Jacquelin Woodson: From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun

Title: From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Stars: 3 1/2 out of 5

Summary: A boy named Melanin finds out that his mother is a lesbian.

I thought that this was an interesting and very controversial book. My favorite part of the book was the excerpts from Melanin’s writing that Woodson would shove in the middle of the story. These excerpts always complimented whatever Melanin was discussing and it gave the reader a more personal connection with Melanin. Because he always talks about his notebooks it was great that we were able to actually read parts of them. I the whole story was centered on Melanin discovering that his mother is a lesbian. While throughout the story Melanin is grappling with how he can possibly accept his mother at the end he learns that it is ok. I thought the ending occurred a bit to fast. I would have like to see more defined acceptance to feel satisfied at the end. I did however love how Woodson stressed Melanin and his mother’s relationship. She really made us feel the connection between the two of them which made the reader feel just as betrayed as Melanin does when she tells him something life changing. I also really enjoyed the amount of time that we feel passing as Melanin is ignoring his mother. It makes us feel so bad for his mother, because we know how much she just wants to share her life with her sun, but at the same time we can see how betrayed Mel feels. At the end of the story Woodson has Mel go to the beach with his mother and Kristin. I couldn’t believe that Mel agreed. Melanin was so adamant on not taking any part in his mother’s activities that I was shocked when he decided to go along. I think this change of heart would be a great topic to discuss with students. They can discuss the emotion and confusion that Mel is feeling during this situation and discuss and analyze what would make him change his mind.

It would defiantly take the right group of students to read this story as a class. I think it would be a great book to have on a list of controversial books that my students could choose from, because I do believe that it is a great story with a great lesson about learning to accept.