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The Bells of Christmas
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From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 12:31:36 -0500
I was away from the CCBC-Net community for a while in September. During that time maybe I missed reading messages about the wide variety of genres and handsome production of each books written by Virginia Hamilton, edited by Bonnie Verburg, and published during the 1990s and since then, too, by Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. If the Blue Sky books haven't been commented upon, then this brief mention encompasses many books worthy of notice.
Perhaps I also missed comments about some of her magnificent early novels, such as Arilla Sun Down; Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush; The Planet of Junior Brown; The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl; M.C. Higgins, the Great; A Little Love; A White Romance; Cousins; and the trilogy often called The Justice Cycle. Even if some or all of these fine works weren't discussed, or even mentioned during September, each deserves so much more than a glance. You can then bring them to the attention of today's capable young readers who crave unique stories where what meets the eye is enjoyable and what is also there to be discovered is satisfying beyond measure. I remember hearing Katy Horning introduce Virginia as a pacesetter, making a reference to Toni Morrison's novels. As always, Katy's observation was exactly on the mark.
Notice Virginia Hamilton's symbolic uses of the "road" in many of her novels. You won't have to look very far to find it in The Bells of Christmas illustrated by Lambert Davis (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989). I think I'm correct in saying that Bonnie Verburg edited this book, too. It's one of my all-time Hamilton favorites.
As the story begins, 12-year-old Jason Bell is restlessly awaiting the arrival of extended family members who will travel in buggies along the National Road to the Bell home near Springfield, Ohio. They're coming for an extended family Christmas celebration. Jason wonders whether or not there will be snow, and of course he's excited about gifts. Jason speculates about the future while hoping for enough snow right now so his cousin can have a sleigh ride. His anticipation is so typical of children anticipating a recurring seasonal or family event, and yet it's so grounded in its time.
The plot moves quickly and characterizations are vivid. Hamilton dropped her signature references to regional events and history into the plot. Appreciation of individuality rings loud and clear through Papa who is a self-employed master carpenter who has a wooden leg and a wheel-a-chair; Mama is a seamstress, and like Papa, she's also her own boss. There are multiple other references to independence, to bells, to forms of travel over time - all incorporating carefully researched references to period details.
When I first saw a copy of The Bells of Christmas in 1989 it appeared to be different from anything else Hamilton had written before that. Its length (60 pages) and physical size (10 1/4" x 8 1/4") were distinctive, and so was its general appearance. This book almost looked as if it could be in the CCBC Historical Collection because its design, paper, and overall appearance were so suitable to 1890, the year when the story takes place! And I think that was the point, or at least part of the point. There certainly weren't any other African American families represented accurately, if at all, in anyone's historical children's book collection dating back a century.
Hamilton's sentences are short, and dialogue is abundant in this first-person narrative, both being reminiscent of some fiction for young readers a century ago. And so is the artwork. If you're lucky enough to have a copy with the original book jacket, you'll read there that Lambert Davis's "search to re-create Christmas, 1890, led him to rare photographs and other historical sources for the endless details...[including those of] a late-nineteenth?ntury wheelchair and sewing machine." The jacket information also states that Davis's
"research of the art of the 1890s enabled him to present illustrations appropriate to this story in both content and style."
There's an invigorating sense of this loving African American family's continuity along with a warm expression of non-commercial holiday joy. The Bells of Christmas doesn't belong in an archival or historical book collection. It deserves attention by children and families now in this very century. All in all, The Bells of Christmas is a handsome historical invitation to family reading, a triumph of writing and handsome book production, a book by Virginia Hamilton not to be missed in any season.
- Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 30 Sep 2002 12:31:36 PM CDT
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 12:31:36 -0500
I was away from the CCBC-Net community for a while in September. During that time maybe I missed reading messages about the wide variety of genres and handsome production of each books written by Virginia Hamilton, edited by Bonnie Verburg, and published during the 1990s and since then, too, by Blue Sky Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. If the Blue Sky books haven't been commented upon, then this brief mention encompasses many books worthy of notice.
Perhaps I also missed comments about some of her magnificent early novels, such as Arilla Sun Down; Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush; The Planet of Junior Brown; The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl; M.C. Higgins, the Great; A Little Love; A White Romance; Cousins; and the trilogy often called The Justice Cycle. Even if some or all of these fine works weren't discussed, or even mentioned during September, each deserves so much more than a glance. You can then bring them to the attention of today's capable young readers who crave unique stories where what meets the eye is enjoyable and what is also there to be discovered is satisfying beyond measure. I remember hearing Katy Horning introduce Virginia as a pacesetter, making a reference to Toni Morrison's novels. As always, Katy's observation was exactly on the mark.
Notice Virginia Hamilton's symbolic uses of the "road" in many of her novels. You won't have to look very far to find it in The Bells of Christmas illustrated by Lambert Davis (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989). I think I'm correct in saying that Bonnie Verburg edited this book, too. It's one of my all-time Hamilton favorites.
As the story begins, 12-year-old Jason Bell is restlessly awaiting the arrival of extended family members who will travel in buggies along the National Road to the Bell home near Springfield, Ohio. They're coming for an extended family Christmas celebration. Jason wonders whether or not there will be snow, and of course he's excited about gifts. Jason speculates about the future while hoping for enough snow right now so his cousin can have a sleigh ride. His anticipation is so typical of children anticipating a recurring seasonal or family event, and yet it's so grounded in its time.
The plot moves quickly and characterizations are vivid. Hamilton dropped her signature references to regional events and history into the plot. Appreciation of individuality rings loud and clear through Papa who is a self-employed master carpenter who has a wooden leg and a wheel-a-chair; Mama is a seamstress, and like Papa, she's also her own boss. There are multiple other references to independence, to bells, to forms of travel over time - all incorporating carefully researched references to period details.
When I first saw a copy of The Bells of Christmas in 1989 it appeared to be different from anything else Hamilton had written before that. Its length (60 pages) and physical size (10 1/4" x 8 1/4") were distinctive, and so was its general appearance. This book almost looked as if it could be in the CCBC Historical Collection because its design, paper, and overall appearance were so suitable to 1890, the year when the story takes place! And I think that was the point, or at least part of the point. There certainly weren't any other African American families represented accurately, if at all, in anyone's historical children's book collection dating back a century.
Hamilton's sentences are short, and dialogue is abundant in this first-person narrative, both being reminiscent of some fiction for young readers a century ago. And so is the artwork. If you're lucky enough to have a copy with the original book jacket, you'll read there that Lambert Davis's "search to re-create Christmas, 1890, led him to rare photographs and other historical sources for the endless details...[including those of] a late-nineteenth?ntury wheelchair and sewing machine." The jacket information also states that Davis's
"research of the art of the 1890s enabled him to present illustrations appropriate to this story in both content and style."
There's an invigorating sense of this loving African American family's continuity along with a warm expression of non-commercial holiday joy. The Bells of Christmas doesn't belong in an archival or historical book collection. It deserves attention by children and families now in this very century. All in all, The Bells of Christmas is a handsome historical invitation to family reading, a triumph of writing and handsome book production, a book by Virginia Hamilton not to be missed in any season.
- Ginny
Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
Received on Mon 30 Sep 2002 12:31:36 PM CDT
