<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Return to Childhood
Review: I purchased this book for my father who read it as a child. He exclaimed with delight when I took the book to him. He loved rereading it after 60 years and laughed hysterically thru most of the book. It's a quick read. I wish the press would publish the others in this series, there's certainly an audience for them.
Rating:
Summary: Miss Minerva and William Greenhill
Review: I read this book as a very young child and, as I collect old children's books, ran across it in my searches. Of course, I read it again and enjoyed it even more this time. I suppose it is"politically incorrect" now, but that's the way things were then--right or wrong. I still find the book both funny and sweet. I had no idea that someone had created a series after Mrs. Calhoun's death. I would love to find some of them.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic
Review: I remember finding this book when I was visiting my grandmother at age 9, and just came across it unpacking a box of books.
I'd recently read it to my infant, to see if it still had the charm and hilarity that I'd remembered when my grandma had read it to me. So many times children's books fall flat when you read them again as an adult. To my surprise, it was laugh-out-loud funny. Although, the southern drawl written into text can sometimes be difficult, it added to the charm, and I found myself starting to speak in a southern drawl in between reading chapters. Sometimes the language can be a bit un-nerving, seeing as we modern folk don't use racial epithets, the children used them in a loving way, describing people they knew and loved. But in today's world, the text can sometimes be uncomfortable. When I was reading I substitued modern, politically correct terms, and when my husband heard me read, couldn't tell the difference and thought it was a great little book. I don't want to deny the reality and language of the past, only to promote the innocence originally intended by Mrs. Calhoun.
I was amazed and gladened to see that Amazon.com carried the book (printed originally in 1909), and that people still enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Miss Minerva And William Green Hill
Review: My North Carolina grandmother, born in 1888, read the 12 Miss Minerva series books to me when I was a young child in the 50's. She brought the antics of William Green Hill, Jimmy Garner, Frances, Lina, Wilkes Booth Lincoln, Aunt Cindy, Pilljerk Peter, Aunt Peruny Pearline to life, and I can still hear the words ringing in my ears as she read this book in the dialect of the southern Negro. Some feel that these aren't politically correct books for today's youth, but I feel that there are some innocent truths to be learned from reading these books, that come from the mouths of the children in them. They show how easily children of all races get along when the prejudices of their elders aren't present. The real life character upon which these books are based is William Green Hill who died at 64, the son of a prominent Tennessee physician Dr. Lafayette Hill. His sister, Mrs. S. A. Hamilton had not seen her brother in 15 years when he died of a heart attack alone and penniless in an empty railroad coal car on the outskirts of Pueblo, Colorado. My grandmother clipped the small article from the newspaper about Mr. Hill, which I have kept in my copy of the first of the books which were written about his life. The first book, Miss Minerva and William Green Hill, was originally written by Frances Boyd Calhoun who died, and was continued by Emma Speed Sampson, who wrote the sequel Billy and the Major, Miss Minerva's Baby, Miss Minerva on the Old Plantation, Miss Minerva Broadcasts Billy, Miss Minerva's Scallywags, Miss Minerva's Problem, Miss Minerva's Vacation, Miss Minerva's Neighbors, Miss Minerva's Mystery, Miss Minerva Goin' Places, and one other title. There also is a book named Miss Minerva's Cookbook which was so rare that a copy of this book is going for $1,000 at rare out of print used book stores. I certainly love to see that the University of Tennessee has brought back the first of this series, and I would love to see them bring back to print the rest of the series for a new generation of children to enjoy and understand the happiness and delicate, intricate balance that exists in childhood play between children of all races.
Rating:
Summary: Southern Humor, Wit, and Charm At It's Best
Review: My North Carolina grandmother, born in 1888, read the 12 Miss Minerva series books to me when I was a young child in the 50's. She brought the antics of William Green Hill, Jimmy Garner, Frances, Lina, Wilkes Booth Lincoln, Aunt Cindy, Pilljerk Peter, Aunt Peruny Pearline to life, and I can still hear the words ringing in my ears as she read this book in the dialect of the southern Negro. Some feel that these aren't politically correct books for today's youth, but I feel that there are some innocent truths to be learned from reading these books, that come from the mouths of the children in them. They show how easily children of all races get along when the prejudices of their elders aren't present. The real life character upon which these books are based is William Green Hill who died at 64, the son of a prominent Tennessee physician Dr. Lafayette Hill. His sister, Mrs. S. A. Hamilton had not seen her brother in 15 years when he died of a heart attack alone and penniless in an empty railroad coal car on the outskirts of Pueblo, Colorado. My grandmother clipped the small article from the newspaper about Mr. Hill, which I have kept in my copy of the first of the books which were written about his life. The first book, Miss Minerva and William Green Hill, was originally written by Frances Boyd Calhoun who died, and was continued by Emma Speed Sampson, who wrote the sequel Billy and the Major, Miss Minerva's Baby, Miss Minerva on the Old Plantation, Miss Minerva Broadcasts Billy, Miss Minerva's Scallywags, Miss Minerva's Problem, Miss Minerva's Vacation, Miss Minerva's Neighbors, Miss Minerva's Mystery, Miss Minerva Goin' Places, and one other title. There also is a book named Miss Minerva's Cookbook which was so rare that a copy of this book is going for $1,000 at rare out of print used book stores. I certainly love to see that the University of Tennessee has brought back the first of this series, and I would love to see them bring back to print the rest of the series for a new generation of children to enjoy and understand the happiness and delicate, intricate balance that exists in childhood play between children of all races.
Rating:
Summary: Miss Minerva And William Green Hill
Review: This is one of the funniest books I have ever read. The characters are wonderful and take you back to a more naive time. My husband and grandchildren love this book as much as I do.
Rating: 
Summary: One Star In Homage To Less Enlightened Times
Review: Yes, this is a delightful tale featuring traditional Southern humor and dialect -- if you don't happen to be one of the impoverished, uneducated black children who add so much flavor to the context. This tale comes from an unfavorable time in our past when racism was systemic in our society, when those of the racial minority were, when convenient, treated kindly -- but always as second-class citizens, and everyone realized that. This book's value, now, is one of education. Read this book, and understand how differently our society once was structured (in law and in practice) from today. Put yourself in the place of those relegated to the back, always vulnerable to the caprice of the favored race. And be glad that (regardless of what many insist) our society indeed has gotten better than during Billy Green Hill's times.
Rating:
Summary: One Star In Homage To Less Enlightened Times
Review: Yes, this is a delightful tale featuring traditional Southern humor and dialect -- if you don't happen to be one of the impoverished, uneducated black children who add so much flavor to the context. This tale comes from an unfavorable time in our past when racism was systemic in our society, when those of the racial minority were, when convenient, treated kindly -- but always as second-class citizens, and everyone realized that. This book's value, now, is one of education. Read this book, and understand how differently our society once was structured (in law and in practice) from today. Put yourself in the place of those relegated to the back, always vulnerable to the caprice of the favored race. And be glad that (regardless of what many insist) our society indeed has gotten better than during Billy Green Hill's times.
<< 1 >>
|
