Becoming Madeleine L'Engle

December 4, 2017
L’Engle’s granddaughters have produced a perceptive look at the prolific author’s solitary childhood, gawky adolescence, and early adulthood, concluding in 1961 with FSG acquiring the manuscript of the book that would become A Wrinkle in Time. Making generous use of L’Engle’s diary entries (starting when she was 14 and at a Swiss boarding school), correspondence, and memorabilia, the book will appeal to aspiring writers as well as L’Engle’s admirers. The liveliest and most engrossing sections focus on L’Engle’s young adulthood in New York City as she strove to make a career in the theater and as a novelist. Early successes in both arenas gave way to rejection and frustration, but L’Engle persisted, faithful to her need to write, regardless of publication. At 30, she reflected in her journal: “It is just a necessary function to me like breathing and eating and eliminating. And is one of my greatest joys. And one of my greatest agonies.” A personal prologue and a moving epilogue that succinctly touches on L’Engle’s later adulthood from her granddaughters’ perspective are additional highlights, as are the many photos of the writer and her family. Ages 9–12.

March 1, 2018

Gr 6 Up-Skillfully crafted by her two granddaughters, this fascinating biography of renowned author Madeleine L'Engle illuminates the key personality traits, relationships, experiences, and perspectives that shaped her life and writing. With warmth, candor, and insight, the authors draw on journals, letters, poems, family stories, and more to portray L'Engle's growth from a solitary, awkward child to a literary success. The narrative is filled with poignant and entertaining anecdotes that convey L'Engle's love for her imperfect but supportive parents, her insecurities and eagerness to be accepted by peers, her creative independence and determination, and her early, lifelong passion for writing. This richly documented, intimate biography will give readers and writers of every age a deeper understanding of the beloved writer. In addition, readers will discover the pride, understanding, and bonds of kinship that emerge when generations within a family share life experiences. VERDICT This tender biography of an iconic kid lit author is a top choice for most libraries.-Gerry Larson, formerly at Durham School of the Arts, NC

Copyright 2018 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2018
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* It's a publishing event when Madeleine L'Engle's granddaughters offer an account of her life as a writer. And they do her proud, organizing the information well, presenting it clearly, and drawing on her journals for the lively excerpts that make this book so very readable. The biographical text provides a sturdy framework, beginning with L'Engle's parents' marriage and ending with the publication of A Wrinkle in Time (1962). An epilogue fills in the main events of L'Engle's later life and includes Voiklis' and Roy's recollections of their grandmother as well as comments on the journals that she kept from the age of 11. Beginning with the reflections of 13-year-old Madeleine attending boarding school in Switzerland, first-person passages appear with increasing length and frequency throughout the narrative. They provide the book's most vivid insights into the writer's mind and emotions through her teens, her college days, her experiences living in Greenwich Village (working for actress-writer-producer Eva Le Gallienne), her marriage with actor Hugh Franklin, and her years as a working mother in rural Connecticut and New York City. The many illustrations include reproductions of family photos as well as letters, playbills, and book jackets. A fine tribute to a legendary writer, 100 years after her birth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)