SOLMI

What a sad year for the lit world. First Kurt Vonnegut, now the incredible Madeleine L’ Engle.

For those of you not familiar with her works, first pause to regret that you landed such a horrible 5th grade teacher. Then go out and buy A Wrinkle In Time.

I remember my 5th grade teacher Mrs. Adney, who I privately called Mrs. Agony, recommending A Wrinkle In Time to me. It was probably one of her few nurturing acts of the year. Anyhow, I instantly devoured the book, thrilled with the trippy sci-fi story and wonderfully ridiculous characters, such as Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit.

I later re-read the novel in middle school, and this time around I loved it for the protagonist, Meg Murray. Meg is a brilliant but surly teenager who is generally disliked by her teachers and peers. I think she must have the inspiration for Hermione; she has bushy brown hair, is smarter than all the boys, and ends up going on adventures that involve traveling in time. For me her character was such a refreshing change from what I was getting in the Full House Books, The Babysitters Club, and Fear Street.

There was definitely nothing commercial about L’ Engle’s writing; as a matter of fact, A Wrinkle In Time was rejected 26 times for being “too different” before someone took a chance and published it. I’m so thankful they did; I credit this book as one of the first to develop my hunger for reading.

She wrote many books based on the Murray family and others, and all are worth reading. I hope her books remain a part of the sci-fi and children’s literature canon for years to come.

The New York Times quotes:

“Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith. Faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 8th, 2007 at 10:38 pm and is filed under General Bloggery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.