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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Wrinkle Wrejections


Of the great Madeleine L'Engle, who died last week, The New York Times said this: A Wrinkle in Time was rejected by 26 publishers before editors at Farrar, Straus & Giroux read it and enthusiastically accepted it. It proved to be her masterpiece, winning the John Newbery Medal as the best children’s book of 1963 and selling, so far, eight million copies. It is now in its 69th printing.” May she rest in writerly peace.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One of the reasons for those rejections, apparently, was that, among other things, the book dealt with evil. Oh. Kidlets don't know the first thing about evil, huh? Never experience it, wouldn't know it if it came their way - which it never, ever does, right?

"A Wrinkle in Time" is a great book. Congrats to Farrar, Straus & Giroux for realizing it; they deserve every penny it's made for them.

Peace to Madeleine L'Engle.

Anonymous said...

I never read this book, but have always felt especially in awe of people who write lit for children. The first books I loved were written by that special breed of writer, of course. In importance, I place them above the writers I enjoy as an adult. Rest in peace, Ms . L.

Mary Witzl said...

My sisters and I really enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time. It was about nerdy, gawky kids who were scorned by their peers but came out okay. And we loved all the stuff about evil -- especially how it was foiled in the end. Good old fiction, God love it.