M. C. Higgins, the Great

M. C. Higgins, the Great
	First edition
Author	Virginia Hamilton
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Children's novel
Publisher	Macmillan (US); Hamish Hamilton (UK)
Publication date	1974
Media type	Print (hardcover & paperback)
Pages	278 pp
ISBN	0027424804
OCLC	312852502
LC Class	PZ7.H1828 Mac

M. C. Higgins, the Great, first published in 1974, is a realistic novel by Virginia Hamilton that won the 1975 Newbery Medal for excellence in American children's literature.[1] It also won the National Book Award in category Children's Books[2] and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; it was the first book to do so, and only one other book has done so since (Holes, by Louis Sachar).

M.C. Higgins is a bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel) that covers three eventful days in the life of teenager Mayo Cornelius Higgins. It is set in the Appalachian Mountains on Sarah's Mountain, a fictional mountain in Kentucky, near the Ohio River, that is being encroached upon by a mining company. The book highlights the strange, almost surreal customs of the hill people, including their traditions of song and superstition. At its core is the reconciliation M.C. must make between tradition and change.

Reception

At the time of the book's publication, Kirkus Reviews said: "Hamilton is at her best here; the soaring but firmly anchored imagery, the slant and music of everyday speech, the rich and engaging characters and warm, tough, wary family relationships, the pervasive awareness of both threat and support connected with the mountain -- all mesh beautifully in theme and structure to create a sense of organic belonging."[3] According to The Horn Book Magazine, "All of the characters have vitality and credibility as well as a unique quality that makes them unforgettable... All of the themes are handled contrapuntally to create a memorable picture of a young boy's growing awareness of himself and of his surroundings."[4] In a retrospective essay about the Newbery Medal-winning books from 1966 to 1975, children's author John Rowe Townsend wrote, "As of this writing, M.C. Higgins, The Great is too large and still too close to be seen whole; the perspective of time is needed to discern its shape and its standing; but I should not be surprised if it emerged as being the nearest thing to a masterpiece to appear on the children's lists in its decade."[5]

Translations and adaptations

The book has been translated into many languages, including Japanese and German, and was made into a movie in 1986.[6]

gollark: And they break down the instructions into smaller instructions, and I think somehow execute several of those at the same time on one core.

gollark: And they somehow have billions of transistors switching billions of times a second using less power than an old inefficient lightbulb.

gollark: They're working on scales barely above individual atoms, and yet somehow reliably and cheaply enough that you can (well, will be able to around today) buy stuff made this way for £200 or so.

gollark: The "nm" numbers are mostly meaningless now, but modern processes are very impressive.

gollark: If it's PCIe I think there's actually a screw at the case end.

References

Hamilton, Virginia (1974). M.C. Higgins, the Great.
"National Book Awards – 1975". National Book Foundation. 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2012-02-21.
"M.C. HIGGINS, THE GREAT by Virginia Hamilton". Kirkus Reviews. August 1, 1974. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
The Horn Book Magazine, October 1974, cited in "What did we think of...?". The Horn Book. January 24, 1999. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
Townsend, John Rowe (1975). "A Decade of Newbery Books in Perspective". In Kingman, Lee (ed.). Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books: 1966-1975. Boston: The Horn Book, Incorporated. p. 152. ISBN 0-87675-003-X.
Hamilton, Virginia (Director), undefinedRandom House Video (Director), Inc Newbery Award Records (Director) (1986). M.C. Higgins, the great. Westminster, Md.: Random House Video. ISBN 978-0-676-27632-9.

Awards
Preceded by The Slave Dancer	Newbery Medal recipient 1975	Succeeded by The Grey King

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[1] Hamilton, Virginia (1974). M.C. Higgins, the Great.

[nba1975-2] "National Book Awards – 1975". National Book Foundation. 2011-09-09. Retrieved 2012-02-21.

[3] "M.C. HIGGINS, THE GREAT by Virginia Hamilton". Kirkus Reviews. August 1, 1974. Retrieved December 21, 2019.

[4] The Horn Book Magazine, October 1974, cited in "What did we think of...?". The Horn Book. January 24, 1999. Retrieved December 22, 2019.

[5] Townsend, John Rowe (1975). "A Decade of Newbery Books in Perspective". In Kingman, Lee (ed.). Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books: 1966-1975. Boston: The Horn Book, Incorporated. p. 152. ISBN 0-87675-003-X.

[6] Hamilton, Virginia (Director), undefinedRandom House Video (Director), Inc Newbery Award Records (Director) (1986). M.C. Higgins, the great. Westminster, Md.: Random House Video. ISBN 978-0-676-27632-9.