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An Acceptable Time (Time #5)

3.85 of 5 stars 3.85 · rating details · 8,837 ratings · 316 reviews

A flash of lightning, quivering ground, and, instead of her grandparents' farm, Polly sees mist and jagged mountains and coming toward her, a group of young men carrying spears.

Why has a time gate opened and dropped Polly into a world that existed 3,000 years ago? Will she be able to get back to the present before the time gate closes and leaves her to face a group of

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Mass Market Paperback, 343 pages

Published November 1st 1990 by Laurel Leaf (first published January 1st 1989)

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Jun 14, 2012 Jennie rated it 3 of 5 stars

OK, this is the "Time" series (A Wrinkle in Time) Book 5, and the "O'Keefe Family" series Book 4... a little confusing! I'm reading the Time series and am immediately thrust into book 4 of another series... which explains why I feel I'm missing a lot of information on the characters. This book starts out directly with the second generation -- Meg's daughter, Polly. I'm disappointed that the author hasn't given us more of Meg's story, and what happened with her brother, Charles Wallace? I hope we...more

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Jan 21, 2009 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars

The first one hundred pages were pretty boring, BUT then she got into a good story. I think this book needed a better editor. I enjoyed the fact that she makes the point that even if you do the right thing and help somebody, you don't have to be friends if they have mistreated you. It's not like you have to open yourself up to abuse.

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Jan 09, 2009 Jesse rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay, so how many times have I read the four books that proceeds this and still managed to be completely unaware of the existence of this one? Picked from my sister's bookshelf and devoured over a quick excursion home for Christmas, I could never quite shake the feeling that this was a bit of a step down from the other four. Polly just isn't nearly as compelling a character as her mother or her uncles (though she does grow on you), Alex could very well be L'Engle's most relentlessly tiresome cre...more

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May 14, 2013 Shauna rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: die hard L'Engle fiends, time travellers

Not sure if this book was disappointing because I am reading it from an adult perspective after enjoying some of L'Engles other books as a kid, or if it simply isn't on par with her other works. Whatever the reason, I finished this book with the sense that something was lacking in both plot and storytelling.
So much of the plot is driven by the unexplained 'time gate' and so much of the book is devoted to Polly's grandparents discussing and denying its existence (say whaaat?? Is this man not the...more

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Mar 21, 2013 Erika rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really love Madeleine L´Engle. She adds to her stories this wonderful adventures and always highlights the importance of love in her books, something I find very sweet and true. I really enjoyed the first four books in her Time Quintet, though I´m sad I can´t say the same for this book.
We start off with the principal character, Polly O´Keefe(Meg´s and Calvin´s daughter). I thought she was an intelligent and likeable character. She is sent to live with her grandparents, Mrs. and Mr. Murry (oh,...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Andy rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: children, fiction, sci-fi-fantasy, series-should-be-read-in-order

The most "grown-up" of the Time series, and that's not a good thing. There are no young children in this book, only teenagers and young adults, and correspondingly the delightful lightheartedness that permeated the first book and its sequels (to a lesser degree) is more or less gone. The departures from reality are much milder and in fact, apart from the space/time travel that is present in every book of the series, there is very little that is fantasy proper.

This isn't inherently problematic....more

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Sep 15, 2012 B. rated it 2 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the first three books in this series when I was younger. The fourth book, Many Waters , I read more recently, and it was good, if not with the same spark as the earlier ones. The fifth book, unfortunately, doesn't stand up.

An Acceptable Time is about Polly, a teenager staying with her grandparents. For reasons that are hinted at but never really explained, a gate opens to a time 3,000 years before, where Polly and her neighbour the bishop interact with the natives (who are led by a wis...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Stefany rated it 2 of 5 stars

In An Acceptable Time, Polly is alright as a character but I kind of felt like I was missing half the story (that might be because this book takes place after three other books that aren’t considered part of the quintet) and sometimes her response to some of the events seemed flimsy and came with little to no explanation. Maybe if I read the other novels that come before this one chronologically I’d connect more with Polly, but that’s what I thought about Meg and after the first book you don’t g...more

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May 20, 2011 Cyndy Aleo rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy

Although I'm long past the age where I should be reading Madeleine L'Engle's books for young adults, a few years ago I happened upon a copy of An Acceptable Time in a bookstore and snapped it up. I've read everything of Madeleine L'Engle's that I've been able to find in print, and wasn't about to let my age stop me from reading more about one of my favorite L'Engle families.

::: An Acceptable Plot :::

An Acceptable Time brings us back to Poly (now Polly) O'Keefe, the daughter of Meg and Calvin fro...more Although I'm long past the age where I should be reading Madeleine L'Engle's books for young adults, a few years ago I happened upon a copy of An Acceptable Time in a bookstore and snapped it up. I've read everything of Madeleine L'Engle's that I've been able to find in print, and wasn't about to let my age stop me from reading more about one of my favorite L'Engle families.

::: An Acceptable Plot :::

An Acceptable Time brings us back to Poly (now Polly) O'Keefe, the daughter of Meg and Calvin from A Wrinkle in Time and other L'Engle novels for young adults. Polly has been sent to stay with her grandparents after the death of her friend Max, allegedly to provide her with more science education than she was getting at her high school. Once she is there, Polly once again meets up with Zachary Grey, a spoiled rich kid who seems to have no redeeming qualities yet L'Engle's teen heroines (first Vicky Austin and now Polly) are inexplicably drawn to him.

Polly, Zak, and the brother of Polly's grandparents' friend Dr. Louise Colubra get drawn into a tesseract (where two circles of time meet and can be crossed) involving a tribe of Native Americans, including Druids. While Dr. Louise and Polly's grandparents try to keep Polly safe, some of the Native Americans from the other time circle believe that a blood sacrifice is needed to bring rain to their drought-affected land. Is Polly meant to be their sacrifice?

::: An Acceptable Sermon? :::

One of the things that I always loved about L'Engle's works as a teenager was that they addressed issues of spirituality without being overtly preachy. While many of her novels have had characters who are clergy (Canon Tallis, the Austin grandfather), they have never been as preachy as Bishop Nason Colubra. What begins as an interesting story about simple times and how some of these Native American Druids may have had a simple spirituality that our time would be lucky to have turns into a sermon about Christianity and Christ's sacrifice for mankind.

The first half of the book is very involving, and hints at another reason for Polly to have come to stay with her grandparents than just enhancing her science curriculum. However, the second half gets so involved with the concept of the blood sacrifice and Bishop Colubra's sermons every five minutes that it seems L'Engle forgot to tell us why Polly is there with her grandparents. If I hadn't read A House Like a Lotus I would have had no idea what experiences Polly might need to recover from at all.

Worst of all is the pat ending, which feels hurriedly rushed. Not only is there no surprise ending, but the conclusion feels as if L'Engle tired of writing the book and just wanted it over with.

::: An Acceptable Rating :::

For any fan of L'Engle's novels, An Acceptable Time is most likely a must-read, if for no other reason than to hear even a little more about characters who feel almost like family when you've spent as much time with them during your young adult years as I did. However, this is far from L'Engle's best work, and can be rated only average, at best.

This review previously published at Epinions: http://www.epinions.com/review/An_Acc...(less)

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Jan 24, 2011 Kerith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Ms L'Engle returns to her Time series in this lovely novel, which also takes place directly after A House Like A Lotus. In it we return to Meg Murry's childhood home with her daughter Polly O'Keefe, who has come there to stay with her grandparents and be homeschooled for awhile. Other familiar characters like Zachary Gray and Dr. Louise appear.
While staying with her grandparents, Polly inadvertently goes through a "time gate" and finds herself 3000 years in the past, with the People of the Wind...more

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Aug 13, 2010 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fitting conclusion to the series. L'Engle's Time Quintet has always been about the passage of time, so a final book that follows a new character, granddaughter to the Drs. Murry and daughter to Calvin and Meg seems fitting. As time passes and we grow up, our children come up behind us and live life in ways both similar to and different from we might ever have imagined.

This book follows the time travelling journey's of Meg's daughter Polly. From the opening images on the Murry land, especially...more

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Jul 02, 2010 John rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. In keeping with my habit of reading novel series in the wrong order (see Margaret J. Anderson, passim), I've just followed my reading of the first volume in L'Engle's Time Quintet with a reading of the fifth. Next up is likely (for arcane reasons) to be the fourth . . .

Teenaged Polly O'Keefe, eldest child of Calvin and Meg from A Wrinkle in Time, is staying with her genius-scientist Murry grandparents in order to get some studying done away from the sibling horde at home. One day Zachary Gray, w...more

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Nov 16, 2009 Kendra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 10-grade

An acceptable time
by madeleine L'Engle
pp343usa
bantante doubleday dell books for young readers
isbn 9780440208143

try haveing been walking to anormal rock and suddenly went back around 300 years and wondering if this is real.In this book it show very clearly how polloy feels excited,happy and a little scared and who wouldn't be back then anything could happen someone could kidnapp you and nobody would know.

I hated the part where zachary was so mean even thought he should be like that he was too pus...more

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Jul 08, 2009 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

For any of you already familiar with Madeleine L'Engle's 'Time' quartet, well, this is the fifth. I did not know there was another one of these until I was looking around at other books by this author wondering if they were worth reading (does anyone know anything about her 'Austin Family' series books? Are they worth it?).

It was definitely a 'later' story as far as writing style and characters from the original quartet. Polly (who is Meg Murray-O'Keefe's daughter) goes to live with her grandpa...more

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Nov 30, 2011 Althea Ann rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book mixes characters that L'Engle readers have previously met in both her Murry and Austin family books, although it's a stand-alone novel. Two college-age folks, Polly and Zachary, along with a family friend who is a retired bishop, pass through a "time-gate" into 3000 years ago, and a tribe of celtic-influenced Native Americans, some of whom, regrettably, think that strange and seemingly powerful strangers would make an excellent blood sacrifice to bring rain.
This book is more overtly Ch...more This book mixes characters that L'Engle readers have previously met in both her Murry and Austin family books, although it's a stand-alone novel. Two college-age folks, Polly and Zachary, along with a family friend who is a retired bishop, pass through a "time-gate" into 3000 years ago, and a tribe of celtic-influenced Native Americans, some of whom, regrettably, think that strange and seemingly powerful strangers would make an excellent blood sacrifice to bring rain.
This book is more overtly Christian than I remember her earlier books being (although all of her writing is informed by her beliefs). However, it's the sort of Christianity that makes me think her books should be required reading for all the anti-science, xenophobic, war-mongering so-called Christians out there!
Still, there are a few moments when it gets out of hand - the bishop character has a tendency to preach, and there's a totally unneccessary little jab at the "evil" of fortune-telling (which I personally think is a totally harmless and entertaining [if a bit silly] activity.)
What I find a bit more off-putting (to me personally) than her religion is the portrayed centrality of family. Not just in this book, but in her writing in general. Family members Always love each other and get along fabulously. If she has a character that isn't in the family, and isn't a family friend (as opposed to a personal friend), they're bound to be bad news. If a character doesn't have a strong relationship with their family, they're bound to be sad, disturbed, and in need of help. When confronted with a dilemma, her young adult characters think of confiding in/consulting their parents or grandparents, first thing! (Eh, my mom would think it was just wonderful....but it's just not likely.)
Like I said, maybe it's just me... I've always been a very independent person; I left home very early, and although I love my immediate family and make an effort to stay in touch and see them at least once or twice a year, they're not central to my life, nor do they know every detail of what's going on in my life... which I find happy and normal!

Still L'Engle is a good writer, and this is a fast read... (it didn't feel like over 300 pages at all!)(less)

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Feb 26, 2010 Lizz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I get that L'Engle really wants to focus the action and perspective on the children and the occasional non-parent trusted adult in her books. I understand that each character gets "their" time, seasons change and she didn't want to go the route of LM Montgomery and Anne.

What frustrates me is the "mother" role that the mothers fall into. Mrs. Austin, Kate and Meg all seem to blend together in their calm, skirt-wearing, bland, there but unobtrusive, dispensing tranquil but sometimes hard-to-hear w...more I get that L'Engle really wants to focus the action and perspective on the children and the occasional non-parent trusted adult in her books. I understand that each character gets "their" time, seasons change and she didn't want to go the route of LM Montgomery and Anne.

What frustrates me is the "mother" role that the mothers fall into. Mrs. Austin, Kate and Meg all seem to blend together in their calm, skirt-wearing, bland, there but unobtrusive, dispensing tranquil but sometimes hard-to-hear wisdom. L'Engle asks us to love and learn to understand Meg then sit by while she drives a station wagon full of kids around for multiple books. It's not until this book that Meg finally emerges as somewhat of a character again with Kate and Polly (when did it become 2 Ls?) talking about her insecurity and the fact that apparently she's been doing Calvin's calculations all this time. Did L'Engle feel bad and finally decide to give Meg a personality again? The mothers have some distinguishing characteristics, but they feel hollow and thrown-on, like a last-minute scarf you add to your sweater set on the way out the door. In the O'Keefe books, Meg and Calvin ceased to be Meg and Calvin and took on being Dr. and Mrs. O'Keefe. It's like biting into ice cream expecting mocha almond caramel fudge and getting vanilla.

That said, once the action finally takes off, it really takes off. Love blossoms, kidnappings occur, religion is discussed in a cross-cultural frame-work and sacrifice of all variety is a common theme. Yep, it's a L'Engle book. Despite the heavy hand regarding tolerance and peace, the characters and action engage and snare readers despite incredulities in plot. However, if you've gotten this far, you should be pretty comfortable with the L'Engleverse and all its peculiarities around time and space.

Zachary Grey, haunted, tortured, self-centered lover of girls brighter than him but not as smart, returns to promise Polly he won't hurt her, then offer her up quite literally to save his own skin (okay, heart, but whateves.) Grey reminds me of Matthew McCoughnahy's (sp?) character in "Dazed and Confused" in that I can see him saying that he also loves high school girls bc he might age, but they stay the same. Grey seems to have moved on again to younger prey with savior tendencies and a desire to emulate Christ in forgiveness and giving second chances. How many times does he need to promise not to hurt you before you stop giving him the chance to? (Wendy Burton says 7.) Bishop Colubra likens him to an alcoholic here with his tendency to put self ahead of others, even as he hates himself and cannot stand to be alone. Zachary behaves no different here than he did in "The Moon by Night." He stomps away like an angry child when he doesn't get his way and uses manipulation to further his interests.

L'Engle presents a conundrum here. We are supposed to forgive and give second chances, but yet Zachary is clearly destructive and abusive. Polly forgives him but puts up a boundary, which I cheered for. Yet I caught glimpses of the Bishop and others encouraging her to take down the boundary and be more available to him. What's a girl to do with an emotionally abusive man like Zachary? I'm not quite sure what L'Engle wants her to do. In the end, Zachary claims to get it "this time." It's a classic addict line. "This time" rarely sticks, in my experience.

Too bad L'Engle didn't get to write the book in which Zachary meets up with Polly or Vicky or Suzy's daughter on a dig in Wyoming or Vesuvius or in a time-space warp trying to save a Venezuelan tribe from greedy corporations wanting to build resort hotels. I can just see him promising now not to hurt her...(less)

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Mar 17, 2013 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All-in-all as a standalone book, this was a pretty good book. As part of the whole set, it was probably my least favorite of the series. It just didn't feel like it fit in with the rest (not that the 4th really did either). It didn't have the same theme of a dark planet, good fighting against the universal evil, etc. Really the only way this tied in to the rest of the series was the fact that the main character is Meg's daughter and that they "win" with love, like in A Wrinkle in Time. That also...more

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Apr 14, 2011 Marilag rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads, children-s-literature, fantasy, adventure, scifi

Well, I feel like I should have read something before delving into An Acceptable Time. It was good, for sure, but I felt like I should have known some of these characters before I went into reading about them--the old fogeys excepted, of course. I meant more along the lines of Polly and Zachary Gray. But I suppose it didn't really matter so much, since they were all being introduced to new sets of characters.

It was different from the other stories, that's for sure. And I was slightly glad that t...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Kirsten rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 22, 2012 Nan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: borrowed, audio, family-fiction, romance, time-travel, young-adult

I was surprised to discover that this, my previous favorite of the Time Quintet, held up the least during my reread. :-(

I still think L'Engle did many things well in this book, but it just didn't have the same spark for me this time. I didn't buy into the insta-love with Tav (and neither did Polly--I missed that when I was a teen). I still think that the developments to Zachary Gray's character in this book were well done. (view spoiler)...more

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Oct 09, 2012 Commodore rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: meh

I love Madeleine L'Engle. I have read no few of her books as a child, which is kind of hilarious when you put what a little atheist I was against the overwhelming presence of God in her books. I got around it somehow, same as I did with C.S. Lewis (though that's not quite a fair comparison, since I read Lewis when I was so little the theological parts went straight over my head). Three out of the four original Kairos books I absolutely love to this day. A Wind in the Door. left me cold, for some...more I love Madeleine L'Engle. I have read no few of her books as a child, which is kind of hilarious when you put what a little atheist I was against the overwhelming presence of God in her books. I got around it somehow, same as I did with C.S. Lewis (though that's not quite a fair comparison, since I read Lewis when I was so little the theological parts went straight over my head). Three out of the four original Kairos books I absolutely love to this day. A Wind in the Door. left me cold, for some reason. It's still good, I just don't like it as much as the other three. I'm going to have to put this fifth book alongside that one, unfortunately.

My problem with this book is the same problem I've had with the Austin books: the characters are all completely static. From the first page of the book, the conclusion is foregone: You know every adult is going to be loving and occasionally stern to the protagonist, but if she has any problems they'll help her talk it through, either through science or religion (or a combination of both). You don't worry when the tribe across the lake sees Polly as a goddess, because you know she's going to keep on demurely denying it. She's not even going to be slightly tempted to give into that power. I'm guessing that's why I love the earlier books in this series; Meg, Charles Wallace and the twins all learn to deny their darker sides, Meg through freeing her brother from IT with love, Charles Wallace from learning to stop trying to direct the wind and let it direct him, and the twins from their whole struggle with each other over Yalith. Hell, even Vicky learns to let her grandfather go in A Ring of Endless Light. Polly doesn't learn anything in this book; she's the same precocious ginger when she first came up to her grandparents' house as when she comes back from three thousand years ago.

I think that's also why I cut Zachary more slack than the average reader. He's the only character I'm not entirely sure about... for the first 2/3rds of every book he happens to be in. I always think it's possible for him to turn it around this time. Then L'Engle does what she always does and has him chicken out and return to being a Zapp Brannigan-style coward. (And I still don't agree that leaving Vicky at the hospital in A Ring of Endless Light was a dick move. Certainly he could have said something to her before he bolted, but nobody should feel obligated to go somewhere that they are legitimately terrified of just to make someone else feel less alone.) I don't know, I also feel like everyone is too quick to discount the difference a loving upbringing can make. I'm not saying it's everything, but when you're raised in a loving, gigantic family who always makes time to spend together but still respects your space and you all sing hymns together but you're still scientific-minded enough for a debate around the dinner table, it's a lot easier to come out a balanced, well-rounded individual than when you're an only child who is so rich you have no real concept of value and one of your parents is dead and the other is a virtue-less womanizer with little to no interest in you. I just wish L'Engle would see that, or throw me a damn bone some time.(less)

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Apr 27, 2010 Robby rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was another quite confusing book by Madeline L'Engle. That's actually a good thing. No matter how confused one gets at the beginning, it gets explained in due time. Reading the other L'Engle books helps understand quantum physics, as well as any prior knowledge. I suggest reading up on quantum physics and 'tesseracts' before reading this. The plot itself, however, is very good. Time traveling, love over 3000 years, quantum physics and more adventures with the Murrays. Awesome. This boo...more

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Mar 16, 2013 Lillian rated it 5 of 5 stars

I love this book. The problem is that it's really hard to explain. The best read this is to take notes so you know who is who and so you don't confuse some people with others who have the same names. I also recommend reading the other three books in the time quintet because that way you understand some things about the characters and their capability. Especially because the most unique character of all is Charles Wallace, and he is the main character of this book.
I really like it because its so...more

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Nov 12, 2010 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: childrens-ya, fantasy, religion, sci-fi

I read the whole rest of this series last year and for some reason left this till now. I'll admit, I didn't like this one as much as the rest in the Time series. This is mostly due to the characters, I just didn't find them as endearing as I had with Meg and Charles Wallace. I haven't read the Austin or O'Keefe series, so maybe that would have given me a bit more background on Polly/Zachary. In any case, a bad L'Engle is basically equivalent to a good chick lit book, so it's really very subjecti...more

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Aug 31, 2009 Annie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, christian-fiction

I liked this book because it's Madeleine L'Engle. It referenced several characters and elements from the time series, which is fun and also appropriate since it's technically a part of that series. But it wasn't my favorite.

I couldn't find the point in all of it. In the other four books there is an objective, something distinct they are working toward whether they understand it or not. Even in Many Water when Sandy and Denny happen into the past they discover what needs to happen. An Acceptable ...more

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Jan 31, 2010 Alice rated it 5 of 5 stars

beautifully written special edition. by now, some authors lose touch with thier series and begin to ramble on about some BS that should never have been written. Ms. L'Engle is not one of them. this book, like all the other ones in the Time Quartet (or Quintet, now, i guess), involves the traveling of time and space. however, the traveler is someone both new and old: Polly, Meg's eldest child.
Polly is visiting her grandparents when she inadverdently steps through a tesseract that takes her 3000...more

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Mar 25, 2009 DL rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009, youth-children

An Acceptable Time does have a good message. It teaches truth in that integrated, mostly-subtle way that good books should, and in this is similar to the other books in the "Time" "Series." (If, indeed, a series it really can be called...)

The difference is that this book is boring. Yes, it continues the story of the Murry clan, and yes, it involves druids and blood sacrifice and time travel, (in a way quite parallel to A Swiftly Tilting Planet) and yes, it does eventually get around to a nice s...more

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Mar 29, 2013 Rae rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2008

Reactions: Ok so this is the fifth book of her Time Quintet and man.. I still can't believe it took a week to read! It wasn't a particularly long book and I've read longer, it's more so the fact that it was deep read.
Plly O'Keefe is Meg Murry and Calvin O'Keefe's daughter. I always knew they'd end up together! That's besides the point though She's spending some time at her grandparents house when all of a sudden she and her ill friend Zachary become stuck in a time 3000 years before there own. P...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: series

This book gets a big ol' meh. This book was certainly better than a wind in the door and a swiftly tilting planet. However, it wasn't great. I found the plot moved pretty slowly in some places, and while it did pick up in others I found that it focused in on some odd subjects points. I found Zachary particularly unlikeable...like more unlikeable than any unlikeable character should be. I didn't find the Bishop to be particularly engaging. However, unlike many of the reviews have said I found Pol...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Leah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The final book in the Time Quintet series deals with Meg and Calvin's daughter Polly. It is also book four in the O'Keefe Family series. I have not read the first three books in that series and do not feel I missed anything to carry this story along. Polly mentions things that probably took place in previous novels, but nothing felt spoiled if I plan on reading that series. As this story deals with time travel akin to the four previous Time novels, it accurately fits in the quintet.

Polly comes t...more The final book in the Time Quintet series deals with Meg and Calvin's daughter Polly. It is also book four in the O'Keefe Family series. I have not read the first three books in that series and do not feel I missed anything to carry this story along. Polly mentions things that probably took place in previous novels, but nothing felt spoiled if I plan on reading that series. As this story deals with time travel akin to the four previous Time novels, it accurately fits in the quintet.

Polly comes to her grandparents' place for schooling. She has lived with her parents and siblings on a small island and they decide it is time for her to get a better education. Perfect. What better place to do some time traveling than around the star gazing rock and the fields that created time travel for Meg, Charles Wallace, Sandy, and Denys?

Walking around the Murry land Polly visions a man and his dog near a tree. Later, when she's swimming in the Murry's new (since the last book) pool, she recieves a visit from a girl. At one point she accidentally visits the time of the man and the girl.

Dr. Louis is a friend of her grandparents. Currently living with her is her brother, Bishop Nason Colubra. He has made trips 3000 years into the past, the time of the people Polly has seen. No one really believes Bishop and Polly, but they do not want Polly time traveling.

A friend of Polly's visits her and lays upon her some bad news. This news makes him want to go back in time himself. Polly has promised that she would not go, but she follows her friend for an adventure.

I love how the story mixes science and Christianity. It doesn't ignore one for the other. Neither seems more important or dominant. They work together. I love that about the series. This doesn't make the series Christian fiction or anything like that. It just, in my opinion, makes it real. Science and Christianity can and do work together whether we realize it or not.

I read this book for pure pleasure. All opinions are my own. I recommend reading this series. It took me until I was an adult to read the stories for no real reason, but I think it's great for older elementary and middle school children to enjoy.(less)

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About 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, and Many Waters. Her works reflect her strong interest in modern science: tesseracts, for example, are featured prominently in A Wrinkle in Time, mitochondrial DNA in A Wind in the Door, organ regener...more 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, and Many Waters. Her works reflect her strong interest in modern science: tesseracts, for example, are featured prominently in A Wrinkle in Time, mitochondrial DNA in A Wind in the Door, organ regeneration in The Arm of the Starfish, and so forth.

"Madeleine was born on November 29th, 1918, and spent her formative years in New York City. Instead of her school work, she found that she would much rather be writing stories, poems and journals for herself, which was reflected in her grades (not the best). However, she was not discouraged.

At age 12, she moved to the French Alps with her parents and went to an English boarding school where, thankfully, her passion for writing continued to grow. She flourished during her high school years back in the United States at Ashley Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, vacationing with her mother in a rambling old beach cottage on a beautiful stretch of Florida Beach.

She went to Smith College and studied English with some wonderful teachers as she read the classics and continued her own creative writing. She graduated with honors and moved into a Greenwich Village apartment in New York. She worked in the theater, where Equity union pay and a flexible schedule afforded her the time to write! She published her first two novels during these years--A Small Rain and Ilsa--before meeting Hugh Franklin, her future husband, when she was an understudy in Anton Chekov's The Cherry Orchard. They married during The Joyous Season.

She had a baby girl and kept on writing, eventually moving to Connecticut to raise the family away from the city in a small dairy farm village with more cows than people. They bought a dead general store, and brought it to life for 9 years. They moved back to the city with three children, and Hugh revitalized his professional acting career. The family has kept the country house, Crosswicks, and continues to spend summers there.

As the years passed and the children grew, Madeleine continued to write and Hugh to act, and they to enjoy each other and life. Madeleine began her association with the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, where she has been the librarian and maintained an office for more than thirty years. After Hugh's death in 1986, it was her writing and lecturing that kept her going. She has now lived through the 20th century and into the 21st and has written over 60 books and keeps writing. She enjoys being with her friends, her children, her grandchildren, and her great grandchildren."

http://us.macmillan.com/author/madele...

Copyright © 2007 Crosswicks, Ltd. (Madeleine L'Engle, President)(less)

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Quotes from An Acceptable Time

“Time exists so that everything doesn't happen at once."

--Mrs. Murry” — 78 people liked it

“Truth is eternal. Knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them."

--Bishop Colubra” — 29 people liked it

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An Acceptable Time (Time #5)

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