 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2011) |
 First edition | |
| Author | Virginia Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Macmillan (US) Hamish Hamilton (UK) |
Publication date | 1974 |
| Publication place | United States |
| 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 for Young People's Literature[2] and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; it was the first of only two books to do so (the other being 1998's 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.
- ^ Hamilton, Virginia (1974). M.C. Higgins, the Great.
- ^ "National Book Awards – 1975". National Book Foundation. September 9, 2011. Archived from the original on September 9, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2012.