Skip to Main Content (Press Enter)
When Winter Robeson Came by Brenda Woods
Paperback $8.99
Jan 10, 2023 | ISBN 9781524741600

Also available from:

See All Formats (3) +
  • Jan 10, 2023 | ISBN 9781524741600 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

    Also available from:

  • Jan 11, 2022 | ISBN 9781524741587 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

    Buy from Other Retailers:

  • Jan 11, 2022 | ISBN 9781524741594 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

    Buy from Other Retailers:

  • Jan 11, 2022 | ISBN 9780593503577 | Middle Grade (10 and up)

    138 Minutes

    Buy from Other Retailers:

Buy the Audiobook Download:

Listen to a sample from When Winter Robeson Came

Product Details

Praise

★ “Author Brenda Woods offers this heartfelt piece of historical fiction as she recalls witnessing the Watts Rebellion in 1965. Eden is an aspiring songwriter, and the book cleverly uses music terminology to convey Eden’s and Winter’s shifting emotions during the six days of unrest and to mark the pacing of the plot. The free verse makes some of the more complex themes accessible, and this could easily spark a thoughtful discussion on how a history of Jim Crow laws, police brutality, and housing inequality plays into current social unrest.”
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review

“A highly relatable and at times poetic piece of writing and American history with a fresh depiction of lower- to upper-middle-class Black life in midcentury Los Angeles.”
New York Times Book Review

“A heartfelt exploration of the 1965 Watts Rebellion as seen through the eyes of a remarkable girl.”
—Jacqueline Woodson, National Book Award-winning author of Brown Girl Dreaming

Woods has framed this story lyrically, using musical movements and terminology to move the exposition along believably through Eden, who hopes to be a songstress. Readers will find themselves immersed in the time period with naturally included details, including musicians, authors, and places. This slim yet affecting offering presents an important moment in U.S. history that sadly mirrors current events. Middle-graders will be entertained and educated, as well as inspired to action.”
Booklist
 
“Woods explores the Watts riots of August 1965 through the experience of two Black cousins in a rhythmic historical novel in verse. . . . Interwoven with plentiful music references (“Winter and I became a duo; our ballad, a duet”) and utilizing historically accurate language, Woods’s harmonious play-by-play narrative of growing up during the Watts Riots spotlights some long-lasting effects of racial inequality and discrimination on children.”
Publishers Weekly

“Eden plans to be a songwriter, and the text frequently achieves lines Eden herself would relish. . . . Neighborhood, family, friends, music, social justice, and dreams—themes that Eden begins to weave into songs by story’s end. This is a layered story, told from the heart and rooted in the Woods’s own experiences in 1965 Watts, as related in the author’s note.”
Horn Book

Looking for More Great Reads?
21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
Get the latest updates about Brenda Woods
And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
And go from well-read to best read with book recs, deals and more in your inbox every week.
By clicking SIGN UP, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Dismiss
Thanks!
Something awesome is on its way.
Back to Top