Author
Virginia Hamilton
10 books here
The Planet of Junior Brown
Middle grade · ages 9–12 · 820L · 2011
A Newbery Honor book that feels ahead of its time on homelessness, neurodivergence, and urban childhood — dense and unsentimentally moving, but demands a reader ready for real stakes.
The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl
Middle grade · ages 8–12 · 780L · 1986
A visionary blend of African cosmology and American slavery — Hamilton's prose is dense and demanding, but the mythic frame gives children permission to feel big emotions about a difficult history.
The Bells of Christmas
Picture book · ages 5–9 · 620L · 1997
Virginia Hamilton's lyrical prose and episodic structure make this a thoughtful, character-rich portrait of African American family life—slower-paced than typical holiday picture books, but rewarding for read-alouds with kids ready to linger.
Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L · 2011
Hamilton's reconstruction of Burns's own voice and inner life makes 1850s slavery visceral and human in a way dry textbooks never do; the trial chapters are genuinely suspenseful.
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 760L
A haunting, lyrical book about a girl managing her mother's mental illness and discovering her own strength—Hamilton's prose is challenging but worth the read, and it doesn't condescend to teen readers about hard realities.
Justice and Her Brothers
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L · 2011
A science-fantasy about consciousness and selfhood that trusts kids to sit with existential weirdness; Hamilton's prose is demanding but the premise—telepathic siblings discovering they're part of something larger—is genuinely haunting.
In The Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World
Picture book · ages 5–9 · 820L · 2021
Gorgeous, sophisticated, and genuinely restful — Hamilton's prose elevates world mythology without condescension, and Barry Moser's illustrations deepen the dreamlike authority of each story.
A Little Love
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L · 1989
Virginia Hamilton's quiet masterpiece about a foster girl learning to accept love — difficult and real without being heavy-handed, and her prose rewards re-reading.
Junius Over Far
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 760L · 1985
Hamilton's prose is lyrical and demanding—the writing itself teaches; a quiet novel about belonging that respects the intelligence of both Junius and the reader.
M. C. Higgins, the Great
Middle grade · ages 10–14 · 780L · 2014
A National Book Award winner that rewards patient, literary readers—M.C. is introspective and the prose is rich, but the payoff is a genuinely complex kid grappling with poverty, place, and ambition.