Let's Not Forget Virginia Hamilton

Do you know a young read who wants to read a scary book, a haunted book, a fascinating book?  Give them Virginia Hamilton's The House of Dies Drear.  I found it un-put-down-able!  I also thought it was incredibly creepy.

That started me on a Virginia Hamilton kick that started with Zeely and ended, for me, with When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing.  Hamilton kept on writing.

Her list of titles include picture books, folktales, fantasies and stories about African American families and young people.  Some stories, like The Planet of Junior Brown (one of my FAVORITES) show young people in incredibly stressed situations.  Some of her books addressed racism straight on.  She also wrote non-fiction, most notably biographies of African Americans such as Paul Robeson and W.E.B. Dubois and collected folktales of slave families, the Caribbean and Africa.

Hamilton died in 2004 but her award winning books continue to captivate, engage and instruct young readers.  Let's never forget Virginia Hamilton.