A Wrinkle in Time

D. is the newsmonger in our family. Somehow, whenever I go to update him on "current events' he's known about "it" for a number of days, if not weeks. He attributes this to his internet news sources; I rely more on NPR or network newscasts. Last night, he said there was a new piece of news he was sure I would want to know, but he couldn't remember it at that moment.

This morning, the first news I saw online was that of Madeleine L'Engle's passing at age 88. I showed him the screen, and he said "That's what I wanted to tell you last night." I think her 1962 story about Meg Murry and Charles Wallace is probably the standard against which I compare most children's literature. It had all the elements;the dark, stormy, night, a big old house, eccentric old women, playing with time and space, an alternative society, a caring family. The image of all the children bouncing balls outside their cookie cutter homes has stayed with me. It birthed a curiousity about utopian societies and the conformity within them. She created a place I could visit in my mind. My love of futuristic societies and curiousity about places such as Celebration, Florida was born out of her story. Her name connotates creative spirit and beauty in my mind. That, at least, will not change with her passing. I can only be further inspired by the fact that the book had over twenty rejections before it was finally published in '62.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/07/AR2007090702690.html