The Newbery and Caldecott Award Books 1975-1976

Abstract

The Newbery and Caldecott Award Books 1975-1976 David L. Greene (bio) Arrow to the Sun, a Pueblo Indian Tale adapted and illustrated by Gerald McDermott. New York: Viking, $6.95. Caldecott Medal 1975. The Grey King, by Susan Cooper. Illustrated by Michael Heslop. New York: Atheneum, $6.95. Newbery Medal 1976. M. C. Higgins, the Great, by Virginia Hamilton. New York: Macmillan, $6.95. Newbery Medal 1975. Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears, a West African tale retold by Verna Aardema. Illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. New York: Dial, $6.95. Caldecott Medal 1976. Recent children's literature has developed in two directions: realism/naturalism and fantasy. The three fantasies and one realistic novel which were awarded the 1975 and 1976 Newbery and Caldecott Medals are excellent examples of what can be achieved in each area and of the pitfalls that await even the best authors. Virginia Hamilton's 1975 Newbery book, M. C. Higgins, the Great, is one of the most impressive recent realistic novels for children or adults. Hamilton avoids the extreme naturalism of many recent children's books (have publishers just discovered Emile Zola and Frank Norris?). The title character is a thirteen-year-old black boy who lives with his family on Sarah's Mountain near the Ohio River. The Higginses have lived on the mountain since M.Cs great- (or great-great) grandmother, Sarah McHigan, fled from slavery in 1854. Sarah's descendants are part of Sarah's land, and leaving it seems impossible to all of them except M.C. The mountain, however, has been violated by strip mining, and M.C. decides that they must leave before a great spoil heap slides down upon them. M.C.'s mother, Banina, is a natural singer. And he believes that when the "dude" comes to tape her voice, she will get a recording contract and the family will have to leave with her. But the dude [End Page 191] finally tells M.C. that he is only a collector—that he is driven to preserve music, just as Banina has to sing and M.C.'s father, Jones Higgins, cannot think of leaving Sarah's Mountain. Even if the dude were able to obtain a contract for Banina, it would change her; "it'd never be the voice, the woman, singing like this evening, walking home from far." The dude is an outside force coming onto the mountain; he recognizes the danger of the spoil heap, but he is unable to do anything about it. The other outsider in the novel is Lurhetta Outlaw, a black girl driven to wander. M.C. feels a strong sexual attraction toward her, which he recognizes only partially. Lurhetta realizes instinctively that the separation between the Higginses and the Kilburns, "witchy" folk with six fingers on each hand, is unnatural. She sees the contradiction between the fact that M.C.'s best friend is Ben Kilburn and the fact that M.C. and his family have not seen the Kilburn's land since Banina was frightened long ago by Viola Kilburn's healing powers. M. C. Higgins, the Great is a marvelously rich, but flawed, work. Hamilton is at her best when she shows the unity of the mountain people with their land, the tension and love between M.C. and his father, the glory of Banina's singing. She is not so successful with her symbols: the forty-foot pole on top of which M.C. spends much of his time; the giant web of vine and rope which links all the Kilburn buildings; and, at the end of the book, the wall the Higginses begin to build from dirt, automobile parts, and Sarah's gravestone to protect their home from the spoil heap. M. C.'s pole stands in the middle of the family graveyard; the stone markers have been replaced by portions of automobiles. Therefore the pole not only symbolizes M.C.'s isolation and dominance, but also, as Banina says, serves as "the marker for all of the dead." All this somehow manages to be contrived, obvious, and muddy at the same time. The 1976 Newbery Medal book, Susan Cooper's The...