The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson is a story about Staggerlee, a biracial teenager living in the mostly black town of Sweet Gum. She is struggling with her identity and is trying to figure out who she is.
In addition to being a high school literacy coach and teacher, I also teach Psycholinguistics for Reading Teachers K-12 at a local university. I have my students read this novel each semester. We talk about how to address race and sexuality appropriately in the classroom.
Listen to me read an excerpt from the novel in the video below.