The children’s books in the set are lovely depictions of past days and ways, whose child-characters are convincing yet also behave the way we’d all like to, interactionally and ethically.

The odd coup Lovelace manages is to turn the corner into writing early teenage books that are satisfyingly teenage while also incorporating good behavior all round. Not infallible behavior, but astonishingly good behavior.

And then the bit that takes central characters into young adulthood is really good and surprisingly complex.