M.C. Higgins, the Great »

Virginia Hamilton s books, which combined African-American and Native American lore with contemporary stories and characters, are memorable not only for their inventiveness and rich characterizations, but also for their ability to evoke a wide variety of times, places, and historical figures.

Mayo Cornelius Higgins sits on his gleaming, forty-foot steel pole, towering over his home on Sarah's Mountain. Stretched before him are rolling hills and shady valleys. But behind him lie the wounds of strip mining, including a mountain of rubble that may one day fall and bury his home.

M.C. dreams of escape for himself and his family. And, one day, atop his pole, he thinks he sees it — two strangers are making their way toward Sarah's Mountain. One has the ability to make M.C.'s mother famous. And the other has the kind of freedom that M.C. has never even considered.

Anita Barnes Lowen - Children's Literature

M.C. Higgins and his family have lived on Sarah's Mountain for generations. His daddy says that one day it will belong to M.C. But the spoil heap (the pile of waste, or slag) that strip coal mining has left behind is slowly but inexorably creeping towards M.C.'s home. Maybe the "dude" who is collecting mountain voices and songs will make M.C.'s mama a star singer and the family will have to travel with her far away from their mountain home. Maybe Lurhetta Outlaw, the young teenage girl wandering alone in the woods, will be a catalyst for change. The characters in the story are best described by her: "You all are the strangest people." And indeed they are. There are the six-fingered witchy people said to possess unusual powers: M.C.'s daddy whose relationship with his son is cruel yet loving; and M.C. himself, who when he first spies Lurhetta on the wooded mountainside stalks and attacks her and finally establishes a cautious friendship. The author paints a rich picture of the life of a teenage boy who is desperately trying to hold on to his traditions, "as well as his dreams for the future." It will take a strong and motivated reader to follow the plot through the three-day detail-filled story of M.C.'s attempt to save his home and his family from disaster. Award-winning and considered a classic 25 years after its publication, this book belongs on library shelves. 2002 (orig. 1974), Aladdin Paperbacks/Simon & Schuster, Ages 12 up.