My two favorite childhood books were Madelein L'Engle's _A Wrinkle in
Time_, which has been previously mentioned, and Carol Kendall's _The
Gammage Cup_. Both of these feature strong female leads.
Meg Murray of _A Wrinkle in Time_ is the prototypical teenage misfit, a
geek before it was cool. The child of a beautiful and brilliant mother,
she herself is not seen as being either. (She is very intelligent but
is unable to demonstrate it upon demand, due to her temper and lack of
patience with teachers who do not understand the shortcuts taught to her
by her mathematical genius father.) She goes on a quest to rescue her
missing father, accompanied by her much younger brother and aided by
supernatural entities.
_The Gammage Cup_ features two strong female leads, the outwardly
conforming and inwardly rebelling Muggles and Curley Green, the artistic
rebel who doesn't care what the other villagers think of her. Their
hobbit-like people are called the Minnipins. (Many have said that the
story bears strong resemblance to _The Hobbit_, but as I have read TGC
many times as a child and many years before I encountered _The Hobbit_,
I don't see other than very superficial resemblances.) Muggles, Curley,
and two male Minnipins are expelled from their village for their lack
of conformity and wind up having an adventure that eventually and
predictably saves the village.
What I liked as a child about both the characters of Meg and Muggles was
that they were as unsure of themselves and the world around them as I
was. Neither is seen by her peers as being outstanding in any way, yet
each manages to go beyond her own expectations and do the right and
heroic thing, no matter how much they would really rather run away and
hide. (And kvetch. One of the best scenes in AWiT is when Meg breaks
down and throws a tantrum. Is this a normal teenager or what?)
Finally delurking,
Berni Phillips
bernip@ix.netcom.com
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