The Other Side is a lyrical examination of race through the eyes of two little girls, one black and one white, who sit on opposite sides of the fence that divides their worlds. When Woodson accepted a prize at the National Book Awards in November 2014, Daniel Handler, the master of ceremonies, made a joke about watermelons. To his surprise, she took him seriously enough to explain that The Other Side deals with this idea of racism through black-and-white comparisons. Here's an excerpt from the book: "Black people are watermelon gazers. They stare at the color black because it reminds them of themselves - dark and mysterious. White people like to do the same thing with blue eyes because they think it's cool. But there's also a kind of cruelty behind these glances. Watermelon gazers are looking at something beautiful but they're also seeing what they want to get away from." Jacqueline Woodson was born on January 4th, 1959 in Montgomery, Alabama. She was raised by her mother after her father died when she was very young. She started writing stories when she was a child and always wanted to be a writer when she grew up. In 1980, she graduated from James Madison University with a degree in English. After college, she moved to New York City where she worked as a clerk until she found a job as a proofreader for a publishing company.