The Planet of Junior Brown [Hardcover]

Virginia Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1971

"Two black eighth-grade boys in New York--one a neurotic, obese, musical prodigy, the other a homeless, tough-minded child of the streets--are the protagonists in an extraordinary story of heroism and survival and the interdependence of human beings."--ALA Notable Children's Books Committee. Newbery Honor Book; ALA Notable Children's Book; School Library Journal Best of the Best.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Virginia Hamilton has heightened the standards for children’s literature as few other authors have. She does not address children or the state of children so much as she explores with them, sometimes ahead of them, the full possibilities of boundless imagination.” —Betsy Hearne, Twentieth Century Children’s Writers

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

About the Author

Born into a large family and raised on a farm in Yellow Springs, Ohio, Ms. Hamilton grew up listening to stories shared by her mother and father. While studying writing at the New School for Social Research in New York City, she met a young poet, Arnold Adoff, and the two were married in March 1960. In 1968, Ms. Hamilton's first book, Zeely (S&S, 0-02-742470-7; Aladdin, 0-689-71695-8. Ages 10 up), edited by Richard Jackson, was published; and she and her family (which now included her daughter Leigh and her son Jaime) moved back to Yellow Springs, building their home on land that had been in Ms. Hamilton's family for generations. Ms. Hamilton's second book, The House Of Dies Drear (S&S, 0-02-742500-2; Aladdin, 0-02-043520-7. Ages 12 up), was published in 1968 and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best juvenile mystery. The success of these first two novels heralded a long and prolific career full of accolades and the most prestigious awards in children's literature.

Ms. Hamilton won the Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1992 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1995 for her body of work. Also in 1995, Ms.Hamilton received a John D. and Catherine C. MacArthur Fellowship, presented to "talented individuals who have shown extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits" and have demonstrated "exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work." She was the first African American to win the Newbery Medal, which was presented to her for M.C. Higgins, the Great (Aladdin, 0-02-043490-1; Aladdin, 0-689-71694-X; S&S, 0-689-83074-2. Ages 10 up). M.C. Higgins, the Great was also the first of only two books ever to win the Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, and the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush (Philomel/Penguin Putnam, 1982), The Planet Of Junior Brown (S&S, 0-02-742510-X; Aladdin, 0-689-71721-0; Aladdin, 0-02-043540-1), and In The Beginning: Creation Stories From Around The World (Harcourt, 1988) were all Newbery Honor books. Ms. Hamilton won the Coretta Scott King Award three times, and three times her books were selected as Coretta Scott King Award Honor books. Twice she won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Fiction (for M.C. Higgins the Great and for Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush), while Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave (Knopf, 1988) won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction. In 1996 the NAACP Image Award was presented to her for Her Stories: African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, And True Tales (Blue Sky Press/Scholastic, 1995). She was also a winner of the Regina Medal of the Catholic Library Association, and in 1984 an annual children's literature lecture was established in her name at Kent State University.

Ms. Hamilton's writing career spanned more than thirty years, during which time she was awarded every major honor for children's book writing. To learn more about Ms. Hamilton and her books, please visit her Web site: http://www.virginiahamilton.com/ --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (September 1, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 002742510X
• ISBN-13: 978-0027425109
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,261,301 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

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Literature!, May 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Planet of Junior Brown (Mass Market Paperback)

I read the Planet of Junior Brown as a reading book for myeighth grade english class. My class read books while we were readingTo Kill a Mockingbird. The Planet of Junior Brown is a wonderfully written book. Despite the other reviews I have read I really was impressed with the characterization. Some people thought that the characters were shallow and didn't convey feeling and emotion. I heavily disagree. The thing I really liked about the book was how the two main characters were so unlike each other, both emotionally and physically. One character is always trying to teach the other something and they are both unwilling to learn it because it is so unlike them. Junior Brown is an obese black boy who is a an amazing piano player. His father doesn't live with him and his mother is very over protective. Junior isn't naive but he doesn't know much about the world around him. Junior's best and only friend, Buddy, is the exact opposite. Buddy Is a tall lanky black boy who has lived his life on the street. Buddy encourages Junior to try and become more independent and self reliant. However, Junior's other doesn't want to let go of Junior. She sees buddy as a threat to Junior. She thinks Buddy will harm him. Seeing as how her husband doesn't live with her it is easy to understand how she doesn't want to let go. Junior is all she has. It was very interesting to read To Kill a Mockingbird while I read this book. They had many things in common. In To Kill a Mockingbird scout encounters racism as a white person. In The Planet of Junior Brown Junior encounters racism as a black person. I thought it was interesting to see the same thing from two different angles. The plot of the story is very interesting. Although it has it's moments where it gets dull and you have to read the page over again it was pretty exiting. Virginia Hamilton was able to create multiple themes throughout the story. While reading the book there were moments where it was depressing, suspenseful, and moments of anger. Near the end of the story Junior starts seeing things and talking to people who aren't their. At the same time they have just been caught for not going to school. It was depressing to see how Buddy was worried about Junior. I imagined myself trying to help one of my friends who wasn't all their anymore. It was sad to think about.

All In all I was very happy to read The Planet of Junior Brown. It really made me realize how difficult life is for some people. Through this book I was able to reach a new understanding for people with mental problems, and a new respect for the people who help them everyday.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dazzling novel, one of the best for young adults ever!, May 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Planet of Junior Brown (Hardcover)

This is one of the most imaginative, insightful, moving and challenging books I have ever read. Hamilton writes with her usual brilliant style--a blend of poetic lyricism and realistic talk. Buddy and Junior are wonderful characters--friends as loyal as Huck and Tom (transported to a nightmarish world. The novel is a very modern, urban riff on "Peter Pan," as well. I have read (and taught to college students) it two or three times and each time I find even more to admire.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars StEpHeN ..., March 10, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Planet of Junior Brown (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the most imaginative, insightful, moving, and challenging book I've ever read. Virgina Hamilton writes with her usual brilliant style with a blend of poetic lyricsm and realistic talk. Now Junior Brown is a kid who takes music lessons after school every day and his friend Buddy follows him to each of his lessons but he never goes in cause they are completely different characters. He always just sits outside. junior has a very over protective mother and on the other side Buddy has a mother that isn't very protective. I think that this is a very good book and fully encourages kids around the world to read this book.