Meet the Austins
Encyclopedia
Meet the Austins is the title of a 1960 novel by Madeleine L'Engle
, the first of her books about the Austin family. It introduces the characters Vicky Austin
and her three siblings, and Maggy Hamilton, an orphan. Vicky's noisy, loving, mostly-happy family is disrupted by the arrival of Maggy, a spoiled, troubled only child who had very little family life even before her father died in a plane crash. Maggy encourages Vicky's sister Suzy to misbehave, which in turn makes Vicky's life difficult as she tries to restore order. The book is largely episodic
, with each chapter covering a specific incident such as Vicky's bicycle
accident or a family vacation. Although Vicky will later appear in three novels that have fantasy and/or science fiction themes, there are no such elements in Meet the Austins.
Rounding out the family are Vicky's father, Dr. Wallace "Wally" Austin, a doctor in general practice; her mother Victoria Eaton Austin, a retired singer; an uncle, Douglas Austin, an artist (painter) who occasionally visits; Aunt Elena, actually a close family friend who is the Austins' connection with the orphaned Maggy; and Grandfather Eaton, a retired minister who lives in a converted stable on fictional Seven Bay Island.
in two of L'Engle's collections, and then issued as a picture book
in 1999. Meet the Austins is followed, in terms of internal chronology as well as publication date, by the full-length novels The Moon by Night
(1963), The Young Unicorns
(1968), A Ring of Endless Light
(1980) and Troubling a Star
(1994). Suzy Austin appears as a married adult in A Severed Wasp
(1982).
and portrayed the Austin children as having a close friend who was poor and Hispanic. This missing chapter was published separately in 1980 as The Anti-Muffins. In 1997, the hardcover publisher of L'Engle's novels from 1962 on, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, issued a new edition of Meet the Austins that for the first time incorporated the chapter. Paperback editions prior to 1997 did not include this additional material. However, the next book in the series, The Moon by Night
, includes a scene in which Vicky tells Zachary Gray
about the Anti-Muffin club, in very nearly the same text that introduces it in the originally-omitted chapter. The 1997 Square Fish paperback edition includes "The Anti-Muffins" as Chapter Five of the book.
"Muffins" are used as a metaphor for conformity and snobbery.
Madeleine L'Engle
Madeleine L'Engle was an American writer best known for her young-adult fiction, particularly the Newbery Medal-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, and An Acceptable Time...
, the first of her books about the Austin family. It introduces the characters Vicky Austin
Vicky Austin
Victoria "Vicky" Austin is one of Madeleine L'Engle's most frequently-used fictional characters, appearing in eight books and referred to in at least one more. She is the main protagonist of the Austin family series of books...
and her three siblings, and Maggy Hamilton, an orphan. Vicky's noisy, loving, mostly-happy family is disrupted by the arrival of Maggy, a spoiled, troubled only child who had very little family life even before her father died in a plane crash. Maggy encourages Vicky's sister Suzy to misbehave, which in turn makes Vicky's life difficult as she tries to restore order. The book is largely episodic
Episodic
Episodic can refer to* The nature of television series that are divided into short programs. See Episode* Episodic memory relates to the types of memory that result from specific incidents in a lifetime...
, with each chapter covering a specific incident such as Vicky's bicycle
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
accident or a family vacation. Although Vicky will later appear in three novels that have fantasy and/or science fiction themes, there are no such elements in Meet the Austins.
Major characters
- Victoria "Vicky" Austin is the protagonistProtagonistA protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
and first person narratorNarratorA narrator is, within any story , the fictional or non-fictional, personal or impersonal entity who tells the story to the audience. When the narrator is also a character within the story, he or she is sometimes known as the viewpoint character. The narrator is one of three entities responsible for...
, as she is in most but not all of the Austin family novels. Born in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, she lives with her family in rural Thornhill, somewhere in New EnglandNew EnglandNew England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
. She is twelve years old at the beginning of the novel. Her uncle Douglas describes Vicky as having an artistic temperament, but Vicky claims not to have a talent for anything. - John Austin, Vicky's elder brother, is a budding scientist whose homemade space suitSpace suitA space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
won a prize in a statewide Science fairScience fairA science fair is generally a competition where contestants present their science project results in the form of a report, display board, and models that they have created. Science fairs allow students in grade schools and high schools to compete in science and/or technology activities...
. John (like Vicky) was born in New York City, when his father was 24 years old. John is fifteen years old as of chapter one of the novel. Vicky describes him as being "the nicest one of us all." - Suzanne "Suzy" Austin, Vicky's sister, is just nine years old as the novel opens, but already knows that she wants to be a doctor. All of her games are oriented on her playing the doctor, including many mock operations on broken dolls. A year younger than Maggy, she is Maggy's chief friend and playmate. Suzy is blonde, and considered the beauty of the family. Suzy's refusal to eat pork after reading Charlotte's WebCharlotte's WebCharlotte's Web is an award-winning children's novel by acclaimed American author E. B. White, about a pig named Wilbur who is saved from being slaughtered by an intelligent spider named Charlotte. The book was first published in 1952, with illustrations by Garth Williams.The novel tells the story...
is based on an actual incident with L'Engle's elder daughter. - Robert "Rob" Austin is Vicky's wise, loving baby brother, age four (almost five) as the story opens. The family enjoys his creative "God bless" litanies and other surprising things he says. His favorite toy is a plush elephant, named Elephant's Child after one of the Just-So Stories by Rudyard KiplingRudyard KiplingJoseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
. The toy has a working music box until Maggy breaks it. (The music box is later replaced.) L'Engle acknowledged in her book A Circle of Quiet that the character is based on L'Engle's son, Bion Franklin. - Margaret "Maggy" Hamilton is the orphaned daughter of a jet-setting mother and a test pilotTest pilotA test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....
father. She is ten years old when she comes to live with the Austins, loud and attention-seeking. She spends most of her time with Suzy, and the two often are punished for their mischievous ways. The character's background is one of privilege and neglect, Maggy having had lots of toys but minimal discipline, and little contact with her parents. After Maggy's mother died of pneumoniaPneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
during a trip to SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Maggy went to live with her father, Dick Hamilton, who died a month later.
Rounding out the family are Vicky's father, Dr. Wallace "Wally" Austin, a doctor in general practice; her mother Victoria Eaton Austin, a retired singer; an uncle, Douglas Austin, an artist (painter) who occasionally visits; Aunt Elena, actually a close family friend who is the Austins' connection with the orphaned Maggy; and Grandfather Eaton, a retired minister who lives in a converted stable on fictional Seven Bay Island.
Series notes
Although Meet the Austins, as the name implies, is the family's first appearance in terms of publication date, a short, later book, The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas (1964), takes place five years earlier. Another short Christmas story about the Austins, A Full House: An Austin Family Christmas, takes place about a year before Meet the Austins. A Full House was first published as a short storyShort story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
in two of L'Engle's collections, and then issued as a picture book
Picture book
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil.Two of the earliest books with something like the format picture books still retain now...
in 1999. Meet the Austins is followed, in terms of internal chronology as well as publication date, by the full-length novels The Moon by Night
The Moon by Night
The Moon by Night is the title of a young adult novel by Madeleine L'Engle. Published in 1963, it is the second novel about Vicky Austin and her family, taking place between the events of Meet the Austins and The Young Unicorns , and more or less concurrently with the O'Keefe family novel The...
(1963), The Young Unicorns
The Young Unicorns
The Young Unicorns is the title of a young adult suspense novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It is the third novel about the Austin family, taking place between the events of The Moon by Night and A Ring of Endless Light...
(1968), A Ring of Endless Light
A Ring of Endless Light
A Ring of Endless Light is a 1980 novel by Madeleine L'Engle. The book tells of a girl named Vicky and her struggle to understand life and significance in the universe as she deals with her dying grandfather, while at the same time finding love....
(1980) and Troubling a Star
Troubling a Star
Troubling a Star is the last full length novel in the Austin family series by Madeleine L'Engle. The young adult suspense thriller, published in 1994, reunites L'Engle's most frequent protagonist, Vicky Austin, with Adam Eddington, both of whom become enmeshed in international intrigue as they...
(1994). Suzy Austin appears as a married adult in A Severed Wasp
A Severed Wasp
A Severed Wasp A Severed Wasp A Severed Wasp (1982, is a novel by Madeleine L'Engle. It continues the story of a pianist, Katherine Forrester, who was first seen in The Small Rain. Now a widow in her seventies, Katherine Forrester Vigneras returns to New York City in retirement from concert touring...
(1982).
Publication details
The 1960 first edition of Meet the Austins was published only after many rejections, reportedly because it begins with a death. The original publication left out a chapter about the children's "Anti-Muffin" club, which advocated diversityMulticulturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
and portrayed the Austin children as having a close friend who was poor and Hispanic. This missing chapter was published separately in 1980 as The Anti-Muffins. In 1997, the hardcover publisher of L'Engle's novels from 1962 on, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, issued a new edition of Meet the Austins that for the first time incorporated the chapter. Paperback editions prior to 1997 did not include this additional material. However, the next book in the series, The Moon by Night
The Moon by Night
The Moon by Night is the title of a young adult novel by Madeleine L'Engle. Published in 1963, it is the second novel about Vicky Austin and her family, taking place between the events of Meet the Austins and The Young Unicorns , and more or less concurrently with the O'Keefe family novel The...
, includes a scene in which Vicky tells Zachary Gray
Zachary Gray
Zachary Gray is a fictional character in the young adult novels of Madeleine L'Engle...
about the Anti-Muffin club, in very nearly the same text that introduces it in the originally-omitted chapter. The 1997 Square Fish paperback edition includes "The Anti-Muffins" as Chapter Five of the book.
"Muffins" are used as a metaphor for conformity and snobbery.