Drylongso [Library Binding]

Virginia Hamilton (Author), Jerry Pinkney (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

During a terrible drought, a mysterious young boy called Drylongso comes to stay at the farm of Lindy and her parents, becoming a member of the family as he teaches them the secret of finding water hidden in the earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Endowing her eponymous protagonist with the mystical qualities of a folk hero and the wry wit of a boy, Newbery Medalist Hamilton has created a provocative tale with both spiritual and environmental allusions. Lindy and her parents rescue a tall, skinny "stick-fella" from a sudden dust storm. Named Drylongso for the periods of drought that "lasted so long, folks thought it was just ordinary. Dry so long, it was common, like everyday," the strange boy brings with him the promise of new life--water. The adults cautiously accept his peculiar nature--his mysterious arrival, his unknown origins, his aphoristic, at times prophetic, statements on growth and life. In contrast, Lindy, who provides the tale with a measure of comic relief, bombards the boy with her curiosity; Drylongso's jokey affection for Lindy saves the story from cloying sentimentality. Pinkney's atmospheric watercolors highlight the strong familial bond central to the story; his characters and landscape superbly vivify Hamilton's barren clime. An afterword offers both a historical account of U.S. drought cycles and a cultural context for this intriguing central character. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Endowing her eponymous protagonist with the mystical qualities of a folk hero and the wry wit of a boy, Newbery Medalist Hamilton has created a provocative tale with both spiritual and environmental allusions. Lindy and her parents rescue a tall, skinny "stick-fella" from a sudden dust storm. Named Drylongso for the periods of drought that "lasted so long, folks thought it was just ordinary. Dry so long, it was common, like everyday," the strange boy brings with him the promise of new life--water. The adults cautiously accept his peculiar nature--his mysterious arrival, his unknown origins, his aphoristic, at times prophetic, statements on growth and life. In contrast, Lindy, who provides the tale with a measure of comic relief, bombards the boy with her curiosity; Drylongso's jokey affection for Lindy saves the story from cloying sentimentality. Pinkney's atmospheric watercolors highlight the strong familial bond central to the story; his characters and landscape superbly vivify Hamilton's barren clime. An afterword offers both a historical account of U.S. drought cycles and a cultural context for this intriguing central character. Ages 8-12.
  (Publishers Weekly ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Library Binding: 54 pages
• Publisher: Harcourt Childrens Books (J) (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0152242414
• ISBN-13: 978-0152242411
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,367,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Virginia Esther Hamilton was born, as she said, "on the outer edge of the Great Depression," on March 12, 1934. The youngest of five children of Kenneth James and Etta Belle Perry Hamilton, Virginia grew up amid a large extended family in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The farmlands of southwestern Ohio had been home to her mother's family since the late 1850s, when Virginia's grandfather, Levi Perry, was brought into the state as an infant via the Underground Railroad.

Virginia graduated at the top of her high-school class and received a full scholarship to Antioch College in Yellow Springs. In 1956, she transferred to the Ohio State University in Columbus and majored in literature and creative writing. She moved to New York City in 1958, working as a museum receptionist, cost accountant, and nightclub singer, while she pursued her dream of being a published writer. She studied fiction writing at the New School for Social Research under Hiram Haydn, one of the founders of Atheneum Press.

It was also in New York that Virginia met poet Arnold Adoff. They were married in 1960. Arnold worked as a teacher, and Virginia was able to devote her full attention to writing, at least until daughter Leigh was born in 1963 and son Jaime in 1967. In 1969, Virginia and Arnold built their "dream home" in Yellow Springs, on the last remaining acres of the old Hamilton/Perry family farm, and settled into a life of serious literary work and achievement.

In her lifetime, Virginia wrote and published 41 books in multiple genres that spanned picture books and folktales, mysteries and science fiction, realistic novels and biography. Woven into her books is a deep concern with memory, tradition, and generational legacy, especially as they helped define the lives of African Americans. Virginia described her work as "Liberation Literature." She won every major award in youth literature.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Drylongso, July 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Drylongso (Paperback)

This book is great! I've read it 4 times and recommended to everyone that loves children's books. It brought back childhood memories of the big dust storms we once had. The writing of Virginia Hamilton, as always, is superb. The characters were real to me and the illustration allowed each character to dance through out the story. I loved Lindy's character. I've recommanded the book to others because of it's down to earth discription of how things were. I remember playing in gullies like the one the garden was planted in. Each of us have out childhood memories. We lived in the dry dusty country of West Texas. Thank you for the opprotunity of being able to tell others how much I loved this book. The reason I found this is because I wanted to buy one to show my grandchildren how it was in the dust bowl days.