Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson

First published: 2000

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism

Time of work: Early twenty-first century

Locale: Washington Heights, New York

Principal Characters:

• Lafayette Miguel Bailey, a twelve-year-old boy dealing with the loss of his parents and the return of his brother Charlie
• Charles (Charlie) Javier Bailey, Lafayette’s fifteen-year-old brother, who has returned home, changed, from a few years in a juvenile detention center
• Ty’ree Alfonso Bailey, Lafayette’s twenty-two-year-old brother, who gave up college to take care of his brothers when their mother died
• Milagro Bailey, the deceased mother of Lafayette, Charlie, and Ty’ree
• Aunt Cecile, Lafayette’s grandaunt, who lives in the South and whom Lafayette visits in the summers
• Aaron, Charlie’s friend, who encourages Charlie to join a gang

The Novel

Miracle’s Boys tells the story of Lafayette, Charlie, and Ty’ree Bailey, brothers orphaned by the tragic deaths of their parents. The entire novel takes place over the course of two days, a Friday and Saturday, though it incorporates flashbacks to earlier events as well.

Charlie recently returned home after spending over two years in Rahway Home for Boys, a juvenile detention center. Watching Charlie get ready to leave the apartment with his new friend Aaron, Lafayette laments the changes that have become evident in his brother since he came home. Once, Charlie was the kind of kid who would cry over a wounded dog he saw in the street and who would stay up late telling stories to his younger brother. Now, he rarely even looks at or speaks to Lafayette, and he usually denies feeling anything at all. Charlie seems to prefer spending time with hardened characters such as Aaron and acting tough in the streets. Lafayette has even taken to calling Charlie “Newcharlie,” because his behavior and personality have become so remarkably different.

Charlie and Aaron leave Lafayette alone in the apartment, where he sits watching television until Ty’ree gets home. Through flashbacks, Lafayette shares his life story. Shortly before Lafayette was born, his father died from hypothermia after he rescued a woman and her dog from a frozen lake in Central Park. Three years ago, Charlie robbed a neighborhood candy store at gunpoint and was arrested. He was only twelve at the time, so he was sent to Rahway instead of prison for his crime. While Charlie was gone, about two years ago, their mother died of complications from diabetes. Lafayette was the one who found her that morning, unconscious in her bed. He carries guilt over her death, thinking that he should have been able to get help for her sooner.

Ty’ree returns home from work that Friday to find Charlie gone and Lafayette upset about all that has happened to their family. Ty’ree does the best he can to reassure Lafayette, but both young men become upset talking about the loss of their mother and the situation with Charlie. Later that night, Ty’ree reveals to Lafayette that he had been there in Central Park with their father on the day he died. Lafayette feels a new kinship with his brother upon learning this truth, for they were each present for the death of one of their parents.

That night, Charlie is arrested for riding in a stolen car and participating in a gang initiation. Ty’ree and Lafayette go to the police station in the middle of the night to get him. If Charlie is sent back to Rahway, Ty’ree will lose custody of Lafayette, who will be sent south to live with their grandaunt Cecile. A kind officer releases Charlie, as he was not the one who stole the car. This close call serves as a warning bell for Charlie, whose icy stoicism Lafayette begins to thaw. In the final scene, the three brothers sit together on the stoop, ready to face what may come next, united.

The Characters

Lafayette, the story’s narrator, longs for a life that no longer exists. He wishes for his mother every day, talking to her in his head when he feels troubled. He is slowly coming to terms with her loss, but he still longs for his family to be put back together in any way that it can be. Charlie’s behavior, however, makes Lafayette doubt that things will ever be normal again.

Ty’ree stepped into the caregiver role after the children’s mother died, giving up a scholarship to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he intended to study in the hope of someday working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He still struggles with his sacrifice, although he makes it clear to Lafayette that keeping their family together is his highest priority. Ty’ree’s loving and gentle manner draws Lafayette out of his emotional shell, but Ty’ree’s good intentions merely glance off Charlie, who at first is primed only for confrontation.

Charlie desperately wants to reach out to his brothers, but the years he spent isolated in Rahway have made it difficult for him to communicate honestly or admit his vulnerability. Lafayette refers to summers spent with Aunt Cecile to develop an apt metaphor to describe what happened to Charlie, comparing him to the bitter shell of a watermelon whose sweet, juicy heart has been hollowed out. Despite the apt metaphor, Lafayette cannot truly understand the changes in Charlie. Charlie’s detention-center experience sets him apart from the overachieving Ty’ree and the innocent Lafayette. He views himself as the “screw-up” in the family, a perspective that is sometimes shared by Lafayette and Ty’ree.

Lafayette and Ty’ree fear that Charlie will do something else to put the family in jeopardy, but they do not know how to reach out to Charlie anymore. Though Charlie misplaces blame on Lafayette, Ty’ree believes Charlie’s own guilt is hurting him more. When Lafayette complains about Charlie ignoring him, Ty’ree asks Lafayette if he has ever tried just talking to his brother. Ultimately, Lafayette does just that, finally cracking Charlie’s tough exterior. During the weekend when the story takes place, Lafayette manages to reconnect to his brothers.

Critical Context

“I . . . wanted to write about how hard it is to lose someone you love—in this case, both parents—and how that pain starts shaping itself into other things sometimes like anger and isolation,” says Jacqueline Woodson about Miracle’s Boys. “Most of all, I wanted to write about three brothers who are funny, handsome, searching, and caring of one another.” Miracle’s Boys received critical acclaim upon publication. Publishers Weekly called it “intelligently wrought” and “thought provoking.” Kirkus Review picked up on the brotherhood theme, calling it “a plot without easy answers” that easily engages readers in the lives of its characters. The Horn Book compared the book’s style and mood to S. E. Hinton’s groundbreaking young adult novel The Outsiders (1967). Miracle’s Boys won both the Coretta Scott King Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Bibliography

Bishop, Rudine Simms. Free Within Ourselves: The Development of African American Children’s Literature. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2007. History and analysis of the evolution of African American writing for children and young adults, from the oral culture of slave narratives through contemporary African American young-adult writers, including Jacqueline Woodson.

The Horn Book Magazine. Review of Miracle’s Boys, by Jacqueline Woodson. 76 (March/April, 2000): 203. Argues that the book is stylistically similar to Hinton’s The Outsiders.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Interview by Deborah Taylor. School Library Journal, June 1, 2006. Article and interview featuring Jacqueline Woodson upon her receipt of the Margaret A. Edwards Award honoring lifetime achievement in literature for young adults. Includes discussion of reader reaction to Miracle’s Boys.

Woodson, Jacqueline. “Miracles.” School Library Journal, August 1, 2001. Text of Jacqueline Woodson’s acceptance speech for the Coretta Scott King Award, which she received in 2001 for Miracle’s Boys. Woodson speaks of the many miracles that conspired to bring her to that moment in time.