I Hadnt Meant to Tell You This, Jacqueline Woodson
I Hadnt Meant to Tell You This, Jacqueline Woodson
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I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Narrator: Emma Ladji

Unabridged: 2 hr 19 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/12/2026


Synopsis

Jacqueline Woodson is the 2018-2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

Twelve-year-old Marie is a leader among the popular black girls in Chauncey, Ohio, a prosperous black suburb. She isn't looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. Yet they are drawn to each other because both have lost their mothers. And they know how to keep a secret. For Lena has a secret that is terrifying, and she's desperate to protect herself and her younger sister from their father. Marie must decide whether she can help Lena by keeping her secret...or by telling it.

About The Author

Jacqueline Woodson (www.jacquelinewoodson.com) is the recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2020 MacArthur Fellowship, the 2020 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the 2018 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, and the 2018 Children’s Literature Legacy Award. She was the 2018–2019 National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and in 2015, she was named the Young People’s Poet Laureate by the Poetry Foundation. She received the 2014 National Book Award for her New York Times bestselling memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, which was also a recipient of the Coretta Scott King Award, a Newbery Honor, the NAACP Image Award, and a Sibert Honor. She wrote the adult books Red at the Bone, a New York Times bestseller, and Another Brooklyn, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. Born in Columbus, Ohio, Jacqueline grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York, and graduated from college with a B.A. in English. She is the author of dozens of award-winning books for young adults, middle graders, and children; among her many accolades, she is a four-time Newbery Honor winner, a four-time National Book Award finalist, and a three-time Coretta Scott King Award winner. Her books include Coretta Scott King Award winner Before the Ever After; New York Times bestsellers The Day You Begin and Harbor Me; The Other Side, Each Kindness, Caldecott Honor book Coming On Home Soon; Newbery Honor winners Feathers, Show Way, and After Tupac and D Foster; and Miracle's Boys, which received the LA Times Book Prize and the Coretta Scott King Award. Jacqueline is also a recipient of the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement for her contributions to young adult literature and a two-time winner of the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mariah Roze on December 20, 2015

Twelve-year-old Marie is one of the popular girls in the prosperous black suburb. She is not looking for a friend when Lena Bright, a white girl, appears in school. But the two girls are drawn to each other. You see, both Lena and Marie have lost their mothers. On top of that, Marie soon learns that......more

Goodreads review by Majenta on October 12, 2016

With all the fine reviews of this little jewel, what else is there to say but: "We're all just people here." A beautiful quote, a beautiful theme. There is some very un-beautiful material, but the characters who slog through it are worth getting to know. Thanks for reading.......more

Goodreads review by Octavia on January 07, 2024

Jacqueline Woodson Flows directly into the writing techniques of Imagery and Exposition in the first installment of this series. She authors a Beautiful depiction of that ‘Middle place’ where Marie and Lena for Togetherness. Chauncey, Ohio is the place where young Marie, a black girl, meets Lena who i......more

Goodreads review by Jana on August 18, 2015

3 soft snickerdoodles. Cover Love: No, but I saw there were several editions of this book and many other great covers. Why I Wanted to Read This: My library has a bunch of Jacqueline Woodson books and I keep meaning to read some of them. I saw mention of this one in an article so I went to my shelves r......more

Goodreads review by Teneya on October 16, 2017

maria is the only black girl in 8th grade willing to be friends with this white girl lena. So they become really close and that's when Lena tell maria about the stuff her dad try to do in private.......more