Harbor Me

Harbor Me
Jacqueline Woodson
Penguin, August, 2018 176 page
Grades 4-8
Realistic Fiction

Six kids with different learning or emotional needs are put together in a small class where their teacher Ms. Laverne gives them an empty room at the end of the day on Friday to talk privately. Through these Friday sessions friendships are formed and we learn their stories as they share them with each other and record them into Haley's portable machine. These Brooklyn kids are dealing with a lot from the threat of deportation to police brutality, bullying and incarcerated parents. As the year progresses they learn to become a team, accept each other's differences and support each other. Haley, the narrator, slowly reveals her own past as she tapes her classmates and prepares for another upheaval in her life.

Award winning author for young people, Jacqueline Woodson, does it again, creating a timely and well-crafted book reflecting some of the current issues facing today's young people. As always, every word she uses counts and the writing is beautiful and lyrical. There is not much plot in this short tale; it is more of a slice-of-life in the year of these six young people within the context of their Friday afternoon session. All of the characters exhibit growth throughout the book, especially Haley who learns that she will never forget what her incarcerated father did to her family, but she does learn to forgive him. Many books depict bullying, but offer little by way of coping strategies. Woodson suggests banning together to show a united front against bullies and they will leave you alone, that we are stronger together. As the crew of new friends silently walks by the bullies it is a powerful scene showing the strength in groups. Haley and her friends discover new "superpowers rising out of tragedies" and the importance of folks harboring each other. Perfect for school use, readers will be encouraged to serve as safe harbors for their classmates and potentially learn to be more thoughtful and kinder citizens of the world.