Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson, Jacqueline. Locomotion. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2003. ISBN: 0-399-23115-3

SUMMARY

Lonnie had the perfect life: a loving mother and father, a sweet baby sister who looked up to him, and a home filled with warmth and love. Tragedy struck down his happiness the fateful night his parents died in a house fire. Both he and his sister who were not home that night find themselves separated by the foster care system. Lonnie hides his feelings from his foster-mother, Miss Edna, as the years pass. Four years after the tragedy, he enters fifth grade. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, encourages him and his classmates to write in their poetry journals. Through his poetry, Lonnie shares his sadness, his joys, and his hopes that someday he and his younger sister will be together once again.

ANALYSIS

Jacqueline Woodson’s verse novel, Locomotion, reveals the story of a young boy, Lonnie, whose world falls apart after a house fire takes his family from him. His parents both die in the fire, leaving him and his sister orphaned and in the foster system. Eventually, the system places them in different homes. While Lili is adopted by a woman who "...didn’t want no boys,” Lonnie finds himself in a foster home with Ms. Edna, a good-hearted woman who raised two sons, now grown up men. Lonnie keeps his feelings within himself for four years until he enters fifth grade. His teacher, Ms. Marcus, has her students write poems in a journal. Lonnie is finally able to release his feelings through poetry, and through the writing begins to find peace.

As Woodson’s words weave Lonnie’s pensive emotions with rhythmic cultural language in the poetry, the image of a sensitive young African American child emerges as Lonnie’s warm memories of his family fill the pages. When he thinks of his sister Lili, he writes, “And sometimes I combed Lili’s hair / braids mostly but sometimes a ponytail. / Lili would cry sometimes / the kind of crying where no tears came out. / Big faker. / I wouldn’t’ve hurt her head for a million dollars.” Lonnie looks forward to his Saturday visits with Lili, and while he is with her, his life feels brighter.  Sometimes his emotions after the visits become frustrated, as he reveals in his poem, “Just Nothing Poem.” “I want to yell today: / Get real mad at somebody. / I want to punch something. Hard. / Maybe punch somebody.” Lonnie never does hit anyone, but he does keep the promise he made to his sister that he will look for God so that someday they can be together again.

Memories of his mother sometimes move him to go to a drugstore to smell the honeysuckle talc powder she used “…when the missing gets real bad.” However, in this poem which he simply titles “Mama,” the reality of being a young African American child in a store resounds when he writes, “… and before the guard starts / following me around like I’m gonna steal something / I go to the cosmetics lady and ask her if she has it.”

Lonnie’s observations of the world and people around him show a mature wisdom, even though he is so young. In an epistle poem called “Commercial Break,” Lonnie writes about a white couple eating dinner in a commercial on television. He comments, “Now, Ms. Marcus wants to know why I wrote that the lady is white and I say because it’s true. And Ms. Marcus says Lonnie what does race have to do with it, forgetting that she asked us to use lots of details when we wrote…Maybe it’s that if you’re white you can’t see all the whiteness around you.”

As the story continues, the reader can see Lonnie searches for the positive no matter how hard things may seem. His thoughtful observations and steadfast goodness help him to let go of the pain so that he can accept the newfound love in his life.

AWARDS/REVIEWS

ALA Notable Children’s Books, 2004

Coretta Scott King Author Honor, 2004

Horn Book starred, March 2003

Kirkus Reviews starred, November 2002

"Count on award-winning Woodson...to present readers with a moving, lyrical, and completely convincing novel in verse." Kirkus Reviews starred, Fall 2003

"In a masterful use of voice, Woodson allows Lonnie's poems to tell a complex story of loss and grief and to create a gritty, urban environment." School Library Journal, January 1, 2003

CONNECTIONS

Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson ( a sequel to Locomotion)

Lesson Plan Ideas:

http://www.octc.org/pdf/guides/locomotion_rg.pdf

Locomotion is told from Lonnie’s perspective. Have your students write poems or letters from Lili’s perspective. How did she feel when she first went to her foster home? What changes are happening to her and how does she feel about them?

PERSONAL RESPONSE

I enjoyed reading Locomotion. Lonnie’s kind heart, his love for his little sister, and his determination to stand by his promise to Lili gained my respect. I admire his frank observations about the tendencies of people to assume he may be up to no good because he is an African American teenager, as well as his observation that perhaps whites are not aware of all the “whiteness around (them).” Woodson has written a thought provoking book, without a doubt.

Locomotion. Cover illustration. Internet on-line.  September 15, 2013 from http://www.flr.follett.com/cover?FLR=09302N0&SID=b280253d608c8322604104d465364637&type=cover