Last weekend I grabbed this book off the shelf and started flipping through it for plant ideas when I noticed that I kept reading the darn thing again, so I sat down Saturday evening and gave it some proper attention. It’s Andre Norton’s Lavender Green Magic, a book that’s been around me in some location my whole life- I remember my mom reading it when I was a veeery little girl, and then I found it on my bookshelf after I got married. Somehow it’s followed me through all the places we have moved to since. Must be those faeries. . .
It’s a lovely book- I assume it’s another young adult fiction, judging by the focus of the story. It’s written from a child’s point of view, but the language level isn’t, as far as I can tell. I’m not an expert in reading or literature by any means- I just know what I like. Anyway, it’s a little different- there’s no monsters, or aliens, or interplanetary travel in this one. But there are gardens, and mazes, junkyards and early American history, and time travel. And there’s a witch in there, too. . .
Lavender Green Magic is also an interesting study on racial discrimination, albeit obliquely, as well as an emotionally sensitive look at the effects of loss on the individual members of a military family, particularly the youngest members of such. As they cope with a bewildering and devastating event, these children teach us that honesty and commitment are just as important as a belief in the unbelievable. And that if you’re going to walk a maze, always make the right-hand turn. . .
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