The Dear One »

Jacqueline Woodson has received numerous awards for her middle-grade and young adult books, which include the National Book Award Finalist Hush and the Coretta Scott King Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Miracle's Boys.

Feni is furious when she finds out that her mother has agreed to take a fifteen-year-old pregnant girl into their home until her baby is born. What kind of girl would let herself get into so much trouble? How can Feni live under the same roof with someone like that? Her worst fears are confirmed when Rebecca arrives: she is mean, bossy, and uneducated. Feni decides she will have nothing to do with her. But it's hard not to be curious about a girl so close to her in age who seems so different. . . .

Publishers Weekly

Jacqueline Woodson's The Dear One tells of 12-year-old Feni, who is stunned when her mother brings a pregnant teenage friend to stay with them. On the book's publication in 1991, PW wrote, "Woodson's deep understanding of and concern for the role of black women in society is evident as she eloquently introduces the reader to teenage pregnancy, alternate lifestyles and adoption in her moving, powerful story." Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.