Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle ISBN: 0-440-95777-X Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 15 April, 1981 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 (17 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A book for adults as well as for kids!
Comment: Twelve-year-old Vicky Austin has a secure and happy home with her physician father, homemaker mother, older brother John, and younger siblings Suzy and Rob, in their big house outside a small American town. The Austins practice an unpretentious but fully committed brand of Christianity, and despite normal squabbling and adolescent angst their elder daughter knows she is surrounded by love and treasures it.
Then Maggy Hamilton, ten years old and newly orphaned, lands in their midst and does her best to change everything. For a time this little girl who has never known a real home before does a good job of disrupting the Austins' lives. To Maggy, toys are for breaking (her rich grandfather will replace them on demand, so why not?) and so are rules. Yet like all children, Maggy desperately wants to be loved. Can the Austins love her in spite of her obnoxious behavior? Or will her presence tear their happy family apart?
The answer to that question may be predictable, but the way it happens isn't predictable at all. Vicky as narrator has a sweet but decidedly not saccharine voice, and an outlook on life as a budding woman that when this story was first published (copyright 1960) was positively revolutionary. I particularly love the way L'Engle imbues this and many of her other books with a matter-of-fact yet profound spiritual dimension, by depicting Christians who live their faith as if that were the most natural thing in the world.
I'm surprised I didn't find this book when I was at the age level for which it was written, since in 1960 I was 8 years old. However, all really fine children's literature can also be enjoyed by adult readers; and that's especially true of Madeleine L'Engle's work. I look forward now to reading the rest of the Austin series.
Rating: 5
Summary: Vicky is my favorite L'Engle character
Comment: I love all the Austin stories. I was first introduced to the family through (I think) Women's Day magazine when I was 10. It was the "24 days till Christmas" story. A few years later, I came across the "Meet the Austins" book and felt like I found an old friend. I have probably read this book over 10 times and can't help but pick it up when I need an old friend. Vicky's struggles as a 12 year old learning her place in the family and at an "awkward" age between teenager and child is wonderfully written. I plan on buying my niece, who is 11, each Austin book for Christmas over the next few years so that she can also grow up with Vicky.
Rating: 5
Summary: fabulous
Comment: this book is awesome. it remains one of my favorites. despite the fact that it was written in the 60s, it is still completely relevant to teenagers and families today. in fact, it seems to promote the "simpler" life of love and family that we all still want, without being at all saccharine or pushy. i love how the narrator, vicky, describes her family's life and events in such a matter-of-fact way, as if she was just talking to someone about what was going on... you know how sometimes someone can say a few words or describe a scene and you know exactly the feeling they mean? thats what happens thru out this book. it gives a warm and fuzzy feeling and the only problem is that you have to remind yourself the characters arent real. but it has great ethics, fun and 3d characters, and the Austin family is wonderful. also something ir eally liked: the Austins' family clearly includes some of their close friends (for example, the character of Aunt Elena)... its not about a birth thing, and it never gets addressed but its just so natural that their extremely loving and tightknit family should include friends just as easily.
i really, really recommend this book to anyone. its both an easy read and thoughtprovoking, and encouraging, anddddd just awesome!!!! :-)
 |
Title: The Moon by Night (Austin Family) by Madeleine L'Engle ISBN: 0440957761 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 15 April, 1981 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
 |
Title: The Young Unicorns (Laurel Leaf Books) by MADELEINE L'ENGLE ISBN: 0440999197 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 01 October, 1989 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
 |
Title: A Ring of Endless Light (Austin Family) by Madeleine L'Engle ISBN: 0440972329 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 01 August, 1981 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
 |
Title: The Arm of the Starfish (Laurel-Leaf Books) by Madeleine L'Engle ISBN: 0440901839 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 15 January, 1980 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
 |
Title: Troubling a Star by Madeleine L'Engle ISBN: 0440219507 Publisher: Laure Leaf Pub. Date: 01 September, 1995 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
