I was 19 years old when I stumbled upon these words from Madeleine L’Engle: “You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.”
This has been the mantra of my own writing life. I write the books that must be written, and I write them for children.
I have mentioned elsewhere that Madeleine L’Engle was a very big influence on me as a child. She was one of the first authors who awoke in me a love for science fiction. She taught me so many vocabulary words—in fact, my sixth grade English teacher, whose name I regrettably don’t remember (sixth grade was a pretty traumatic time in my life, and I think my brain, for self-protection, blocked out certain things), saw me reading L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and required that I keep a vocabulary journal while reading it. She knew the power of vocabulary words and the multitude of unknown words in L’Engle’s book.
This, of course, ended up being a fantastic idea. L’Engle introduced me to a word that is still one of my favorites today: infinitesimal, which means, “extremely small.”
But it was not only her incredible use of words that drew me to L’Engle. She also showed me what it meant to be a strong girl. Meg Murry was a strong girl who did not back away from danger, though she was afraid. Not only that, but Meg’s mother was a scientist. Imagine that! A woman scientist. And a respected one, too.
L’Engle showed me that children are made to be valued. Charles Wallace was young but profound. He had a mind that could solve the most confounding of problems. She taught me that monsters are not always who or what we think they are by showing me the love Aunt Beast had for Meg. She showed me it was okay to be outcasts when you were outcast for the right reasons.
L’Engle was not afraid to write truth into her stories. Take, for example:
“Believing takes practice.”
“People are more than just the way they look.”
“Only a fool is not afraid.”
This bold ability to infuse truth into story made a significant impact on me both as a reader and a writer. I have read multiple L’Engle novels, including all her adult ones. I’ve read every memoir she’s written, including a heartbreaking one about her husband’s illness and death. Every book has contributed to who I am and how I see myself and my place in the world.
I am looking forward to the movie A Wrinkle in Time. I’ve been waiting for it since I was 11 and first read the magnificent book. I’m hopeful that the movie will honor L’Engle’s amazing contribution to literature and countless kids’ lives.
“A book, too, can be a star, explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life endlessly, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe,” L’Engle writes in A Wrinkle in Time. And it’s true. This is exactly why I write. I can be a light in my readers’ darkness.
I have been given the breathtaking opportunity to speak truth to your hearts, to communicate the truth that I myself have been given by so many writers who came before me, the truth that is this: You are loved, you are valuable, you are worthy, no matter what you look like, what you believe, how you live, where you come from.
And that’s a truth worth repeating again and again and again, and you will find it in every book I write. You will hear it so many times that one day you won’t need to hear it anymore, because your believing will have had enough practice.
And still I will tell you.
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