 First edition | |
| Author | Virginia Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Children's literature |
| Published | 1976 |
| Publisher | Greenwillow Books (US) Hamish Hamilton (UK) |
| Media type | Print (hardback, paperback) |
| Pages | 248 (unpaginated) |
| ISBN | 9780688800581 |
| OCLC | 2164959 |
Arilla Sun Down is a 1976 children's novel by Virginia Hamilton and is about the life experiences of Arilla, a young girl of African American and American Indian parentage.
A review of Arilla Sun Down in The Best in Children's Books: The University of Chicago Guide to Children's Literature, 1973-78 stated "Hamilton is a genius with words; once accustomed to the pattern, the reader hears the singing quality. What is outstanding in the story is the depth and nuance of the author's perception of the young adolescent, the brilliant characterization, and the dramatic impact of some of the episodes." [1] and Margaret Bernice Smith Bristow, writing about Hamilton in The Concise Oxford Companion to African American Literature, found "Her use of unconventional stream of consciousness and language in Arilla Sun Down (1976) is also noteworthy." [2]
Arilla Sun Down has also been reviewed by Kirkus Reviews , [3] Children's Literature Association Quarterly , [4] the English Journal , [5] and the School Library Journal . [6]
Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader, from picture books for the very young to young adult fiction.
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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. It also won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; it was the first of only two books to do so.
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Bruh Rabbit and the Tar Baby Girl is a 2003 picture book by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by James Ransome. It is a retelling by Hamilton, in the Gullah dialect, of the classic story of Bruh Rabbit outwitting Bruh Wolf.
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There are reinforcing threads--Arilla's early rapport with an old Indian; her father's periodic need to return to his native village and his identity as Great Wolf. The resulting mesh gives the common theme of adolescent self-discovery a dazzling, uncommon impact
Arilia Sun Down is most certainly a courageous and aesthetically adventurous book, both in its innovative narrative technique and in its treatment of race and gender
