The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson, Jacqueline, and Earl B. Lewis. The Other Side. New York: Putnam's, 2001. Print.

• ISBN-10: 0399231161
• ISBN-13: 978-0399231162

One summer, a little girl lived on one side of a fence. Her mother told her that she could never climb over that fence when she went out and played, because it wasn't safe. That same summer another little girl would climb up on that same fence and stare out over the other side. Sometimes the first little girl would stare back. The first little girl would keep playing with her friends on her own side of the fence. When the second little girl asked if she could play, too, one of the first little girls' friends said "no". The first little girl would watch the second little girl play in puddles from her window. One day, the little girls meet at the fence. They decide to sit on the fence together. The first little girl doesn't get in trouble. After all, she didn't climb over the fence. She just sat on the fence. What happens when both little girls sit on the fence? Find out for yourself by reading "The Other Side," by Jacqueline Woods.
http://www.xomba.com/childrens_book_review_the_other_side_by_jacqueline_woodson


I thought that this was a very cute book, and a great story of friendship.  It shows how two children broke the lines of segregation.  I think this could be used to show middle school students that just because someone is different from you, or not in your "clique," does not mean that you can't be friends with them.  I would like my classroom to be very open where people don't have to worry about things like that, and I think this book can exemplify that.