A Look at L'Engle
After my daughter took some Madeline L'Engle books out of the library, I started (re)reading them. I do recall reading some of them before, but not all. Some I've never read before, like Meet the Austins. This book is less thrilling than the more famous A Wrinkle in Time. It does not include supernatural adventures in which children save the universe. It is more of a view into family life for a parallel family to the O'Keefes who do cross paths in some ways in later books in the chronicle.
What I found striking about the Austins is that they are presented as the ideal family with loving, supportive, and insightful parents who gather everyone around to hear the mother read out loud every night. Nevertheless, spanking is taken for granted as an appropriate punishment for children of 10 and 11. This book dates back to 1960 when, I suppose, it was not considered socially unacceptable. The parent do much that is good and instill excellent values in their children, including responsibility for chores, taking care of the younger ones, honesty, creativity, and thrift. The book is written from one of the children's point of view, and she does accept her parents, who are called "Mother" and "Daddy," as paradigms. In many ways they are, but I doubt there are many parents like that today.
From the L'Engle books that are clear in my mind, I can highly recommend A Wrinkle in Time. Most of the sequels to it are quite good. However, I would recommend parental discretion for A House Like a Lotus. I don't normally screen my children's books (in part because I don't have the time to read everything they take out), but I told my daughter not to read that one. Many Waters, which features the twin brothers of the heroine of the first book placed before the flood does not work so well; it has some hints of sensuality but nothing explicit. Dragons in the Water is interesting on its own terms, though it doesn't really trace much of the O'Keefe family, despite the presence of the characters in the book.
Visit my site www.kallahmagazine.com -- not just for kallahs. You can also see posts at http://www.examiner.com/x-18522-NY-Jewish-Bridal-Examiner
What I found striking about the Austins is that they are presented as the ideal family with loving, supportive, and insightful parents who gather everyone around to hear the mother read out loud every night. Nevertheless, spanking is taken for granted as an appropriate punishment for children of 10 and 11. This book dates back to 1960 when, I suppose, it was not considered socially unacceptable. The parent do much that is good and instill excellent values in their children, including responsibility for chores, taking care of the younger ones, honesty, creativity, and thrift. The book is written from one of the children's point of view, and she does accept her parents, who are called "Mother" and "Daddy," as paradigms. In many ways they are, but I doubt there are many parents like that today.
From the L'Engle books that are clear in my mind, I can highly recommend A Wrinkle in Time. Most of the sequels to it are quite good. However, I would recommend parental discretion for A House Like a Lotus. I don't normally screen my children's books (in part because I don't have the time to read everything they take out), but I told my daughter not to read that one. Many Waters, which features the twin brothers of the heroine of the first book placed before the flood does not work so well; it has some hints of sensuality but nothing explicit. Dragons in the Water is interesting on its own terms, though it doesn't really trace much of the O'Keefe family, despite the presence of the characters in the book.
Visit my site www.kallahmagazine.com -- not just for kallahs. You can also see posts at http://www.examiner.com/x-18522-NY-Jewish-Bridal-Examiner
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