If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson

Ellie's closest relationship is with her sister Anne who lives in California. Though she has three siblings, they are all significantly older than her and live outside of New York. After Ellie's mother abandons the family on two occasions, Ellie loses trust in her, constantly fearing her mother will leave again without notice. Ellie's father is rarely home because of his time consuming job at the hospital, leaving Ellie often home alone with her mother. As an only child, Jeremiah lives in a large house with his often distant mother. She and Jeremiah connect because of their similar feelings of isolation at school, and the loneliness they also experience at home. All of Ellie's older siblings, however, have gone to public school, and Ellie is the first to have the opportunity to attend a prep school. Though her father is a doctor, many of her fellow students go to Percy on scholarship. Though Ellie does not feel out of place at Percy because of her race, she does feel alienated from her new peers because of socio-economic differences. He sees his new school as an opportunity to be himself outside the shadow of his parents lives and mistakes. When he first begins attending Percy, Jeremiah feels self conscious about his parents' fame, and therefore decides to withhold their identity from his peers. He lives primarily with his novelist mother in Brooklyn, but also spends time with his filmmaker father who lives across the street. Jeremiah is an only child whose famous parents divorced when he was young. Having both just transferred to Percy, Ellie and Jeremiah experience similar feelings of dislocation throughout the novel. Though their attraction is unexpected, the teenagers each see something kind, accepting, and familiar in the other.

They are each surprised by how deeply they feel for each other right away, because Ellie is white and Jeremiah is black. While helping her collect her things, the two share an unexpected connection. When the two run into one another in the hall, Jeremiah knocks Ellie's books out of her hands. In If You Come Softly, 15-year-old Elisha Eisen, known as Ellie, meets 15-year-old Jeremiah Roselind, known as Miah, on their first day of sophomore year at Percy Academy. The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Woodson, Jacqueline.

If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson