Another Brooklyn
Another Brooklyn is a 2016 adult fiction novel by Jacqueline Woodson, published by Amistad Press in the United States. The 192-page book focuses on memory, loss, and friendship.
The story follows August, now an adult anthropologist, who returns to New York to bury her father. On the subway, she runs into an old friend and begins to revisit her past. When she was eight, after her mother’s death, she moves with her father and younger brother from Tennessee to Brooklyn. The narrative then tracks her teenage years and her close friendships with three other Brooklyn girls—Sylvia, Angela, and Gigi—as they wander their neighborhoods, dream about the future, and confront dangers and family tensions.
The novel received wide critical attention. NPR described it as a book “full of dreams and danger,” and it was nominated for the National Book Award for Fiction in 2016.
Critics highlighted its themes and structure: The Washington Post called it a short but complex story born from grief; Publishers Weekly called it a vivid mural of growing up Black in 1970s Brooklyn; NBC News noted its exploration of death, friendship, Black migrations, displacement, and family. The New York Times suggested the work focuses less on girlhood than on the lingering memory of what is remembered. The Boston Globe praised it as a lyrical exploration of loss, girlhood, and home. USA Today gave it 3 out of 4 stars, and the Los Angeles Times connected it to works about female friendships and family, noting Woodson’s skill in portraying children’s lives and the power of memory, death, and friendship.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 21:13 (CET).