Finishing Brown Girl Dreaming

I liked Brown Girl Dreaming overall. However, I still prefer the traditional style of writing but the free verse was interesting and easy to follow. The stories she told were intriguing, and at times I could feel like I was really there. Jackie moves around with her siblings for a while until they finally meet their mother in New York. I found Jackie's mother to be an interesting character. I could relate in the fact that she seems strict and some of her rules are too much in the sense that my mom was that way growing up. However, the mother had reasoning for acting the way she did, and she just wanted the best for her children.  Jackie begins to write and writes a story on butterflies. Other people didn't understand how she could write about something so small and something that only lives a short lifespan. But to her, nothing died on paper, on paper butterflies could live forever. I found that thought really interesting because that's not something usually thought about. Her teacher acknowledges the fact that Jackie is a talented writer and mentions it to her. I think that definitely meant a lot for Jackie to her, especially coming from her teacher. I feel like that inspired her to write more. In the beginning of the book I had a hard time seeing the events come together, everything seemed like a separate story. But as I read further into the book, I felt more like I was reading one story and the events began to come together more. As the story goes on, Jackie's grandfather dies. She was close to her grandfather so this was a tragic event for the whole family. I felt bad for them. I feel like this was definitely a turning point for Jackie, and it seems like that was when she really started to realize things.