Now she could think of nothing except that Canon Tallis must see her signal. Shielding the taper, she went from chapel to chapel, St. James, St. Ambrose, St. Martin of Tours, St. Savior, St. Columba, St. Boniface, St. Ansgar....

The only thing left for her to do was to go home to her parents as fast as she could possibly run.

After the news was spread that Madeleine L'Engle had passed away many people across the lit blogosphere posted entries about her books and how much they meant to them. I was not surprised by so many of those messages; I fell for Meg Murray and A Wrinkle in Time when I was in the sixth grade and then moved on to include Vicky Austin and all of her family's books in later years. A Ring of Endless Light is, of course, one of my all time favorite books. (If you've ever been in the water with a dolphin then you will know what I mean.)

What was really so interesting to me in all the postings though was how many people identified with Meg or saw themselves in her moment of triumph at the end of Wrinkle. Beyond the cool SF and Fantasy elements that L'Engle wove into that story, I think it was her creation of Meg (based admittedly on herself) that made so many of us fans of her work.

We read Meg (and Vicky) and we recognized that Madeleine L'Engle understood - she understood us. And, of course, on the most personal of levels, she understood me.

And that is why she should be celebrated and lauded and mentioned far and wide. Because she did what is a very difficult thing for any writer to do - especially a writer for children and teenagers. L'Engle reached out to her audience and gave them characters they could believe in, and more importantly, characters who would inspire them - make them feel like they were not alone in the world.

Characters who gave them hope.

It is so damn easy to belittle YA fiction (or middle grade or picture books). It is so easy to say that it is not important or significant or necessary. (Or most insulting of all - it's not hard to write.) Who needs to read about high school romance, or another girl detective, or boys who build rocket ships in their backyards? Is this literature - is it worthy of shelving with its older siblings and parents in the adult book world?

Does it really matter?

So many people yesterday remembering the first time they read A Wrinkle in Time; the first afternoon they spent with Meg and Charles Wallace and the twins. Those first words: "It was a dark and stormy night". So many adult readers and writers taking a few moments to write about an author who made them feel something important ten or twenty or thirty years ago. Think about that - about how good she must have been to make all of us remember her personally; miss just knowing that she shared time on this planet with us.

How in the hell can anyone dare to question that it matters?

Only in the rarest of circumstance can you can become an adult reader without being a child who reads first. It is a great gift to make a child want to read; yearn to read; long to read. Madeleine L'Engle was my generation's JK Rowling - the one we all knew and all loved with an equal passion.

I was standing in the library at WJ Creel Elementary and my friend Lisa Hoff handed me a book. She said, "you will love this," and I didn't doubt her (this was the girl who led me to the Three Investigator's mysteries after all). So I opened it, right there, and a lifetime of discovery, of the whole Time Quintet, the Austin Family stories, The Summer of the Great Grandmother, A Circle of Quiet and on and on and on followed.

I had to be child who reads first, and I was child who happily - joyfully - read A Wrinkle in Time. Thanks Mrs. L'Engle, for being there when so many of us needed you.

Thank you for writing for children.

[Post excerpt from The Young Unicorns, a mystery/thriller with the Austin family. Note that in October, Square Fish will be releasing the Time Quintet in a tpb boxed set with great new covers - hopefully they will tackle the Austins next.]