Hamilton, Virginia Books

In the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good Introduction to World Mythology 4 out of 5 stars.
25 of 25 people found this review helpful.

A previous reviewer said that s/he couldn't understand why this was listed as a children's book. All I can say is that while I would love to think our first grader is a genius, he lets us know when a story is over his head. When it's a little too hard, he'll ask questions. When it's a lot too hard, he'll give up and let his attention wander. He asks questions occasionally with this book, but he'll ask for me to read the next one about half of the time too.

I also enjoyed the stories, and as an adult can get more out of the book than a kid. But one of the great things about a good story is that it's layered and different levels of comprehension can all enjoy it.

The pictures of the deities were not what I expected the deity to look like, but they are beautiful. It may also be worth noting that the versions the myths given here may or may not be "just like" versions you've seen elsewhere. Considering none are offered in their original language, and we've enjoyed these retellings, I don't have a problem with that. But I know some might.

The strongest point of the book in my mind is that it really is World mythology. It's a little skimpy on South America, and a tad strong on Greek and Middle Eastern, but it does have a variety of stories. All the inhabited continents are covered once.
North America: 4
South America: 1
Asia: 5
Africa: 4
Europe: 4 + russia
Oceania (Australia and Islands): 5

Each myth is followed by a short blurb about the people from which it came. At the end of the book there is a list of Useful Sources. I would have prefered the Table of Contents list the origin of the story in some fashion (part of the world, name of the people, etc), but since I now own a copy, I can pencil that in myself. :)

Editorial Review:

A thought-provoking collection of twenty-five stories that reflect the wonder and glory of the origins of the world and humankind. With commentary by the author. “A must for mythology shelves.”--Booklist

The House of Dies Drear

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 103 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

I Remember a Good Book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I'm suprised at some of the reviews and wonder if maybe my memory is simply failing me! I'm 33. I logged on to see about getting this book for my 8 yr. old because this was one of my favorite books as a child. My 5th grade teacher read it to us. She would read to us every day after lunch and this was one of the selections and I LOVED it. I remember it being interesting and exciting. Now I have to wonder if it was just the fact that I love books and this woman was my all time favorite teacher. Maybe the book isn't as good as I remember. I'm going to have to give it a read to see.

Editorial Review:

A huge, old house with secret tunnels, a cantankerous caretaker, and buried treasure is a dream-come-true for 13-year-old Thomas. The fact that it's reputedly haunted only adds to its appeal! As soon as his family moves in, Thomas senses something strange about the Civil War era house, which used to be a critical stop on the Underground Railroad. With the help of his father, he learns about the abolitionists and escaping slaves who kept the Underground Railroad running. While on his own, he explores the hidden passageways in and under the house, piecing clues together in an increasingly dangerous quest for the truth about the past. Newbery medalist Virginia Hamilton creates a heart-pounding adventure with this absorbing classic for older readers. (Ages 9 to 12)

The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales

Virginia Hamilton

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( D ) -> Dillon, Leo

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Virginia Hamilton, Newbery Medal winner and recipient of the National Book Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Award, teams up with two-time Caldecott Medal winners, Leo and Diane Dillon, in this classic collection of American black folktales, winner of the Coretta Scott King Award. By turns droll, grisly, and spine-tingling, the 24 stories celebrate the indomitable human spirit, surviving under the most crushing circumstances of slavery. Traditionally, storytelling has helped people to push through sorrow and pain, especially when the stories are saturated with magic, mysticism, and fantasy. Bruh Rabbit, He Lion, Tar Baby, and other animals populate many of the stories. In others, John, the traditional trickster hero, outwits the slave owner time after time to win his freedom.

Included with this very special edition is a CD featuring the commanding voices of Hamilton and actor James Earl Jones. Eleven selections, including "The Peculiar Such Thing," "John and the Devil's Daughter," "A Wolf and Little Daughter," and "The People Could Fly," bring to life the rhythm and lyrical energy of Hamilton's text. Leo and Diane Dillon's strikingly beautiful black and white illustrations continue to mesmerize and haunt the reader. (All ages) --Emilie Coulter

The People Could Fly: The Picture Book (New York Times Best Illustrated Books (Awards))

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

“THE PEOPLE COULD FLY,” the title story in Virginia Hamilton’s prize-winning American Black folktale collection, is a fantasy tale of the slaves who possessed the ancient magic words that enabled them to literally fly away to freedom. And it is a moving tale of those who did not have the opportunity to “fly” away, who remained slaves with only their imaginations to set them free as they told and retold this tale.

Leo and Diane Dillon have created powerful new illustrations in full color for every page of this picture book presentation of Virginia Hamilton’s most beloved tale. The author’s original historical note as well as her previously unpublished notes are included.

Awards for The People Could Fly collection:

A Coretta Scott King Award

A Booklist Children’s Editors’ Choice

A School Library Journal Best Books of the Year

A Horn Book Fanfare

An ALA Notable Book

An NCTE Teachers’ Choice

A New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of the Year

Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Sweet--Not, Bitter--Yes 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I just finished reading this great book. Why is it great? It would make a wonderful stage play and I'm surprised that no one has done it yet. Hamilton is a master at characterization. The mother and daughter along with their relationship are entirely believable and complicated. Hamilton captured that fine line between love and hate which teens experience with their parents. This book is much better than "Catcher In The Rye!" Buy this book. Read it. You'll be glad you did. And watch out for those fine lookin ghosts hang'n out at da Sevn Levn. See ya dude!

Editorial Review:

Why had he come to her, with his dark secrets from a long-ago past? What was the purpose of their strange, haunting journeys back into her own childhood? Was it to help Dab, her retarded older brother, wracked with mysterious pain who sometimes took more care and love than Tree had to give? Was it for her mother, Vy, who loved them the best she knew how, but wasn't home enough to ease the terrible longing?

Whatever secrets his whispered message held, Tree knew she must follow. She must follow Brother Rush through the magic mirror, and find out the truth. About all of them.

Bluish

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Bluish is unlike any girl 10-year-old Dreenie has ever seen. At school she sits in a wheelchair, her skin so pale it's almost blue. Dreenie, herself new to the New York City magnet school, is fascinated by her, but wary as well. Unaware that the name Bluish could have derogatory connotations ("Blewish," for Black and Jewish), she fixates on the moonlight blue skin tones of this curiously fragile child. Together with Tuli, a bi-racial girl who pretends to be Spanish (often with poignantly comical results), the three carefully forge a bond of friendship, stumbling often as they confront issues of illness, ethnicity, culture, need, and hope.

This novel has an edgy quality that may disconcert some readers until they find the rhythm. Bouncing back and forth between Dreenie's first person journal entries and a third person narrative, the motion is a little unsettling. The overall theme is powerful, however, and Virginia Hamilton's skill in addressing the intense and subtle nuances of female friendships is impressive. No surprise, there; with over 30 books for young readers under her belt, and an armful of honors including the Newbery Medal for M.C. Higgins, the Great, three Newbery Honor Awards, the National Book Award, and many more, Hamilton is a formidable voice in children's literature. (Ages 9 to 12) --Emilie Coulter

Her Stories (Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner)

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A wonderful collection for any girl OR boy 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Here is another fantastic anthology from Virginia Hamilton, the award-winning author of "House of Dies Drear" and "The People Could Fly". This volume, also featuring the wonderful illustrations of Leo & Diane Dillon, is an eye-opener for those only familiar with European folktales.

Hamilton's book is divided into five sections: (1) Her Animal Tales, (2) Her Fairy Tales, (3) Her Supernatural, (4) Her Folkways and Legends, and (5) Her True Tales. Each section contains an average of four stories, accompanied by informative and entertaining background historical data.

Young readers will love the author's prose and the illustrators' beautiful paintings. Older readers and parents will gain a greater appreciation for a culture that has been too long ignored.

These stories are as valid and fanciful as any of their more familiar European counterparts.

The book ends with a list of valuable resources where one can find other examples of African-American folklore.

Editorial Review:

Virginia Hamilton, who previously won a Newbery Medal and a MacArthur Foundation grant, gives us 17 pugnacious and heroic female characters in a collection of tales that demonstrates the breadth of African-American cultural tradition. The characters in Her Stories, which won the 1996 Coretta Scott King Award, are strong, competent, and sometimes bigger than life, like the "coal black and tree tall" Annie Christmas. Drawn from a variety of sources, the tales in Her Stories have been crafted to blend together smoothly while remaining true to their original tone. Text and art are laid against a buff background in a stylish, oversize format, with a heavy binding built to stand up to the repeated use that's sure to come.

Zeely

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not my type. 2 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I would give this book a star rating of two because it's a really boring book. The good points about this book are that Zeely came out better than the others in the town. This book was all about how Zeely was being teased and was talked about because of her color and how tall she was for her age. Zeely's parents both died, so Zeely has moved on to a farm with her uncle. Also Zeely turns out to look like an African American Queen.

Editorial Review:

"We'll spend the whole summer on the farm with Uncle Ross. I ought to make up something special just because we've never ever gone alone like this!" And the first thing Elizabeth does is give herself and her younger brother, John, new names -- Geeder and Toeboy.

The farm is special too, with its pump house, pond, and especially the prize razorback hogs that belong to Nat Tayber and his daughter, Zeely. Zeely Tayber is tall and dignified, unlike anyone else in the small town. Geeder is fascinated. And when she finds a picture of a Watutsi queen who looks like she could be Zeely's twin, Geeder knows she is in the presence of royalty.

Cousins

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

"'Gram?' Cammy leaned closer. Gram Tut's eyes were still closed. 'You're not dead yet, are you?' There was a long moment in which Cammy held her breath. But then, Tut gave a grin; said weakly, 'Fooled ya!' and shot her eyes wide open." Eleven-year-old Cammy and her Gram Tut have a special thing going. In fact, things are pretty good with her beautiful mother, Maylene, and her 16-year-old brother, Andrew, too. But dealing with her cousin Patty Ann is a whole different story. She is pretty--no, gorgeous--smart, spoiled, and she called Gram Tut "about dead." How could Cammy be expected to like her? She wishes Patty Ann would disappear off the face of the earth.

What if you wished something like that and it came true? It happens to Cammy, and it changes everything. As she speculates even before the tragedy, "...a day that was all blue sky could turn over dark and dangerous while she was playing a game with the other campers, or just sitting on a bench. It could happen that fast. Change." Fast-paced, immediate, and true, Cousins is a powerful, dramatic read. Winner of the Newbery Medal for M.C. Higgins, the Great, Virginia Hamilton masterfully brings the agonizing emotions of adolescence to life like few can. (Ages 9 to 12) --Karin Snelson

Time Pieces

Virginia Hamilton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An audiobook coming-of-age story for young people 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Deftly written by the talented author Virginia Hamilton (whose Children's Literature awards include the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Newberry Medal, and the Coretta Scott King Award), Time Pieces: The Book Of Times is an audiobook coming-of-age story for young people. An eleven-year-old African-American girl named Valena lives with her family in rural Ohio; as she deals with daily events, the threat of a tornado, the excitement of going to a circus, and the oppressive pallor of racism, she also listens to her mother's tales of her family's proud history. A remarkable story of the importance of family ties and taking pride in one's heritage, skillfully narrated by Lisa Renee Pitts. 3 CDs, unabridged, tracks every 3 minutes for easy bookmarking.

Editorial Review:

A quietly beautiful coming-of-age story from a master storyteller. Eleven-year-old Valena lives in both the present and the past as she struggles with racism in her daily life and listens to and learns from her mother’s tales of her family's proud history. Moving backward and forward in time, these pieces of Valena's life blend to form an extraordinary portrait of the ties that bind her family together over generations. Virginia Hamilton has deftly woven together moments in one family's history into a seamless and poignant masterpiece.