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.

“Her literature helps children deal with those issues and realize they are not the only people dealing with them,” she said.

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.

Her speaking engagements with adults are free to the public.

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.

“When I was a kid, I rarely came across images of African Americans on the page,” Woodson said.

She also rarely saw “stories that were relevant to me and the people I knew and loved,” Woodson said in an e-mail interview.

“I had grown tired —and a little bit angry — by the fact that such a small population — too often white and middle to upper-middle class  — was represented in the books that were available to me as a child. …

“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.

So what was relevant to her life and that of her friends and family?

Racism, prejudice, poverty, abuse, classism …

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.

She is gutsy. Honest. Real.

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

“There are so many kids in foster care or living with relatives who are not their moms or dads,” Woodson wrote. “There are all kinds of families in the world and I wanted to write a book about this. What makes a family isn’t about who you live with but how much they love you.”

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 story is based in part on Woodson’s own childhood experiences visiting her Uncle Robert in prison.

“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.

For those bringing Woodson here, the author’s appearance is a coup and an honor, said Burt.

“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.

He hopes Woodson’s presentations will inspire those conversations.

As does Woodson.

“I just hope people have a good time and walk away hungry to walk through the world with their eyes wide open,” she wrote.

“I write because I have questions, not answers. My hope is that other people will walk away asking questions.”

Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.

If you go

What: Community presentations and book signing with Jacqueline Woodson, author of children’s and young adult books.

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 4) at North Star High School, 5801 N. 33rd St.

12:30 p.m. Thursday (Oct. 5) at Southeast Community College, 8800 O St., room G1.

Admission: Free.