The Anti-Muffins was originally written as a chapter of Madeleine L'Engle's 1960 novel Meet the Austins. At the time, however, the themes of diversity and tolerance were considered controversial, and the publisher made her leave this chapter out of the published book. Many years later the missing chapter was published separately as The Anti-Muffins. This little book is long out of print, and sometimes sells for about $60 used.

The good news is that the 1999 hardcover edition of Meet the Austins includes this chapter in the novel for the first time. Unless you're a serious L'Engle collector, you can skip this rare book and buy the Meet the Austins hardcover instead. It's one of her best books, and well worth getting in hardcover.

At first, I thought this book was strange like many of Madeline's books. It was not until I learned a few things about Madeline, that I begin to understand some of the characters from the book and what the anti-muffins really means. Using this book to teach others to stand up for what is right would be ideal. I think all young and old adolescents should go out and read this book. It's great!

A wonderful picture book introduction to Madeleine L'Engle's Austin family. The story of staying true to yourself and supporting family and friends is simply told through the eyes of young Vicky. This beautiful story makes you want to form your own "Anti-Muffins" club.

Christian Mythmakers is a good overview of some of the thoughts and ideas of various Christian fantasy writers. While the chapter on John Bunyan is basically little more than a summary of Pilgrim's Progress, the rest of the book is interesting and thought provoking. The chapter on Charles Williams is a "must read" for anyone interested in or confused by Williams' work.

This book is a fascinating look at ten Christian mythmakers, that is authors who have used the power of myth to convey Christian truths in a new way. The narrative begins with John Bunyan and his seminal Pilgrim's Progress, continues through George Macdonald, G.K. Chesterton, Charles Williams, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and finishes up with Madeleine L'Engle, Walter Wangerin, Robert Siegel, and Hannah Hurnard.

Professor Hein begins with a short biography of the author, and then proceeds to explain the author's work, examining its theology and significance. I found this book to be quite fascinating, with the author giving me a look at these masterpieces of Christian literature in a way that I had never thought of before. If you are a fan of any of the authors above, then I highly recommend that you get this book!

I had the privilege of taking courses under Dr Hein in the early 90's at Wheaton. He is a very knowledgeable teacher and has great affection for the people he is writing about in this book. If you have any interest in these authors, this book is a must read. I wasn't aware that he had written this book when I came across it looking for books on George MacDonald and C.S. Lewis. As an Economics major, I somehow ended up taking four Lit. classes from Dr Hein because he is such a good instructor and passionate about his subject matter.

friends for the journey is a nice book. i found the book interesting, learning more about the thoughts and views of l'engle, as well as her friendship w/shaw. it's just a quaint little book.

What more could you ask for than a book created by these two wonderful women--and friends. This is the beautiful story of a friendship that has flourished through miles and years--death and trials--beauty and joy. It is an inspiration and a tribute to friendship.

This is the kind of book you buy 2 of--one for you and one for your best friend!

L'Engle and Shaw, friends for 25 years, are educators at heart. Here they teach about friendship by sharing their own balanced and loving bond. Through an assortment of poetry, conversations, journal entries and other narrative, they celebrate a connection that grew in spite of living many miles apart.

As they look back over visits, vacations and joint writing projects, one sees that they enjoy each other's company enormously. Along the way they reflect on many facets of friendship; with girlhood chums, male friends, spouse, and family. They also show us their friendship with God and we observe that communion as they share and pray together and enrich each other's faith.

These two friends, one in her 70's, one ten years younger, were there for each other as both lost their husbands to cancer within the span of twelve months some years ago. Luci Shaw has since remarried, but their bond of friendship continues to this day.

Readers who follow their work will enjoy finding familiar poems in this new setting. And will be happy to know that L'Engle and Shaw have collaborated again. Their new book is a collection of short Christmas readings. It is _Winter Song_, a lovely blend of their own prose and poetry

This is one of Madeleine L'Engle's earliest works (I believe it may even be her first). It's the tale of a young and highly gifted pianist, who is sent off to a boarding school where her talent is anything but appreciated. In fact the school administrators firmly believe they are doing her a favor by forcing her to broaden her interests, and by limiting her practice time and forbidding her access to the piano at other times. There's a good deal of interplay between our protagonist and her family (it's family difficulties that cause boarding school in the first place), and her relationship with her piano teacher. It's a bittersweet look at a time of life that's difficult for many, made more so by circumstance and talent that must have it's way.

i loved this book by Madeleine L'Engle and it was the 1st one i ever read. It's shocking that it's out of print. Anyway this book is about a girl named Katherine who's mother had a series of problems during Katherine's childhood causing her to live with her aunt maya. When Katherine final moves in with her mother and learns to be a fine pianist something awful happens and she is sent off to a boarding school. In this boarding school she has only one friend and a piano teacher who really in her talent. Then continues her stuggle. If you are depressed about this book being out of print its ok because the entire thing is the first half of "A Small Rain" and the rest of Katherine's life is continued in the rest.

A few phrases from the introduction capture the reason why this book was brought into being. "An issue such as the supernatural cannot be left to charlatans and hucksters. Because it holds importance for all of us, its investigation must be led by trustworthy guides-the best minds with the greatest linguistic gifts." The editor, Harold Fickett, picked his title, Things in Heaven and Earth, Exploring the Supernatural, then found fourteen totally different individuals, all competent writers, who were willing to do their best explaining why the spiritual is significant and meaningful. Readers will find these articles amazingly different in substance and style, yet each in their own way, deeply meaningful, "spiritual." Fickett also accomplished a major service for religious unity by choosing authors, liberal and conservative, from a wide spectrum of religious faith. In addition, Larry Woiwode's chapter emphasizes the natural world of forests and lakes, birds and beasts, through which God manifests love to the human race. Probably the most surprising article is by Ron Austin titled Blue Screen in which he hails God speaking to us through great lines from some of our most widely respected motion pictures. As editor of Cosmic Concepts inspirational books, my first scanning of these essays gave some of their authors high marks, others lesser grades. Since then I have been reading them to my wife, Jean, who suffered a stroke two years ago limiting her mental quickness, but not her depth of soul. I read slowly, with pauses to let the thoughts sink in. Her softly spoken "oh" or "ah" tell me "yes, the spiritual is coming through," and my appreciation of the author greatly expands. Reading in relaxed meditation, rather than rushing through, will enhance your appreciation of the authors' messages.

.

I couldn't put this Christ-centered, uplifting book down. What a joy to read! Miss L'Engle is certainly an awesome writer who explores spiritual depths with refreshing courage and fearlessness. I would give this book 500 stars if I were allowed! A book that will touch you, move you, and encourage you in the faith.

This book is notable for several reasons: in typical L'Engle "nepotistic" style, it features the younger version of characters who appear in later books (Virginia Porcher, _House Like a Lotus_, and Mimi Oppenheimer, _A Severed Wasp_); and it features characters who obviously evolved into two important characters of her more recent Young Adult fiction, Zachary Gray and Max Horne. While a fascinating read, this book does not have the maturity of writing that Ms. L'Engle developed in her more recent adult fiction.

Do you know how awful it is that this book is out of print? I found a copy at the library, and read it in one night -- it's wonderful! The writing style is definitely early L'Engle, reminiscent of The Small Rain. The theme isn't quite as evident as it is in later novels . . . but it's still a delightful read.

The characters are interesting -- both the "younger incarnations", Virginia Bowen Porcher and Mimi Oppenheimer (wasn't there a Renier in there somewhere?), and the characters whom we haven't seen before: Emliy Bowen, Abe Fielding, Kaarlo . . .

The plot in brief: Emily's husband Courtney used to be a professor at a university, and he resigned. They're spending the winter holidays in France, not many years after World War II ended. From there, it's the usual L'Engle family-in-conflict. Vee, their daughter, is also struggling with adolescence and that whole L'Engle-style conflict . . .

It combines the best of many of her novels: the adult conflict and the children's conflict. Not that this is exactly a book for children: it's as heavy as anything else she writes. But in this book I see beginnings of most of the novels that came after it, both for adolescents and for adults.

Highly recommended! That is, if you can find it . . .

I have been a fan of Madeleine L'Engle since I first ran across A Wrinkle in Time in my grade school many years ago now. Since then, I have read just about every book she has written and I have never been disappointed. L'Engle is one of the most consistent writers of high quality books that is out there.

I'm a little past the age of the target audience for this book but it is a fun little book that older siblings of new babies are sure to enjoy. This was in my mind as my brother and his wife had their second child a few weeks ago. In this book, the family dog has to deal with feelings of jealously at the arrival of a new baby in the house. It is a cute and humorous little story told from the dog's point of view. If you need a gift so that an older sibling doesn't feel left out when the new baby arrives, this is a good choice.

On the surface, this story is about a spoiled dog's reaction to a first human baby coming home. The story is told in first dog, with Touche L'Engle-Franklin speaking as narrator. That perspective will provide much surface humor. Underneath that story line is the concept of the adjustments that siblings must make when the second child arrives. At first there is a sense of being displaced, then superiority over the pitiful creature follows, and finally love and connection arrive. The book is improved by an extensive author's note at the end about how the story is based on real-life experiences in her family. The book's main weakness is that it should have had simpler vocabulary so that it could have been used with the younger children who are about to meet their first sibling. You can still do that, but will have to rewrite or paraphrase the text so that the story will be completely understandable.

The writing is quite humorous. "First of all, I think you should know that I am the one who wrote this book." "So, I -- Touche L'Engle-Franklin -- write this book, with the assistance of that inferior canine Jo [the baby]."

"This summer my mistress went away for several days . . . she brought with her another dog." "I fail to see why I did not satisfy all requirements."

The humor builds on the drawbacks of human babies -- they have to be carried, they need diapers (and those have to be changed!), they must be fed several times a day, and they are almost hairless and wear clothes.

Over time, Touche takes over watching Jo in the playpen, as they play together through the bars.

" . . . [I] come to the

unpredictable,

surprising,

amazing,

astonishing,

astounding conclusion:

in every home there should be at least two dogs!"

The book ends with a painted grey paw print.

Ms. Davenier's images are cheerful watercolors that feel like they might have been made sometime between the 1930s and 1950s. This gives the book a feeling of heritage and elegance. The details are inked in with soaring spirals that add motion to the images, often showing Touche dancing all around the room over a large two page spread.

Reading this book reminded me of our dog's reaction when our oldest came home from the hospital. Skipper, our Sheltie, looked definitely puzzled, but was very interested. Soon, he was patiently letting "the new dog" pull his hair (as long as it wasn't too hard). They became very close companions, and it was a great pleasure to watch them play together. I don't think I would have remembered that experience again except for reading this book.

You might also want to encourage your child to address what it might be like to view a new baby in the family from other perspectives. How will the cat who lives next door think about the new baby? In this way, you can make the introduction more comfortable. The best time to do this is while the family is pregnant. Obviously, you also need to train any pets you have to behave around your baby. I remember reading good books on this subject, but don't remember their names at the moment.

Be patient with all new dogs . . . and the old dogs and children who will eye them suspiciously!

This story is told from the point of view of Touche, the dog, and what a marvelous dog Touche is! His attentive and amusing observations of "the other dog" range from "the other dog's" missing tail, lack of ventures outside for potty-time, sleeping arrangements, growth spurts, and "the other dog's" reaction to him, Touche (which is very satisfying to Touche). Touche's warm, intelligent, fun-loving and witty voice and the expressive illustrations that showed him at the peak of his interaction with "the other dog" made me a long-lasting and faithful friend.

Despite the high hopes I had when I started this book (due to my high regard of L'Engles other books - A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, etc), I was sorely disappointed in this book. THe plot was a little above average, but it just didn't hold my attention. Additionally, L'Engles attempts to write in Southern dialect for the main character's dialogue failed miserably and came off "hokey" and unrealistic.

I was pretty disappionted when I realized that their weren't any dragons in this book, but that dissapiontment soon vanished. I found the book to be thick with suspense and description. All the characters were so real, I'm sad to see that Simon doesn't re-enter any other books, and to see how happy Poly was as a child, it was a shock to read The Arm of a Starfish. A wonderful Book.

I "re-met" the O'Keefe's while searching for books for a neice. What a treasure! Expecting to find books aimed for an adolescent (the age I was when last I spent time with the Murray's and O'Keefe's), I was charmed and entranced by the story of Simon, Poly and Charles and their adventure together.

The book is well written and thought-out, with exceptional character development. Each has a complete and interesting history that takes the reader right in; a history that's not dependant upon having kept up with the series (which I have not). I felt perfectly familiar with all of the characters based upon what I was reading and not what I'd read 20 years ago.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story, setting and treatment of the subject matter, and wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys an adventure, be they first-time or long-time readers of Ms. L'Engle's.

The story Meet The Austin's was a story about a normal family accepting a new child, Maggie, into their home after her father died. The family experiences their ups and downs while Maggie is living with them. I recommend this book because it shows how a normal family accepts a stranger into their lives and has to live with her for quite a long time. This book shows how people overcome their differences and begin to accept each other for their similarities. I think people should read this book because it can teach us all a lesson on accepting and trusting other people, even though parts of this book seem too perfect, like singing and playing instruments as a family, it still is a well written book about a likeable family.

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.

i am twelve and this book really relates to me and my family. i have only read this austin book, but iplan to read them all they are great!

Madeleine L'Engle has the great and wise gift of addressing the questions of life in a way that makes everyone who reads her feel welcome in the conversation. Whether she discusses ontology or marriage or writing, she brings deep humility and the evidence of ordinary life to bear.

This first journal of the series she wrote at Crosswicks was very comforting. Like millions of people, Madeleine L'Engle became a childhood fixture of mine with the Wrinkle in Time series. Reading this book was like tea with an old friend, when perhaps the conversation goes a little slow, but you know you don't have to say anything to be understood.

When I first read this, I was a young mother, working full time and trying to get a master's degree! This book became my "Circle of Quiet" where I could slow down and remember what was important to me. When it came out in paperback, I dipped into the grocery money and bought 10 copies and gave it to every friend, saying "You've got to read this." Madeline L'Engle's way of sharing the magic and mystery of everyday life probably saved my sanity. It was like having an older "wise woman" friend to go to. I've always been grateful she was there when I needed her

A wonderful piece of art that should be read by all of humanity. This book displays many truths of life and I am bound to read it many times again. It has become my favorite book not just because of what it says but also because of what it doesn't say, which is the trust that one has towards family. She talks about her husband being in the theater and you never catch a glimpse of her fearing he'll walk away with someone and leave her one day. It is this omission in her novel that still rings deep in my soul. I had to find mine from an out of print bookstore online, yet it was well worth the effort.