Behind You

Behind You is a sad but hopeful ride, fulfilling and so well written that it got a Coretta Scott King Award. What made this book so good was the author, Jacqueline Woodson. Jacqueline Woodson has written so many other great novels. Behind You is about a teenage boy named Jeremiah. Miah was a black teenage boy who got shot by the police in Central Park. The book is about the grievings of his friends, family and loved ones that knew him. Each character in the book explains the way they dealt with their loss and how it changed their lives forever. In this story the writing was unforgettable and it blew me away. This book deals with a lot of stuff teenagers go through, like finding out what your sexuality is, living with parents who are racist but pretend not to be, grieving over someone you loved and finding out where you belong in the world. My favorite part was when Ellie Miah's white girlfriend said these words: "There was no more Miah. No more Miah. No more Miah and me." When I read that part of the book, I got chills all my body. It just warmed me up inside like a little oven. Read this book and maybe you will get chills yourself.

This amazing book was a Coretta Scott King award winner. The book was sad because the police shot a black teenager in the middle of Central Park. The main theme is death and the beautifulness of death. I would recommend this book to any one who likes books with intense sadness. It is one of the best books I have ever read. When you read it you get sucked in on the first page with, "You do not die. Your soul steps out of your body." This line confused me and put me into an "I need to read more" mood. On the last line you start to feel all wobbly and a few spaces later you start shaking up an earthquake. A tear-flavored tsunami finishes it off. Then after you have finished the book you try to forget you read it as an excuse to read it over and over and over until you die!!!!!

Behind You is a winner of the Coretta Scott King award. It is the most head craving and mind thinking book, and it contains a lot of details. Jeremiah was shot by the police, and this boy has been and will stay in his friends and relatives hearts. When you read it, it makes such an impact that if you read the last sentence you'll just fall over and whimper with joy and excitement. Jacqueline Woodson has written so many books that she is like a pouncing tiger that is that is dodging every writer's block that comes in perspective. The greatest moment for me in Behind You is when Jeremiah and Ellie were talking to each other. That was so good it felt like a pair of golden sentences just hit me in the face. So if you want to read something, I'd go for Behind You.

This book was absoulutely amazing to me. I read her first book, "If You Come Softly", not knowing what to expect. She was a new author to me and i was very impressed. I am fourteen years old and as like many other teenagers i don't really like to read, but i really liked these books. The author really has a way of getting you into the book. I truely didn't want to put it down. The story she told seemed so close to her. You could tell that the topic was something that she could really relate to. I felt aas if I was Ellie. As if I was going through the unbarrable pain that she goes through losing the love of her life.

Jeremiah has died from a cop's mistaken bullet. Now, those he has left behind try to figure out how to go on with their lives in this very moving story by Jacqueline Woodson, author of the award-winning LOCOMOTION and HUSH. The 2002 hit by Alice Sebold, THE LOVELY BONES, concerned a young girl watching her family from the afterlife after a violent death. In a similar way BEHIND YOU takes readers into the lives of Jeremiah's mother, father, ex-girlfriend and two friends, along with Jeremiah, as he views life on Earth from the afterlife. Jeremiah ("Miah"), an African-American prep-school star athlete, left a large hole in many lives. Ellie, his Caucasian girlfriend, finds that her pain does not lessen after months. No one else in her school understands this and tells her that she "is such a widow." Nelia, his mother, is finding it hard to get out of bed. Ellie and Miah's father start visiting her to offer and receive comfort. Kennedy is now the big athlete at the prep school and is tired of people comparing him to Miah. Carlton, a longtime neighborhood friend of Miah's, now has no one to share his secrets with and feels utterly alone. In between glimpses of the pain-filled people on earth are wonderful scenes of Miah in the afterlife. He finds his beloved grandmother and tries to learn to let go of the connections he maintains to earth. While sadness is prevalent in this book, hope emerges as Miah's beloved people on Earth find ways to connect to and help each other in surprising ways. Demonstrating her excellent writing skills again, Woodson evokes strong emotion with well-chosen words and characters in BEHIND YOU. --- Reviewed by Amy Alessio