Virginia Hamilton: Five Novels (Loa #348) - (Hardcover)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><b>Rediscover America's most honored writer of children's literature in this deluxe collector's edition of her finest work: five classic novels about African American young people confronting the world and its many challenges</b> <p/>Playing out themes of memory, folklore, and tradition in enthralling, often wildly inventive stories, Virginia Hamilton transformed American children's literature in the 1960s and 70s. Her award-winning novels brought Black characters center stage, creating a multifaceted portrait of African American life that she called "liberation literature." This volume collects five of her best known and most beloved works. <p/>In <b><i>Zeely </i></b>(1967), Geeder Perry and her brother, Toeboy, go to their uncle's farm for the summer and encounter a six-and-a-half-foot-tall Watusi queen and a mysterious night traveler. <p/>In the Edgar Award-winning <b><i>The House of Dies Drear </i></b>(1968), Thomas Small and his family move to a forbidding former waystation on the Underground Railroad--a house whose secrets Thomas must discover before it's too late. <p/>Junior Brown, a three-hundred-pound musical prodigy, plays a silent piano in <b><i>The Planet of Junior Brown </i></b>(1971), while his homeless friend Buddy Clark draws on all his New York City wit to protect Junior's disintegrating mind. <p/>In the National Book Award-winning <b><i>M.C. Higgins, The Great </i></b>(1974), Mayo Cornelius Higgins sits atop a forty-foot pole on the side of Sarah's Mountain and dreams of escape. Poised above his family's home is a massive spoil heap from strip-mining that could come crashing down at any moment. Can he rescue his family <i>and</i> save his own future? Must he choose? <p/>And in <i><b>Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush </b></i>(1982), fifteen-year-old Tree's life revolves around her ailing brother, Dab, until she sees cool, handsome Brother Rush, an enigmatic figure who may hold the key to unlocking her family's troubled past. <p/>This Library of America edition contains twenty beautifully restored illustrations, ten in full color for the first time; a selection of writings in which Hamilton discusses her work; and a newly researched chronology of Hamilton's life and career.<br><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>LOA's "Virginia Hamilton: Five Novels" ($35), a new, overdue celebration of the great '60s-'70s Young Adult author, returns you to middle-school book fairs and Scholastic ordering forms. Though she died in 2002, Hamilton -- the first Black author to get a Newberry Medal for children's books (and first children's book author to land a MacArthur "genius" grant) -- wrote about homeless, slavery, promise and folklore with a tenderness that reached beyond YA. Or, as she put it, the "Black of the Month Club." These are, for lack of a better description, adult books for smart kids. <b>--<i>Chicago Tribune</i></b> <p/>Virginia Hamilton was a master storyteller. Her characters always leap off the page, and her ear for Black voices was pitch perfect. <i>M.C. Higgins, The Great</i> is my personal favorite, but today's young readers will find each of these novels a treasure, both right-on-time and timeless. Is that not the definition of a classic?<b><br>--Nikki Grimes, author of <i>Ordinary Hazards</i> and <i>Bronx Masquerade</i></b><br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Virginia Hamilton </b>(1934-2002) was awarded the Newbery Medal (in 1975, for <i>M.C Higgins, the Great</i>, becoming the first black writer so honored), three Newbery Honors, the National Book Award, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, among many other honors. In 1995 she was the recipient of the American Library Association's Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal for the body of her work; that same year she became the first children's writer to be named a MacArthur Fellow (the Genius grant). Hamilton is also one of only a handful of Americans to win the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal, known as The Little Nobel Prize. <br/><br/><b>Julie K. Rubini </b>is the author of several biographies for young readers, including <i>Virginia Hamilton: America's Storyteller</i>, <i>Missing Millie Benson: The Secret Case of the Nancy Drew Ghostwriter and Journalist</i>, and <i>Eye to Eye: Sports Journalist Christine Brennan</i>. She is the founder of Claire's Day, a children's book festival in honor of her late daughter.
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