From: Steven Engelfried <sengelfried>
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 15:05:09 -0800

Though I think of her first as a "funny" author, the families in Hilary McKay's books are always interesting and unusual, not so much in the demographic details, but in the way the family dynamics work. The "Exiles" books have four very different sisters, usually acting on their own (or together) without grown-up interference (until it's too late). From the girls' point of view, the grown-ups don't play that big of a role in their day to day lives...they're properly and very humorously self involved. Readers get to see the results of the girls' schemes from the parents' (or from Big Grandma's) viewpoint as well, which is where much of the humor comes from. I love the scattered family situations in The "Dog Friday" trilogy, where Robin and his mom are almost part of an extended family that includes the wild neighbors (Sundance and siblings) and Robin's friend Dan who has fine parents but prefers to be at Robin's house. "Dolphin Luck" is basically a ghost story, but behind it all is the wonderful trust in each other that the three families show, with the assorted parents kids all looking out for each other and respecting each person's peculiarities. And her latest, "Saffy's Angel" also has a girl from one family getting deeply involved (again, in a humorous way) with another. Saffy's parents are very original supporting characters...really irresponsible in many ways, but also tremendously likable and in the end, good
(though unconventional) parents. The grown-ups in McKay's books have lives beyond parenthood, which makes the families more real and more enjoyable...

Steven Engelfried, Children's Division Librarian Beaverton City Library 12375 SW 5th Street Beaverton, OR 97005 503R6%99 sengelfried at ci.beaverton.or.us
Received on Thu 14 Nov 2002 05:05:09 PM CST