If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson

Woodson, J.  (1998).  If You Come Softly.  New York:  Puffin Books.  181 pages.

From the first time that Miah and Ellie see each other and meet, they know that there is something special between them.  Will their love for each other be enough?

Miah and Ellie both unwillingly atten Percy Academy, a private high school, which is where they meet.  Miah is African American, and Ellie is Jewish and Caucasian.  To them, nothing can come between them or tear them apart.  Their love for each other will keep them together.  But society doesn't see how much they love each other.  People see only that he's black and she's white, and in the public's eye, they should not be together, but that does not stop them from being a loving couple.  Miah introduces Ellie to his mom, and she accepts her and them as a couple.  Ellie is hesitant to introduce Miah to her parents, but eventually decides that she truly loves him and nothing that they do or say can come between them, but something senseless and terrible happens that gets in the way of their love and them being together.

The title of the book refers to a poem by Audre Lorde
If you come softly
as the wind within the trees
you may hear what I hear
see what sorrow sees.

It took me a while to realize what had happened that ruined Miah's and Ellie's chances of being together, and I'm still not quite sure how and when Miah was shot by a police officer, but it was sad because they seemed to truly love each other and were there for each other when people around them didn't think they should be together.  When I found out (from help from a classmate) what happened to Miah, I quickly reread that part of the book to look for clues as to how I could have missed it, and I think it's  not explicitly stated, but it's there, and it made me sad.  I thought it would be their families that would try to keep them apart, but Miah's mom was warm and accepting of their relationship.  I think Ellie's family might have given them a hard time at first, but eventually they would have accepted them as a couple.  It's just too bad that it wasn't possible, and it was all just because of something senseless.  It made me wonder how Ellie and the people who loved Miah coped, and I will read Behind You to find out!

This book was on the Best Books for Young Adults Top Ten List.  To find out about Jacqueline Woodson and see titles of other books she's written visit her website at http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/.  Other books she's written include Behind You (the sequel to If You Come Softly), From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun (which won the Coretta Scott King Award) and Last Summer with Maizon (which has Maizon at Blue Hill and Between Madison and Palmetto as companions).