In Banned Book Writing Prompts, a series in Teachers & Writers Magazine, we aim to push back against the growing movement to censor what students can read and to show what happens when we enthusiastically embrace banned works rather than fear them. You can read an introduction to this series by Susan Karwoska here, and you can find more Banned Book Writing Prompts here.

When I was young, I was an avid reader of biographies, mysteries, and series books. The books in my school library looked too familiar because I’d read so many of them. By sixth grade, I was worried about running out of books to read.

My teacher, Mr. Rausch, read out loud to the class each day, the highlight of my time in school. I only remember two of the books he read, but they made lifelong impressions on me. 

One was Loretta Mason Potts by Mary Chase, a story about a boy who discovers he has a heretofore unknown older sister who is an “awful, awful, bad, bad girl.” Who could resist? The New York Review of Books children’s collection, NYRB Kids, reissued it in 2014, so you can read it to the kids in your life and enjoy it yourself.

The other book was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Her writing opened my eyes, my mind, and my imagination in an astonishing way. Foremost, this is a story about the warmth and love of a family. As an only child whose father died shortly before I was born, I was entranced by L’Engle’s tale of two children, Meg and Charles Wallace Murry, taking great risks to search for their missing father. It spoke to me deeply.

[A Wrinkle in Time] opened my eyes, my mind, and my imagination in an astonishing way.

The story starts with three extraterrestrial beings, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, visiting the children at their home, offering to guide the youngsters to the place where their father is being held prisoner on another planet. The dictator (the Black Thing or IT) who has captured him is evil, but the three beings offer their love and knowledge to protect Meg and Charles Wallace. Along the way to rescuing their father, the children meet other aliens who help them as well. The denizens of all the planets understand the threat posed by the dictator on Camazotz and fear the reach of IT.

Astronomy, Einstein’s theory of relativity, and Planck’s quantum theory are all packed into the story because Madeleine L’Engle had a great interest in science. I had an interest in English and poetry and social studies at that time, but definitely not science or math. I didn’t consider myself to be “good” at those subjects. As an 11-year-old, I may not have understood the science L’Engle was referring to, but I knew it was intriguing and needed more exploration. I’ve been exploring science ever since. 

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Upon its publication in 1962, A Wrinkle in Time became an instant classic, and two years before Mr. Rausch read it to us, the American Library Association awarded the book a John Newbery Medal, its highest honor for books for young people. Despite its popularity and the widespread acclaim it received, A Wrinkle in Time has faced numerous challenges and attempted bans over the years. It has the dubious distinction of being a recurring entry on the American Library Association’s (ALA) list of the 100 most frequently challenged books. 

In an article for The Banned Books Project, Carolyn Ku writes, “These challenges focused mainly on the book’s blend of religion, the supernatural, and science. [It] has been criticized both for being too religious and for being not religious enough.” For example, Ku writes, “It makes overt Biblical references . . . and promotes an ecumenical perspective of unity among Christian churches. However, it also expresses the idea that the phenomena of religion, magic, and science are often the same thing viewed from different perspectives.”

Critics of the book have also claimed that it undermines Christian doctrine, often pointing to one particular passage that names Jesus as a fighter against darkness alongside Gandhi, the Buddha, da Vinci, Shakespeare, and Einstein. 

L’Engle pushed back against these criticisms when asked for her reaction to them in a 2001 interview with The New York Times. “It seems people are willing to damn the book without reading it,” she explained. “Nonsense about witchcraft and fantasy. First I felt horror, then anger, and finally I said, ‘Ah, the hell with it.’ It’s great publicity, really.”

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What would my life have been if I had not been introduced to this book?

Banning a book means young readers don’t get to pick it up, read the jacket, and decide if it intrigues them, as I once did. It means they don’t get to make that choice. Taking A Wrinkle in Time off the shelves denies kids not just the agency of discovery and the absolute pleasure of reading this book, but the eye-opening perspective it provides as well.

What would my life have been if I had not been introduced to this book? A Wrinkle in Time led me to a treasure trove I had not known existed. No one told me there was a public library in my hometown, not until I asked the school librarian if there were more books like L’Engle’s. There I discovered science fiction and fantasy and nonfiction. That in turn led me to a life in books, a life encouraging the people who work with children, helping them to become lifelong readers.

All because Mr. Rausch read my class A Wrinkle in Time, a book every child should have the choice to read.

Writing Prompt

Read the following passage from A Wrinkle in Time:

Below them the town was laid out in harsh angular patterns. The houses in the outskirts were all exactly alike, small square boxes painted gray. Each had a small, rectangular plot of lawn in front, with a straight line of dull-looking flowers edging the path to the door. Meg had a feeling that if she could count the flowers there would be exactly the same number for each house. In front of all the houses children were playing. Some were skipping rope, some were bouncing balls. Meg felt vaguely that something was wrong with their play. It seemed exactly like children playing around any housing development at home, and yet there was something different about it. She looked at Calvin, and saw that he, too, was puzzled.

“Look!” Charles Wallace said suddenly. “They’re skipping and bouncing in rhythm! Everyone’s doing it at exactly the same moment.” 

This was so. As the skipping rope hit the pavement, so did the ball. As the rope curved over the head of the jumping child, the child with the ball caught the ball. Down came the ropes. Down came the balls. Over and over again. Up. Down. All in rhythm. All identical. Like the houses. Like the paths. Like the flowers. 

Then the doors of all the houses opened simultaneously, and out came women like a row of paper dolls. The print of their dresses was different, but they all gave the appearance of being the same. Each woman stood on the steps of her house. Each clapped. Each child with the ball caught the ball. Each child with the skipping rope folded the rope. Each child turned and walked into the house. The doors clicked shut behind them. 

“How can they do it?” Meg asked wonderingly. “We couldn’t do it that way if we tried. What does it mean?”

—From A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, pages 103-104, 1962 edition

The people of Camazotz, old and young, must dress alike, act in ways they’re told to act, and follow the same schedule all day and night. If you lived on Camazotz, could you conform to the rules? What would that feel like? Or would you find a way to rebel? How would you do that? How do you think it would feel to step out of line?

Books Unbanned e-library cards are available nationwide to teens and young adults, ages 13 and up, and allow access to the library’s full e-book collection, where you can find many of the titles written about in this series. You can apply for a Books Unbanned Library Card at the Brooklyn Public Library and the Seattle Public Library.