Wednesday, January 9, 2008

And Both Were Young, by Madeleine L'Engle. 4.5- 5

I finally got to this one yesterday, and once I picked it up, I had to finish it all the way through. Ok, I did have to actually make supper and such, but it was only reluctantly that I did so.

One of L'Engle's earliest works, this edition rewritten once the traditional taboo against mentioning things like death and sexual attraction in young adult literature was lifted, and basically restored to the original manuscript L'Engle had in mind. Truly a delightful story for young readers from a young writer. A young girl from Connecticut matures into her own self-confidence and begins to understand greater social realities through the loss of her mother, the finding of a soulmate, and a year in a Scandinavian boarding school, not long after the horrors of World War II.

Someday I will make it to Scandinavia; I just know it. And I might even learn how to ski without impaling myself on my own said skis. If Flip can do it, surely I can too.

(I'm a name nerd, and I love the name Philippa. Yet I wouldn't call her Flip, Flippet, and certainly never Pill. The appropriate nickname is Pippin! Oh, well...)

No comments: