*This was originally posted in December for Food 4 Thought but it fits in well with the current Book Matters. And it is a fabulous children’s book!*

I was so excited to see this prompt because I am a reader. I rarely leave the house without my Kindle and bath time is always spent reading. And it’s a great day when I can slip some time in during the day as well.

I think my love of reading was spurred on by the fact that both of my parents were readers. One of my earliest memories is my dad reading me Kim by Rudyard Kipling when I was 4. It was our nightly ritual for him to read to me before I went to bed.

There are a lot of books that I have loved and read multiple times, but the one that comes to mind first is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. I probably read it the first time at 8 or 9. It captured my imagination from the beginning and I was hooked.

Meg was a nerd. The type of character that I could relate to as a child, but she was tough. She didn’t know that she was but her love made her do things that she didn’t know she was capable of.

The people who help her on her journey are fantastical and silly and loving and she realizes that the box that she put herself in was self-imposed. She was so much more and much more loved and lovable than she ever imagined.

I have likes and dislikes of the various adaptations of the book. I’m always excited to see them but terrified as well by what I might see. There are times when I can feel the joy that I had while reading it the first time and others when I fight against my vision vs that of the director. Of course, really, it isn’t just this book. I have such vivid views of most books that I have read that it is hard for the movie to ever compete.

A Wrinkle in Time was probably the beginnings of my girl power search in literature and my love of fantasy and science fiction. I was never the fairy tale fan–once the princess needs saving, I’m done with the book. But in this one, Meg definitely is the savior of her family.