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Virginia Hamilton
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Willie Bea and the time the Martians landed Paperback – January 1, 1997

by Virginia Hamilton (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
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In October of 1938, on their farm homestead in Ohio, a black family is caught up in the fear generated by the Orson Welles "Martians have landed" broadcast.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    208 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Scholastic
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1997
  5. ISBN-10
    0590120298
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0590120296
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scholastic (January 1, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0590120298
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0590120296
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

About the author

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Virginia Hamilton

Virginia Hamilton

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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

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
7 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Miss Ivonne
4.0 out of 5 stars charming novel of middle-class life in the Depression
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2016
Willie Bea Mills comes from a large, close-knit family, with her aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins all around her. As the story begins on Oct. 30, 1938, I won’t be spoiling anything if I note that the title refers to Orson Welles’ infamous War of the Worlds broadcast.

But, in essence, although the broadcast plays a part, it isn’t the essence of this good-natured novel from the Newbery Award-winning author Virginia Hamilton. Instead, a glimpse into the lives of middle-class African-Americans in rural Ohio in the waning days of the Great Depression proves the real pleasure in reading this charming novel. While so many novels center on the abject poverty on the scale of  Bud, Not Buddy  and  The Grapes of Wrath , I was surprised at what life was like for the middle class: Even the Mills family doesn’t have an indoor bathroom, although they have a water pump at their kitchen sink, and store-bought costumes for Halloween is beyond their father’s pocketbook. Race relations in rural Ohio in 1938 seem more advanced than today’s.

It’s my first Hamilton novel, but certainly not my last.
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Janet Robel
4.0 out of 5 stars I'm so glad I got the chance to read a treasure that ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2016
I received this free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is such a cute story that will appeal to readers of all ages. Willie Bea is a young protagonist who captures your heart from the very beginning. She is so strong for being only twelve, and always puts other's needs before her own which makes her so endearing. I'm so glad I got the chance to read a treasure that I think all kids should read.
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Patrice Collins
4.0 out of 5 stars Willie Bea and the Time the Martians Landed
Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2000
Willie Bea is a spunky character, also called 'Will Bea" by Bay Brother. Willie Bea extremly dislikes her bratty cousin, Little. All she wants is to be liked by her rich aunt Lucy. But in the end she gets a lot more than she expected.
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