Miracle's Boys

As I read Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson, I went through an entire gamut of emotions along with the characters. Anger and disbelief when Newcharlie calls Lafayette "Milagro killer" (p. 15); grief and anguish as Lafayette describes the morning he found his mother; comfort when he talks about seeing and feeling her near him; fear that Newcharlie has messed up again and that Lafayette will have to go live with Aunt Cecile; anguish and pride as Ty'ree describes the manner in which their father died; and relief as Newcharlie becomes Charlie again. Very well written, the author invites the reader to feel the emotions of the characters. We feel their pain and connect with them. Though only two days pass, we seem to understand the boys and their lives intimately. The memories are well written and well placed to facilitate this closeness with the characters. These memories also allow us to understand the transformation in Charlie that warrants the change in his name to "Newcharlie." We watch Lafayette seek to understand this change in his brother and the longing that one day he will return to them.

One aspect of this book that was extremely important for me was that both Lafayette and Ty'ree felt responsible for their respective parent's death. They shared a kinship over that guilt. As the book unfolds, you begin to understand why they feel the way they do and how the events of those days have been skewed in their minds to support that reality for them. I love how they begin to unravel those memories and understand that they both did everything they could. I think this is all too often the reality of loss - someone is always to blame or at least it seems that way during grief. We constantly "could have, should have, would have" ourselves until the loss makes sense. Grief is a process we must work through. We are never immediately at peace with a loss; peace takes time.

This book is one of such grief and loss that it was difficult to read. I would be very careful who I recommended this book to (as far as students are concerned). It gives insight into the grief process and reflects the change in entire families when this loss occurs. This book also provides understanding into the effect one person can have on all members of the family (ie. Newcharlie's effect on both his brothers and their lives), but I am not sure that some adolescents would be able to read and appreciate this book for anything more than a "sad story."