I never thought seriously of any other career1, Virginia Hamilton said, speaking of being an author. Virginia Hamilton is a very talented African American Childrens author. She was born on March 12, 1936 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Her Mother had lived in Yellow Springs since the late 1850s. Virginia Hamilton said that she loves Yellow Springs. I live on land that has been in my family for generations2 I love my hometown3. She says, as a child, both of her parents were enthusiastic readers and gifted storytellers. Hamilton recalls that her mother could take a slice of fiction and polish it into a saga.4 Virginia Hamilton is known for her wonderful ability to create mood, tension and to build individualistic and complex characters. She also teaches the reader something whenever they read one of her books. These expressive qualities have led her to win 2numerous awards such as the Newbery Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the Edgar Allen Poe Award, the National Book Award and many others as well. She has also been awarded three honorary doctorates and is the only Childrens author to have been awarded a MacAuthor fellowship.In The House of Dies Drear and The Mystery of Drear House, Virginia Hamilton uses fictional stories with historic background to educate the reader about the Underground Railroad.The House of Dies Drear is a story about a family living in South Carolina. In the beginning of the book, they move to Ohio, to a giant mansion that supposedly held secrets. The Small Family found out that the house is known to the town as haunted. Throughout this book, the house does prove itself as having secrets. Thomas Small finds secret passageways, special rooms, tunnels and many other secrets used in the Underground Railroad. The Small family finds out that the house had a century-old legend, where two fugitive slaves, trying to escape, had been killed by bounty hunters. Also killed, was Dies Drear, the abolitionist who had...
