M. C. Higgins, the Great

Hamilton, Virginia

ISBN 10: 0027424804 / ISBN 13: 9780027424805

Published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 1974

About this Item

First Printing with full number line down to 1. Inscribed by author (Virginia Hamilton) on title page. This is an ex-library book, with a check-out sleeve in the front, associated stamps, and label on spine. Robert Fulton Junior High School stamp on title page. Marks on top and bottom of book block. Marks on inside front board, front flyleaf, and title page--otherwise inside is clean and unmarked. The book block is fully split from board at back. Dust jacket has tears and chips. See photos.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1739677146038

Bibliographic Details

• Title: M. C. Higgins, the Great
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing
• Publication Date: 1974
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0027424804
• ISBN 13: 9780027424805
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Poor
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Signed: Inscribed by Author

About this title

Synopsis

As a slag heap, the result of strip mining, creeps closer to his house in the Ohio hills, fifteen-year-old M. C. is torn between trying to get his family away and fighting for the home they love.

Review

From a perch on his 40-foot pole (a gift from his father for swimming across the Ohio River), M.C. likes to slide his hand over the rolling mountains, smooth out the sky, and fluff up the trees to the south of Sarah's Mountain. To the north, though, no amount of pretending can make the whine of bulldozers and deep gashes in the mountain disappear. Ever since M.C.'s great-grandmother Sarah came here as a runaway slave, Sarah's Mountain has been home to the Higgins family. But now their home is threatened by the strip-mining that has left a giant slag heap perched precariously above their house. Will the two strangers who appear in the hills help M.C. save his family?

Reissued in celebration of its 25th anniversary, M.C. Higgins the Great has a power that runs deeper than the coal seam snaking through M.C.'s mountain. The intensity of family bonds, the depth of rural superstition, and the grim tragedy of environmental destruction weave together in a story that is as complex as it is beautiful. Not surprisingly, Virginia Hamilton, who has won every major award given to authors, received the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for this excellent novel. (Ages 13 and older) --Emilie Coulter