The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl

by Virginia Hamilton

One long time ago, Pretty Pearl god child lived high on a mountaintop in Africa with all other gods. Curious about mankind and itching to show off her powers, she came down off the mountain with her brother, know-all best god John de Conquer, and sailed on a slave ship for America. There she saw the suffering of the black people, and felt their sorrow right behind her eyes . Pretty Pearl knew now was her time to act.Brother John gave her a magical necklace, a set of rules to follow, and a warning to be careful. "Them human bein's be awful tricky," he said."they has most winnin' ways." Drawing upon her fabulous storehouse of black legend, myth, and folklore, Virginia Hamilton has ventured into new ways of exploring the human spirit in this extrodinary fantasy filled with mysteries, beauty, and hope.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Childrens, African American, Africa, Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Virginia Esther Hamilton was the author of forty-one works of fiction and nonfiction. She was the first Black writer awarded the Newbery Medal and the first children's writer to be named a MacArthur Fellow (the "Genius" grant). She also received the National Book Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal.

Reviews

[Thistle & Verse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as an adult and I loved how Hamilton incorporated folklore into this story and her pantheon. The plot was unpredictable, and I enjoyed following the characters without being able to guess what would happen to them. There was a lot of history covered in this book, and I learned some things. I live in the same region as this book was set and am into plants, so I knew the plants that they foraged for were actually edible, which I thought was cool.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Magical Adventures of Pretty Pearl" is a fantasy book and was also a pick for an audio book. There were so many pages that this was going to be the audio, I also read along with the audio as it played. This book was published in 1986 and is intended for children the age group of I. This book is about a seagul that is curios about mankind and what there is to offer with them. She lives in africa and the day that she wants to explore mankind is when she sails right down onto a slave ship from america. Many different dificulties happen to pretty pearl in this book. She has problems adjusting to specific things. This book won the Coretta Scott King Honor Award.

I gave this book a rating of 5 stars. It was not my cup of tea but there are various things that caught my eye in this book. The plot was very unique. I love when the book keeps you hanging onto the edge of your chair thoughout the whole book as this story did. There was not any illustrations beside the cover, and you then can guess, it will be about seaguls. The language in the book was well written for intermediate children.

[Rye · Rating 3 out of 5]

magical folklore! a really interesting and unique weave of West African and African American gods and stories set in historical 1870's Georgia. deals with the complicated re-constructionist era post slavery. the characters are almost like comic book heroes. the dialect slowed me way down; the whole book is written in non-standard English. get ready for discussions of race and culture!

[Valerie]

This is something of an odd book. Pretty Pearl is an African child goddess, who travels to the US with John Henry.

I tend to remember odd bits...things like the hidden Cherokee settlement, whose primary export is ginseng.

[Hannah]

I just don't understand how Virginia Hamilton was so awesome at collecting and retelling folktales but so boring when it came to telling her own. Had to read this for class, read as much as possible, gave up when I realized it was just not going to happen. Also, problematic Native Americans.

[The Fairy Godmother]

Based on African folkore.

[Johari Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book

[Efundunke]

Fantastic. On this mythical spiritual freedom journey...

[m_miriam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is written in a particular dialect, which is most certainly not my own, although it is a book that needs to be read aloud. It is a lovely fairy tale with fascinating historical roots.

[Sarah Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty Pearl (a child God, although with an internal mother) comes down from Mount Highness with her big brother, the best God, High John de Conquer. Readers may recognize him from "John and the Devil's Daughter." They, fly to the Americas as albatrosses, following the slave ships, and John lets his baby sister strike out on her own to prove herself. She has many adventures, and at times her internal mother come out to protect her. Gods have no actual parents.
Re-reading this, I came to the conclusion that the book would best be read aloud by a teacher or after school assistant, perhaps specializing in dramatic arts, after having first read it over. The dialect is very difficult, even more difficult than that in Hamilton's collection of stories "The People Could Fly," and I think it would defeat even a Black third to fifth grader. And anyway, it is nice to have a teacher read aloud.

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

The god-child Pretty Pearl meets the doomed hero John Henry when she joins a hidden community of blacks who live closely in touch with a Cherokee band deep in the Georgia forests during Reconstruction.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 3 out of 5]

2 3/4 stars

[Magenta · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Wide-Brim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some people who aren't used to it might find the colloquial dialogue off-putting, but it gets easier. Beautiful story.