^'John Newbery Medal | Awards & Grants'. www.ala.org. Archived from the original on 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
- ^'Awards - Bank Street College of Education'. Bank Street College of Education. Retrieved 2018-12-01.
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Piecing_Me_Together&oldid=898796604'
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Piecing Me Together Quotes Showing 1-30 of 31
“I know something happens between the time our mothers and fathers and teachers and mentors send us out into the world telling us, 'The world is yours,' and 'You are beautiful,' and 'You can be anything,' and the time we return to them.
Something happens when people tell me I have a pretty face, ignoring me from the neck down. When I watch the news and see unarmed black men and women shot dead over and over, it's kind of hard to believe this world is mine.
Sometimes it feels like I leave home a whole person, sent off with kisses from Mom, who is hanging her every hope on my future. By the time I get home I feel like my soul has been shattered into a million pieces.
Mom's love repairs me.”
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Something happens when people tell me I have a pretty face, ignoring me from the neck down. When I watch the news and see unarmed black men and women shot dead over and over, it's kind of hard to believe this world is mine.
Sometimes it feels like I leave home a whole person, sent off with kisses from Mom, who is hanging her every hope on my future. By the time I get home I feel like my soul has been shattered into a million pieces.
Mom's love repairs me.”
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“I don't know what's worse. Being mistreated because of the color of your skin, your size, or having to prove that it really happened.”
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“Those girls are not the opposite of me. We are perpendicular. We may be on different paths, yes. But there’s a place where we touch, where we connect and are just the same.”
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“Sometimes I just want to be comfortable in this skin, this body. Want to cock my head back and laugh loud and free, all my teeth showing, and not be told I'm too rowdy, too ghetto. ... Sometimes I just want to let my tongue speak the way it pleases, let it be untamed and not bound by rules.”
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“When I learned the Spanish word for succeed, I thought it was kind of ironic that the word exit is embedded in it. Like the universe was telling me that in order for me to make something of this life, I'd have to leave home, my neighbourhood, my friends.”
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“I wonder if any of these boys ever sit in a room for boys' talk night and discuss how to treat women. Who teaches them how to call out to a girl when she's walking by, minding her own business? Who teaches them that girls are parts—butts, breasts, legs—not whole beings?
I was going to eat at Dairy Queen, but I don't want to sit through the discussion of if I'm a five or not. I eat a few fries before I walk out.
'Hey, hold up. My boy wants to talk to you,' Green Hat says. He follows me, yelling into the dark night.
I keep walking. Don't look back.
'Aw, so it's like that? Forget you then. Don't nobody want your fat ass anyway. Don't know why you up in a Dairy Queen. Needs to be on a diet.' He calls me every derogatory name a girl could ever be called.
I keep walking. Don't look back.”
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I was going to eat at Dairy Queen, but I don't want to sit through the discussion of if I'm a five or not. I eat a few fries before I walk out.
'Hey, hold up. My boy wants to talk to you,' Green Hat says. He follows me, yelling into the dark night.
I keep walking. Don't look back.
'Aw, so it's like that? Forget you then. Don't nobody want your fat ass anyway. Don't know why you up in a Dairy Queen. Needs to be on a diet.' He calls me every derogatory name a girl could ever be called.
I keep walking. Don't look back.”
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“Makes me feel like no matter how dressed up we are, no matter how respectful we are, some people will only see what they want to see.”
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“I write my resolution in black Sharpie marker on top of a background made out of cut-up scriptures, words from newspaper headlines, and numbers from last year's calendar.
Be bold.
Be brave.
Be beautiful.
Be brilliant.
Be (your) best.”
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Be bold.
Be brave.
Be beautiful.
Be brilliant.
Be (your) best.”
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“And this makes me wonder if a black girl’s life is only about being stitched together and coming undone, being stitched together and coming undone. I wonder if there’s ever a way for a girl like me to feel whole. Wonder”
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“when the man with the perfect smile asks, “And what have you learned?” I tell him I’ve learned I don’t have to wait to be given an opportunity, but that I can make an opportunity and use my voice to speak up for what I need and want.”
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“My grandmother called it bearing witness. She'd sit on the porch with her sister and talk the night away. Sometimes gossiping, sometimes praying. I'd hear them confide in each other...it feels good to know someone knows your story, that someone took you in...it's how we heal.”
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“Sometimes it feels like I leave home a whole person, sent off with kisses from Mom, who is hanging her every hope on my future. By the time I get home I feel like my soul has been shattered into a million pieces. Mom’s love repairs me. Whenever”
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“The aroma from Mom’s chopped herbs and sprinkled spices swims through the house. The pots are shaking to a boil; the oven is warming. I get Mom to try a few words. And while I am teaching Mom, she is teaching Maxine what a pinch of that and a dab of this means. While we wait for the food to cook, Mom adds in lessons on love and tells Maxine the remedy to a broken heart. Tells her how to move on. Mom looks at me, says, “You paying attention? You’ll need this one day.”
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“It's kind of not fair for us to feel guilty for getting what we deserve. We work hard....I know so many people who work hard but still don't get the things they deserve, sometimes not even the things they need.”
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“It makes me feel like I'm learning a secret code or something. I don't know. It's powerful....knowing how to read words and knowing when to speak them is the most valuable commodity a person can have.”
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“I don't know how to describe that feeling, just to say that it's kind of like cold, sunny days. Something is discomforting about a sun that gives no heat but keeps shining.”
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“I don’t know what’s worse. Being mistreated because of the color of your skin, your size, or having to prove that it really happened.”
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“I am ripping and cutting. Gluing and pasting. Rearranging reality, redefining, covering, disguising.
Tonight I am taking ugly and making beautiful,”
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Tonight I am taking ugly and making beautiful,”
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“Ever since elementary school, I've been making beauty out of everyday things - candy wrappers, pages of a newspaper, receipts, rip-outs from magazines. I cut and tear, arrange and rearrange, and glue them down, morphing them into something no one else thought they could be. Like me. I'm ordinary too. The only thing fancy about me is my name: Jade. But I am not precious like the gem. There is nothing exquisite about my life. It's mine though, so I'm going to make something out of it. -Jade”
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“There is an old adage that says, 'You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day. You can teach a man to fish and feed him for a life time.'... 'Well, I like what Pedro Noguera had to add. He says, 'Don't stop there.'...'Help her understand why the river is polluted so that she and her friends can organize to get the river clean and make it possible for the entire community to eat too.' - Sabrina”
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“... it's kind of hard to believe this world is mine.
Sometimes it feels like I leave home a whole person, sent off with kisses from Mom, who is hanging her every hope on my future. By the time I get home I feel like my soul has been shattered into a million pieces.”
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Sometimes it feels like I leave home a whole person, sent off with kisses from Mom, who is hanging her every hope on my future. By the time I get home I feel like my soul has been shattered into a million pieces.”
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“I hope one day my family gets to a place where we can be thankful just to be thankful and not because we've compared ourselves to someone who has less than we do. - Jade”
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“They can't read your mind. I mean, I get what you're saying - some of that stuff is a little corny, and a lot of it is offensive. But I don't know; what's the better option? Stay silent, leave the program, and they never have a chance to do better? - Lee Lee”
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“It's kind of not fair for us to feel guilty for getting what we deserver. We work hard....I know so many people who work hard but still don't get the things they deserve, sometimes not even the things they need.”
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“Well, not every family has a computer and, if they do, they might not have the internet.”
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“I wonder who loves her, who is worried about her, who maybe cared so much but had to give up on her.”
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“I have never been able to pick up a shirt, hold it up to my body, and know it can fit. I have to try everything on. Everything.”
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“I'm not saying [she] is perfect, but I am saying that even imperfect people have things to teach you.”
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“Here I am, so focused on learning to speak another language, and I barely use the words I already know.”
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“They look like if you walk up to the paintings and say hello, they will say hi back to you.”
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Quotes By Renée Watson
Quotes By Renée Watson