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From: Megan Schiesman <Schliesman>
Date: Sat, 05 Jul 1997 10:50:27 -0500
I had already been thinking about one of my favorite books from childhood that still stands the test of time, at least for me, when Lynn Smith raised the issue of science fiction and utopian literature. I still reread A Wrinkle in Time every few years and find it completely satisfying, not because it is nostalgia, but because it is such a fascinating story that has, at its heart, such emotionally complex characters. I say emotionally complex because even though this is a science fiction story with characters who are extraordinarily intelligent, Madeline L'Engle's story also paints a rich emotional landscape of her characters' lives. The story is held together by far-reaching ideas that stretch a reader's mind and imagination, and by close-to-the heart needs that reader's instinctively understand.
Wrinkle was, I think, my introduction to science fiction literature, and while I don't read a lot of science fiction today, A Wrinkle in Time set my standard--richly imagined, carefully constructed, heartfelt at its core. (As for Utopian literature, Wrinkle doesn't fit that bill unless one counts the perfection of a wholly satisfying reading experience.)
Wrinkle came into my hands as a gift when I was a child, probably 10 years after it won the Newbery Award, and I'm guessing it was purchased because it had that Newbery seal on its cover. Which makes me want to ask those of you who work with children and families in libraries or bookstores if you find that the Newbery or Newbery Honor seal on a book--books published in previous decades particularly--means that book gets into the hands of children more often. If yes, do you get feedback?
What other books do kids continue to respond to today?
And what about A Wrinkle in Time--is it popular with children? Is it something that kids from diverse backgrounds find intriguing? The Murry family was so very unlike my own in many ways, and maybe a bit too perfect even with their unusual circumstances, but there was a basic recognizability to them that may have made it comfortable for me as a child-?rtainly their world was one I could dream of as being mine--I could make that connection. Does the imagination, the emotion, make this story as universal as I'd like to think?
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Sat 05 Jul 1997 10:50:27 AM CDT
Date: Sat, 05 Jul 1997 10:50:27 -0500
I had already been thinking about one of my favorite books from childhood that still stands the test of time, at least for me, when Lynn Smith raised the issue of science fiction and utopian literature. I still reread A Wrinkle in Time every few years and find it completely satisfying, not because it is nostalgia, but because it is such a fascinating story that has, at its heart, such emotionally complex characters. I say emotionally complex because even though this is a science fiction story with characters who are extraordinarily intelligent, Madeline L'Engle's story also paints a rich emotional landscape of her characters' lives. The story is held together by far-reaching ideas that stretch a reader's mind and imagination, and by close-to-the heart needs that reader's instinctively understand.
Wrinkle was, I think, my introduction to science fiction literature, and while I don't read a lot of science fiction today, A Wrinkle in Time set my standard--richly imagined, carefully constructed, heartfelt at its core. (As for Utopian literature, Wrinkle doesn't fit that bill unless one counts the perfection of a wholly satisfying reading experience.)
Wrinkle came into my hands as a gift when I was a child, probably 10 years after it won the Newbery Award, and I'm guessing it was purchased because it had that Newbery seal on its cover. Which makes me want to ask those of you who work with children and families in libraries or bookstores if you find that the Newbery or Newbery Honor seal on a book--books published in previous decades particularly--means that book gets into the hands of children more often. If yes, do you get feedback?
What other books do kids continue to respond to today?
And what about A Wrinkle in Time--is it popular with children? Is it something that kids from diverse backgrounds find intriguing? The Murry family was so very unlike my own in many ways, and maybe a bit too perfect even with their unusual circumstances, but there was a basic recognizability to them that may have made it comfortable for me as a child-?rtainly their world was one I could dream of as being mine--I could make that connection. Does the imagination, the emotion, make this story as universal as I'd like to think?
Megan Schliesman Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison schliesman at mail.soemadison.wisc.edu
Received on Sat 05 Jul 1997 10:50:27 AM CDT
