RED AT THE BONE
15+
W
A novel by Jacqueline Woodson by Darcy Duhra
hen I was researching a book to include in this term’s edition of Scribble, I knew it had to be something special, something that touched on topics that might resonate with others, but also explored injustice from another perspective. The book drew me in because it’s a coming-of-age novel. When reading the book, I experienced a certain immediacy in the writing. It led me to research the Tulsa massacre in 1921 and look at 9/11 through a different lens. From a single moment in time, where the story begins, Jaqueline Woodson offers glimpses at the lives of Melody, her mother (Iris), her father, her grandparents, and even her ancestors - dating back to the Tulsa massacre of 1921, when an entire Black community was wiped from the face of the earth. When I was reading the interviews about Red at the Bone, what was evident in Jaqueline Woodson’s
12
