# Is "Brown Girl Dreaming" by Jacqueline Woodson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014) is identified by: First printing carries a number line including 1; Nancy Paulsen Books imprint; memoir-in-verse, brown cloth lettered in gilt. The US Penguin / Nancy Paulsen Books 2014 edition (published August 2014) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing carries a number line including 1
- Nancy Paulsen Books imprint; memoir-in-verse, brown cloth lettered in gilt
- True first jacket has no Coretta Scott King, National Book Award, or Newbery Honor seal
- Publisher imprint reads Nancy Paulsen Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jacqueline Woodson |
| Publisher | Nancy Paulsen Books |
| Year | 2014 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | First printing carries a number line including 1 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First printing carries a number line including 1; Nancy Paulsen Books imprint; memoir-in-verse, brown cloth lettered in gilt. True first jacket has no Coretta Scott King, National Book Award, or Newbery Honor seal.

## Is this the true first?
The US Penguin / Nancy Paulsen Books 2014 edition (published August 2014) is the true first. It won the 2014 National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 2015 Coretta Scott King Author Award, and is a 2015 Newbery Honor book, so the true-first jacket predates those seals.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings add award seals to the jacket; book-club editions are unpriced.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Brown Girl Dreaming* by Jacqueline Woodson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/brown-girl-dreaming
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.