I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This

by Jacqueline Woodson

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0142417041
• ISBN13: 9780142417041
• Release Date: November 2010
• Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.6" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Masterpeice of a book!

(...)This is such a masterpiece of a book,the reason I gave it a five was because I can't rate it higher.If I could no number on earth could be 'just right' for it,it will be lesser than what it deserves.Now this is the book that should be heard about on news,unfoutunetly people don't really see the value of it. Marie is an african american girl,she has a pretty nice life,and is acepted by many people at school.Although she might seem like she has the perfect life,she doesn't she hardly knows her mother.This lets her down alot.She has tons of friends and all,but one day a girl name Lena appears which Marie's friends call 'whittrash'since she's whit,and where Marie lives there are not many people who are white.I need to say that Marie was rude to Lena at first.After a while they become great friends which is when Lena tells Marie a horrifing secret.Marie must decide if she is really helping her by keeping it. Lena,however did tell Marie that she was leaving because of this secret,in the end she does,but Marie learns a very valueble lesson,she remembers when she treated Lena bad,and what Lena told her,whci is something unforgettable. Recomended!

Poignant and Eye Opening

Daringly confronting the issues of sexual abuse, death, divorce, pain, racism, and relashionships, this eloquent novel was deeply affecting. It reads easily, holds your attention, and leaves you crying with a new look on the world. I recommend it to all.

I Hadn't meant to tell you this

Jacqueline Woodson has used good taste in confronting the issue of child abuse. She presents two girls from very different backgrounds and bring them together to form a beautiful friendship.Maria and Lena share a common bond of the lost of their mothers. The book is a must read for young adult audiences.

Wow. This is a real eye-opener to the real world!!

I read this book three times in one day. It touched my heart so deeply that I began to feel the pain of losing a parent. I absolutely loved this book. It just shows how judgement of character is not about looks.

A touching book about an often-unspoken problem

I Hadn't Meant To Tell You this is about a friendship between two girls that the world around them thinks shouldn't be friends. But for them, the world around them can almost disappear -- after reading them I remembered only them, not what they wore or did in class. The shocking secret that Lena hadn't meant to tell Marie is that that she is being molested by her father, and the description of how she deals with it, and how difficult it is to break the silence, rings perfectly true to the behavior of many abuse survivors I've known or known of. This is a book to tell those being abused that they are not alone, and give others a chance to see the kind of problem sexual abuse can be.