The Moon by Night: The Austin Family Chronicles, Book 2 [Paperback]

Madeleine L'Engle (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Idealistic and wise, this is also absorbing reading and very much a story of today.”—The Horn Book Magazine

“Everyone who remembers Meet the Austins as a delightful family story will want to read its successor. . . . Vicky, groping painfully for answers, finding help from many sources, will strike chords of sympathy and understanding in her contemporaries, who are certain to find comfort and satisfaction in this wise, beautifully written novel.”—Chicago Tribune

 

“The Austin family spends the summer on a cross-country camping trip . . . Vicky, now ‘almost 15,’ tells the story, and the reader feels a strong personal identification with the thoughts and emotions of this age group through her story.”—School Library Journal

 

“With natural dialogue and good characterization, this story of an intelligent, lifelike family is far superior to the average fare for the early teens.”—Booklist

Product Description

As if simply being fourteen-years-old weren’t bad enough—what with the usual teenage angst and uncertainty, Vicky Austin’s always comforting and reliable home life is changing completely. Her brother John is going off to college in the fall. Maggy, an orphan taken in by the Austins two years ago, has gone to live with her legal guardian. And the rest of Vicky’s family is moving from their quiet house in the country to the heart of New York City.
     But before the big move, the entire Austin family is taking a meandering trip across the country in their station wagon, stopping to camp along the way, with no set schedule and not a single night of camping experience among them.
     Wild animal attacks. Life-threatening natural disasters. Cute boys on the prowl. Anything can happen in the great outdoors.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Square Fish; First Edition edition (September 2, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312379323
• ISBN-13: 978-0312379322
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #80,876 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than typical teen-aged angst, November 14, 2003

By	Nina M. Osier (Augusta, ME USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon by Night (Austin Family) (Paperback)

Every adult-in-the-making goes through at least one "difficult year." For Vicky Austin, that year comes when she's 14. She hasn't been able to do anything right (or it seems that way to her, at least!) for months, and now her parents have decided to tear her previously secure world apart. Dr. Austin is taking a temporary research and teaching position in New York City, leaving his small-town medical practice in another doctor's hands. The Austin family's home in Thornhill, Connecticut will be occupied by that other doctor's family, and that's where their pets will remain, too. But before they move into a New York apartment, the Austins embark on a cross-country camping trip - from Atlantic (Grandfather Eaton's home on Seven Bay Island) to Pacific (Laguna Beach, California, where they visit Uncle Douglas and Aunt Elena) and back.

It's an eventful trip during which Vicky has her first taste of romance, as she meets and is followed all the way across the country by a troubled and sometimes frightening rich boy named Zachary Grey. Zach's angry, hopeless response to life (which he fears losing at any moment, thanks to a rheumatic fever damaged heart) forces Vicky to confront twin demons that are making her own life miserable, in what L'Engle sensitively yet unsentimentally presents as something more than typical teen-aged angst. Vicky is part of the first generation to grow up under the shadow of the atom bomb, becoming aware of world events and their significance at the Cold War and nuclear arms race's height (this book's copyright date is 1963). She's become old enough, during her "difficult year" of being 14, to realize that she and everyone she loves can die at any moment; and she's also become old enough to ask herself whether or not God is really there. The love and respect she has for her grandfather, a minister and former missionary, can't save her from wondering if Zachary and others like him may not be right.

Although I didn't find THE MOON BY NIGHT as enjoyable a read as other L'Engle books because it was a bit too introspective for me (I'm used to more action and dialog, and missed it sorely as I ploughed through page after page of interior monologue), it is nevertheless the one I would most recommend to today's young readers. I was just a little bit younger in 1963 than Vicky Austin, and I remember only too well how it felt to know that my generation might not live to grow up - much less middle-aged or old - thanks to a world suddenly grown far smaller and more dangerous than the one in which our parents came of age. The children of post-911 should find plenty to identify with in Vicky's crisis of hope and faith, and much encouragement in its resolution.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo Madeline L'engle!, June 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Moon by Night (Austin Family) (Paperback)

This is one of my favourite books,and I know I will never grow too old to enjoy it. I identify strongly with fourteen year old Vicky,who tells the story. She and her family are travelling around America,before they move to New York.On the way Vicky meets Zachary,a very confused and troubled boy,who almost envies her naiveity. Vicky is not sure if she likes Zach as much as he likes her, but she learns a lot from knowing him. While journeying through new places with her family, she finds out about friendship and courage, and understands more how to love people (including herself) for what they are, not what they could be. This book has helped,(and is still helping,)me to grow up.I would reccomend it to anyone as a wonderful read, and I send a big thank you to Madeline L'engle for writing it!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Worthy Successor to "Meet the Austins", August 28, 2004

By	Kathryn (Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Moon by Night (Austin Family) (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed "Meet the Austins" and hoped "The Moon by Night" would be half as good. It was even better. I like that "Meet the Austins" gave an introduction to the family, and I found them a very nice family in deed- loving and Christian but still very believable, with realistic problems.

"The Moon by Night" takes place about two years later. Mother and Daddy have decided to move the family to New York, but to soften the blow they get there by way of a summer long cross-country camping trip.

It is on this trip we get to know Vicky Austin even better. She is fourteen now, and going through a very confusing phase. She's not sure what she believes about God, or the world outside her safe home on the hill. Complicating things even more is Vicky's relationship with Zachary, a boy who seems to show up wherever they make camp.

I could really relate to Vicky-every confusing emotion she had about Zach I felt too, as I read. I understood her questions about God, and I know I've had similiar ponderings. And I was very satisfied with her conclusions.

I would HIGHLY reccomend "The Moon By Night" to any teen looking for a good read. I would definitely suggest reading "Meet the Austins" first, though this book has enough background you can enjoy it without any previous introduction to the family.