As most of you know, this week is Banned Books week. I recently did a post on the Speak Loudly campaign, so I won't go into all my opinions again on why I don't think books should be banned. But Taherah and Le R had the great idea of celebrating the right to read what we want by selecting a book that's been banned in our history and reviewing it today.

So it's a blogfest of sorts. If you want to participate, you can still sign up here.

Now onto my selection...(and let me tell you, I was shocked to find this on the most banned list.)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Blurb (from Amazon): It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."

A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

Okay, so the blurb doesn't do it justice. But this is the book that made me want to become a writer. Hearing this story for the first time is still burned into my memory. I was in 5th grade (at Catholic school no less) and my teacher Ms. Hymel decided that at the end of each day for the last fifteen minutes of each class, she would read A Wrinkle In Time to us aloud.

I'm telling you, I was so impacted that I can remember exactly where I was sitting in the classroom when she read. The story just sucked me in. I was an avid reader already at that age but mostly of Babysitter's Club and YA ghost stories and such, but I had never read fantasy before.

Always the impatient one (some things never change), I proceeded straight to the library and checked out the book so I didn't have to wait all semester to find out what happened. I then went on to read the entire series, which was fabulous and completely swept me away. And at that time in my life--being swept away to another world was just what I needed. Things had been difficult at home, both my mom and dad got remarried (to other people) that year, so I was losing my "just me and mom" status at home. So this book was part of what helped me cope with all the stuff going on in my "real" world.

And at the end of reading that series I decided I wanted to be a writer. How cool of a job would it be to create whole new worlds and be able to go there anytime you want?

So I'd hate to think how differently things might have been if I had been denied the opportunity to read those books and escape when I needed it the most. So thank you to Ms. Hymel (I thinks she still may be teaching at my same school) for reading something to us that wasn't on our "scheduled" reading list and thank you to Madeleine L'Engle for writing the books that inspired me.

If you want to participate in this blogfest and review a book, you can find the lists of the most banned books here. And if you haven't read A Wrinkle in Time--get thee to the library or bookstore! It's a must read.

So what book made you want to be a writer? What banned book are you glad you had the opportunity to read?

**Today's Theme Song**

"We're Not Gonna Take It" - Twisted Sister

(player in sidebar, take a listen)