In this insightful biography of beloved children's book author Madeline L'Engle (A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newberry Medal), Marcus (Minders of Make-Believe) draws upon dozens of interviews with those who knew L'Engle personally and professionally, as well as with representatives of "the thousands of students, teachers, librarians, aspiring writers, neighbors and others who crossed her path." The result is both impressionistic and satisfyingly complex. One topic of concern is the spiritual aspect of L'Engle's work, which often got her books banned. We also get a window into her working habits, which included banging away on her grand piano. One of her editors at FSG recalls that "if you didn't pick your words right, you might end up with a whole new revision on your desk twenty-two minutes later." Throughout, L'Engle appears both remarkably generous and intensely private. For those who read L'Engle during childhood, this book will serve as a valuable companion to the stories they cherish. Photos. Agent: George Nicholson, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Writer, matriarch, mentor, friend, and icon, L'Engle was a complex person, ably presented here through the voices of family, friends, and acquaintances. A children's literature star, as author of the Newbery-winning A Wrinkle in Time and its sequels as well as the Austin family series, L'Engle was also a committed Christian, a spiritual guide to many, and librarian and writer-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. Marcus has wisely chosen not to try to simplify his portrait of this complicated woman, about whom many have very strong, sometimes contradictory, memories and feelings. "L'Engle tended carefully to departmentalize her vast and many-faceted universe," he explains. After an introductory summary, he presents more than 50 deftly edited interviews, organized by the role she played. The result is more like Hokusai's collection of views of Mt. Fuji, always with the subject in focus but also revealing a great deal of the surroundings. It is this rich addition that makes this biography a standout. Readers who may not have thought they needed or wanted to know quite so much about L'Engle's life will be charmed.-Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

That indefatigable interlocutor Marcus, who has seemingly interviewed everyone who is anyone in the world of children's literature, now directs his attention to the late Madeleine L'Engle and his questions to a host of those who knew her. The book is divided into six sections: Madeleine in the Making, Writer, Matriarch, Mentor, Friend, and Icon. Best known for her Newbery Medal-winning and groundbreaking A Wrinkle in Time, L'Engle was also a memoirist and a writer of adult nonfiction, much of it spiritual in nature. This aspect of her distinguished work might have made another section of the book but, as it is, remains a leitmotif throughout. If the work is a focus, what of the writer herself? The interviews are chockablock with adjectives and phrases that create this portrait in many voices. She appears to have been stately, formidable, scary, regal, noble, a grande dame, a classic presence, glamorous but also occasionally otherworldly, and, by many accounts, generous, charming, and gracious, especially to her friends and many mentees. That she was clearly a complex and fascinating person makes this a fascinating book and an excellent introduction to both L'Engle and her work.--Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist