Meet the Austins introduces most of the characters and themes that are developed later in the series. At this point in the series, Vicky Austin is twelve years old. At the beginning of the book, Vicky's Uncle Hal, the husband of her mother's college roommate, dies in a plane crash. This death appears monstrously unfair to Vicky and shakes her faith in the benevolence of God and the stability of the universe. As a result of the accident, Maggy, the troubled, orphaned daughter of Uncle Hal's copilot, comes to live with the Austins.

Vicky's inability to feel sorry for Maggy, combined with the changes she sees occurring in her family, causes her to grow increasingly troubled. She blames Maggy for the shifts in the normal pattern of family tensions, especially the extra quarrels among the children. In the middle of her most physically awkward...