56 pages • 1 hour read
Jacqueline WoodsonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
The poem “rivers” in the first section of this memoir refers to the Hocking River, a tributary of the Ohio River. In a more metaphorical way, it also refers to the journeys of Woodson’s family. The poem is in the section of the memoir where Woodson and her family have returned to Ohio from South Carolina, just as the Hocking “circles back, joins up with / the Ohio again” (38). Woodson’s return to Ohio is only temporary, however; her parents will soon separate, and her mother will take Woodson and her older siblings to live in South Carolina.
The image of the Hocking River suggests an ongoing cycle of departure and arrival. It continually splits off from the Ohio River and then returns to it, “as if to say / I’m sorry / […] I’m home again” (38-39). In a similar way, the Woodson family departs from and returns to their home turf, first Ohio and then South Carolina. Once they have moved once more to New York City, South Carolina becomes their old home. The Woodson children continue to spend summers there with their grandparents, however, even while they feel increasingly estranged from the place.
Woodson describes the Ohio River in the poem as “run[ning] north from Virginia until / it’s safely away / from the South” (38).
By Jacqueline Woodson
After Tupac and D Foster
Jacqueline Woodson
Another Brooklyn
Jacqueline Woodson
Before the Ever After
Jacqueline Woodson
Harbor Me
Jacqueline Woodson
Hush
Jacqueline Woodson
If You Come Softly
Jacqueline Woodson
Locomotion
Jacqueline Woodson
Miracle's Boys
Jacqueline Woodson
Red at the Bone
Jacqueline Woodson
The House You Pass on the Way
Jacqueline Woodson
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Common Reads: Freshman Year Reading
View Collection
Coretta Scott King Award
View Collection
Diverse Voices (Middle Grade)
View Collection
Family
View Collection
Fiction with Strong Female Protagonists
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
Juvenile Literature
View Collection
Middle Grade Nonfiction
View Collection
National Book Awards Winners & Finalists
View Collection
Novels & Books in Verse
View Collection