The Moon by Night and the slow reading week.

The Slow Week
I have been swamped this week by a crazy amount of work outside the classroom, and preparation for what I hope be doing this summer. When I was reading I bounced between 2 books that were not particularly engaging. The first book is A Small Rain, which was published in 1945. It is very much a first book. It has the typical authobiographical feel in the main character and sense of raw talent in the prose. The secong book was her book The Moon by Night. It was contemporary fiction when written in 1963. I now have a pile of books that look more promising.


The Moon by Night
This is part of my personal challenge to read all of Madeline L'Engle's books. This one will not appear on a favorites list. I am not sure if I would ahve finished it without my personal challenge. The Moon by Night one of the YA books about the Austins.
Summary: Vicky is is child 2of 4 and the oldest daughter. She is 14 and seems to be quite moody. Her character annoyed me. The plot has the entire Austin clan camping across the North America. They begin in the Northeast, travel south and across to California, then North and back into Canada and then south a bit and across the Northern states. They meet various people as they camp an frequently run into the same people at later campsites. Most notably is the character of Zachary Grey, who I appears in other L'Engle books.

Review: I did enjoy some of the National Park desciptions. However overall the overwelming anoying qualities of Vicky complicated the enjoyment level. I think I might have enjoyed the book better from the view of John, the eldest child. John seemed to be a wonderfully clever character who might have made fantastic observations throughout the trip. Contemporary in the 1960's much of the story is a bit dated, however the issues Vicky Austin dealt with are issues that teenagers still have.

I would give this 2 out of 5 stars.