M. C. Higgins, the Great, the main character, is a tall athletic and thoughtful african american teenager who lives in the Cumberland Mountains. Throughout the story he learns he must come to terms with friends, his father and the traditions of his family. Faced with a threat to the family that is beyond his control, M. C. learns that being an adult means doing one’s limited best in an imperfect world and he learns to deal with this struggle throughout the entire book. ( )

In M. C. Higgins, the Great, the title character, a tall, athletic, thoughtful black teenager who lives in the Cumberland Mountains, must come to terms with conflicting allegiances, to his father and the traditions of his family, on one hand, and to his mother and the younger children in the family, on the other. Faced with a threat to the family that is beyond his control, M. C. learns that being an adult means doing one’s limited best in an imperfect world. ( )

Virgina Hamilton was the first African American to be awarded the Newbery Medal (1975.) Her book is the only book to receive three prestigious awards. In addition to the Newbery Award, it also received the Boston Gobe-Horn book Award and the National Book Award.

M.C. (Mayo Cornelius) Higgins and his family are mountain dwellers who live a plain, rugged life overlooking rolling, beautiful hills. Amid the beauty is the reality that the coal miners have desecrated the land and thus the way of living for the Higgins is about to literally come crashing down.

This coming of age book pits M.C. and his father against one another as M.C. is the caretaker, provider and pragmatic soul trying to make his father understand the reality that life as they know it is changing.

The outside world is represented not only by the scarring of the land, but with the appearance of two characters, an anthropologist and a spunky girl whom M.C. begins to love.

I tried to understand this book and I wanted to like it, but alas, even though the images are crisp and the writing is beautiful, it felt like it took forever to get to the story line. I hung in there, but overall, I came away disappointed. ( )

M.C. Higgins is the oldest of the children, and he feels great responsibility for what is happening in his family. Because the coal miners have laid waste to their precious mountain, their house -- and sense of identity as mountain-dwellers -- is in jeopardy. As M.C. deals with the repercussions of this, he dreams of his mother's singing transporting them away from the danger.

I can see why this was a Newberry Award winner. There is a depth to the story, and M.C. is a fully realized, round character. He is just at the cusp of adulthood, and it is fascinating to see his growth into his more adult self throughout the book. In some ways, it is a classic coming of age story, but it took most of the book to get to that idea.

M.C. spends much of his thoughts on ways in which others will solve the problems the family has been having. It is not until very late in the story that he begins to realize that he has some degree of control over his life and the life of his family.

I found it difficult to relate to the character, and I spent much of the story trying to figure out exactly what is was _about_. Yet, the writing itself is quite good. It took some discipline to get through, but many of the "great books" are similarly difficult. Overall, I would rank it among the great books, even if it wasn't necessarily a "fun" book. ( )

Mrs. Senuta,

You were my, what, fifth grade teacher? The inscription is in my hand, but it says, " From: Mrs. Senuta, To: Brie." If my memory serves me correctly, you also gave me a reader's journal with it. That too, has been carried with me, untouched for all these years.

So here is by book report, long over due.

M.C. Higgins, The Great is an enchanting story of one boy's journey through defining who he is in relation to the world. For a boy who lives on the mountain, far from a city life, he has plenty of conflicting forces in his world.

He wants to acheive greatness, even if it comes through his mother's success in the music world. He wants off the mountain, as he thinks only devestation exists for him there (and he may be right). He has conflict about the boy who could be defined as both his best friend and no more than a shadow, since MC's world has taught him that Ben is not something to be valued. He wants to be something his father is not, to be able to move about the world as his father seemingly can't, which I believe is what draws him to the pole. He can climb the metal pole with ease, escaping from the world beneath him, watching over the distance to be a protector and a provider, something Jones (his father) isn't.

It isn't until he gets caught up in his desire to know Lurhetta, though, that the story gets interesting for me. He meets this girl, is drawn to her freedom, and seemingly wants to tame her. He again, is conflicted about his true desire, swinging from wanting to keep her on the mountain and wanting to run away with her.

She is able to teach him to view the world more openly, though, as she pushes him to accept Ben (the "six-fingered witchy") for what he is, a true friend and confidant. In doing so, she also teaches him that the mountain is in fact what he loves, much as it is what his father loves, and is likely to be what his children someday will love, too.

MC is not destined to be his father, though, which is the beauty of this novel. For as much as some traits may be passed down a genetic line, there are always choices to be made, such as which walls to tear down, and which to build up. ( )