Jacqueline Woodson writes books for children and teens — stories about real-life issues like racism, poverty, foster care, abuse — all through the eyes of her young characters.

“She’s not afraid to tackle the hard subjects that many of our children face — such as incarcerated parents, all forms of abuse,” said Carole Burt, grant administrator at Elliott Elementary School.

Woodson will be in Lincoln on Wednesday and Thursday working with third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students at Elliott Elementary and making several public presentations for adults and college students. Her appearance is a collaborative effort between Lincoln Public Schools, Southeast Community College and Doane College in Crete.

To date, Woodson has 20 books to her credit — several have been translated into other languages including German, French, Spanish, Japanese, Turkish and Mandarin.

She is the recipient of some of literature’s most prestigious honors — including the Caldecott, Newbery, Coretta Scott King, National Book and Parent’s Choice awards and the Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Woodson, 42, will talk about her life as an author and why she writes about the hard stuff — the real life stuff that makes life challenging, painful and a little bit sad. The stuff parents and writers often like to ignore or gloss over.

“I know I wasn’t alone in coming across book after book that did not have who I was on the page. So I feel like I started, from a really young age, writing against this and writing with such a ferocity,” she wrote.

Her novels for middle-school and high-school age teens address teen pregnancy, inter-racial relationships, wealth versus poverty, hiding deep dark secrets and running away.

And gentle — especially in her picture books. Take “Our Gracie Aunt,” the story of a young brother and sister whose mother leaves them.

Her children’s book “Visiting Day” is about a young girl who along with her grandmother boards a bus once a month to visit her incarcerated dad.

“The truth is we are building prisons daily and someone is in them. Most likely the people in these prisons have children,” she wrote.

“Where do those children go to find themselves in literature? How do they grow up not feeling shame? How do we work toward making them able and thoughtful and good people in the world?

“It’s ridiculous that our society wants to silence the children who’ve done no wrong — who are just on their journey to figure out who they can become. … So much in our country exists around fear these days. It’s heartbreaking,” she wrote.

“She broadens all of us. … She can empower everyone in the community and make us aware of the kinds of caring, risk-taking authors that are out there,” Burt said.

Marilyn Johnson Farr, who is coordinating Woodson’s Doane College visit, said the author raises everyone’s notion about social justice.

Because she writes across the ages from children to young adults, my thought is that it emulates how young we really have to start,” Farr said.

And it’s never too early to discuss those issues, said Jose Soto, vice president for affirmative action/equity/diversity at Southeast Community College.

“I am of the mind that we underestimate young people’s ability to process the kinds of information we want to protect them from, whether it’s sex, racism, war … the underbelly of life. It is important to find a way to make sure those conversations happen early. That they happen in a loving way and they are comfortable to have,” Soto said.

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