I first read these just a few years after they came out, and I've been enjoying them ever since.
Elizabeth Enright is one of our most endearing and enduring children's authors. My first introduction to her was through The Melendy Family, which I still re-read every now and then. Her characters have the childhood we all dreamed of - big old houses in the country, secret rooms, attics, window-seats and cupolas, woods with brooks and swamps, plenty of brothers and sisters to play with and understanding grown-ups.
There is a line in the above book that never fails to come to mind this time of year; "It was June, the summer stretched ahead like a vast ocean and September was forever away." Of course that is exactly how it felt when one was 10 and school had ended the day before. There is something magical about books we loved as children that remain favourites as we grow older. These two are definitely in that category for me
I don't know if I ever read these, but now I want to. Something about them strikes a memory in me, of the library I frequented as a kid, of the smells of the books and of the anticipation of opening a cool story and reading and reading on summer days. I bet when I open these up, I will remember them and love going there again.
ReplyDelete