Did you know? On this day in 1963, the committee that chose the annual Newbery Award announced that Madeleine L’Engle had been awarded the Newbery for A Wrinkle In Time.

The New York Times published the following news about this event:

“A housewife and an artist today won the nation’s top awards for the most distinguished children’s book published in 1962.” (I’m not sure why it says awards, plural. Maybe it’s a typo. I got the quote from this book, p. 72)

Can you imagine the NYT using that word “housewife” today? Nope, neither can I, LOL.

Listen to Madeleine’s acceptance speech here on this page, scroll down to the bottom to where it says, “Madeleine’s 1963 Newbery Award Acceptance Speech ‘The Expanding Universe.’ “

The full text of the speech is here.

I’ve been thinking of this book because last week in RootsTech, one of the keynote speakers, Tara Roberts, mentioned that A Wrinkle in Time was her favorite book as a child. She remembers reading it under the covers with a flashlight before falling asleep. See her presentation start in the video below at about the 1 hour, 55 minute mark. She said she fantasized about having Mrs. Whatsit knock on her window at night.

I would never fantasize about such a thing, it sounds downright creepy to me, but I am inspired by Tara Roberts’ passion for diving to find historical treasures, and Madeleine’s L’Engle’s persistence in getting AWIT published. She had been rejected over 20 times before finding a publisher. Now it’s a beloved children’s classic the world over. Just goes to show publishers don’t always know they are turning away a future treasured bestseller! Hmm…I wonder how that applies to each of our lives?

I much prefer Ms. L’Engle’s non-fantasy series, about the Austin family. I thought these books came out much later after AWIT. I was surprised to see on her website that she published the first book of the series, before AWIT, in 1960. I remember reading at least one of them in jr. high. Now they are all on my TBR list! I think they are loosely based on her own family life.

How fitting that that the book AWIT was mentioned last week at RootsTech, as Ms. L’Engle’s legacy has inspired her granddaughter to write a book about Ms. L’Engle’s life, as shown below.

The theatrical movie based on the book came out over 5 years ago, with Oprah as one of the eccentric old ladies. I never watched it as I heard from my friend Olivia that it’s one of the rare exceptions where the book is better than the movie. What do you think? Please comment below if you have an opinion on that.

Before that movie, a made for TV came out in 2004. It’s over here. I haven’t seen that one either. I’m wondering if this one of the times where I will just never watch a movie about it because I like the way the images in my mind are from reading the book and don’t want to mess with them with a movie.

Above is the book cover I remember from my childhood. Doesn’t it just reverberate with ’60s vibes? It brings back so many memories. I think of a cold winter in upstate New York, being in second grade, the winter of 1979, hearing my mom read the book aloud for a bedtime story, mostly to my older brother who was in fifth grade. I think I was just listening in, because he picked the book. I want to say that we were all huddled under blankets being cozy in our bedrooms upstairs in a two-story drafty house, but I actually don’t remember that part, it just sounds fun, LOL. I do remember wondering why the book had so many weird terms like tesseract and mitochondria. Maybe this book is what inspired my older brother to become a scientist? I don’t think I stuck it out listening to the whole thing, like my brother did. I much more preferred my mom’s choice of Little Women, which she read aloud in the same home, this time to my sisters and me.

I’m grateful for a mom who read to me (cue the poem “The Reading Mother”). I never read this book aloud to my children personally as I thought it was weird. We might have tried it in Audible with an Audible narrator in AZ when the movie came out, but I don’t even know if we finished it. But hey, if Sarah Mackenzie recommends it, as she does, see below, I might give it a go with the grandchildren in the next ten years. I did read the book on my own in jr. high as well as the sequel, A Swiftly Tilting Planet. I liked the battles of good vs. evil in the books, but still, I thought they were weird.

Speaking of reading aloud, if there’s one easy thing you want for making memories with your children, read aloud to them. You’ll make memories, build their brains, and inspire them to want to read on their own, which is the biggest factor in creating lifelong learners and leaders. Ms. L’Engle’s books are a great choice for reading aloud, if you love fantasy. Do her AWIT series if you have fantasy lovers, and do the Austin series for the realists, or try expanding your children’s tastes by mixing it up. Reading the book in the graphic novel format might engage readers who otherwise wouldn’t be interested.

Here’s one of my favorite homeschooling podcasters, Sarah Mackenize, sharing about how to read aloud AWIT with your family.

Bonus Feature: Madeleine L’Engle delivered the commencement address at BYU Spring of 1999. You can read an excerpt from the speech here. I have a vague memory of being at this event in person. I’m thinking it must be because my youngest sister Emily graduated from BYU at that time and I attended the ceremony. I wish I could remember more about the event, like any more of the stories Ms. L’Engle shared, or what she was wearing, or did fans swarm around her afterwards asking for autographs, but sadly, I don’t. This was before the days of a camera in every pocket, and before the days where I took my commonplace book/journal with me everywhere, taking notes. I’ll just have to be comforted with reading what she shared in that link I just mentioned.

Want more about the magic of reading aloud? Go here, here, and here

Plus: my website full of read aloud suggestions according to seasons and holidays is described here, with a link.