M.C. Higgins, the Great

Name: M.C. Higgins, the Great
Brand: Recorded Books
Availability: InStock
Author: Virginia Hamilton
ISBN: 9781470355050

Author: Virginia Hamilton

Narrator: Roscoe Lee Browne

Unabridged: 8 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 02/01/2013

Categories: Children's Fiction, Children's Humor, African American & Black Stories, Children's Social Themes

Synopsis

Hamilton’s classic coming-of-age tale: The National Book Award– and Newbery Award–winning novel about a young man who must choose between supporting his tight-knit family and pursuing his own dreams Mayo Cornelius Higgins perches on top of a homemade forty-foot tower, considering two destinies. Behind him is his family’s beloved house at the foot of a mountain that strip mining has reduced to loose rubble. In front of him, the beautiful Ohio River Valley and the great world beyond. As M.C. weighs whether to stay with the family and home he loves or set off into the world on his own, there appear on the horizon two strangers who will make his decision all the more difficult.

About Virginia Hamilton

Virginia Hamilton (1936–2002) grew up in rural Ohio among an extended family and generations of storytellers. Her grandfather, Levi Perry, was brought by his mother from Virginia slavery to Ohio via the Underground Railroad. She received nearly every award in the field of children’s literature, including the Hans Christian Andersen Medal, the Newbery Medal, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, and the Coretta Scott King Award.

Reviews

Goodreads review by DaNae on March 04, 2011

I'm at a loss, I either want to give this book five stars or one. I see by the average of almost exactly three I am not alone. It took me most of the week to get M.C. read. I’m not sure what I expected, by the title maybe something along the lines of Ramona the Brave or The Great Gilly Hopkins – a mi......more

Goodreads review by Amber on February 09, 2013

I'm sorry to say I didn't really enjoy this book. So far there hasn't been a Newberry Award winner I haven't liked, but I just didn't get this one. To start with, the pole was confusing. It's 40 high, and there's a bicycle seat on top, and pedals that do nothing, and only MC can climb it but it's al......more

Goodreads review by Benji on December 09, 2015

I'm kind of conflicted about this book. I see some good in it, but I really didn't enjoy reading it, especially the first 50 pages or so. As an adult novel, it might have been decent, but I think most kids would have some trouble following the Faulkner-like steam of consciousness writing. The only t......more

Goodreads review by Adriel on February 23, 2014

This is the kind of book that teachers assign kids that make them hate to read award winning books. It is clear that no kids sit on the award committees. I tried to like it, really, but I couldn't make it though for chapters. It was clear from the beginning nothing was going to happen like M.C. thou......more

Goodreads review by Wendy on July 20, 2014

(I always thought this would be a funny book--doesn't the title sound like the title of a funny book?--but it's not, at all.) This was an interesting book and the writing was lovely, but I thought it was trying to do too many different things--I'd like it better with more focus.......more