My Favorite Book...

As someone who has always been a big reader (did I mention my mom tells everyone that I read well before kindergarten? LOL) and that reading is one of the few things that I'll sit still for (I read most of the Nancy Drew mysteries in a summer? *wink*) and that despite my best intentions I became a middle school language arts teacher...I think it is safe to say I've done A LOT of reading!

So, when Anita announced a contest in which she asked for our favorite book of all time, I'm a little stumped. I've read tons of English lit classics. I'm a closet Shakespeare fanatic. I'm a "summer brain candy" addict who has read all the books from Jonathan Kellerman, Patricia Cornwell, Michael Connelly, and Diane Mott Davison.

But, when I think back to the point in time where I became really aware of the power of reading and its ability to take me places, teach me things, and complete absorb me with a well-told narrative, I remember Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time.

I still have the original copy that I got from my elementary school's "Reading Is Fundamental" program! LOL I've bought several additional copies that I've had in my classroom library and that I've given away. Before junior high, I had a complete set of the Wrinkle series. And, I've been through at least two more sets that have come and gone over the years.

It wasn't until I was in a "kiddie lit" class in college that I learned of Wrinkle's Christian allegory. Even then, it didn't mean much to me other than more symbolism.

But, looking back...knowing that God was chasing after me even then (LOL)...I sometimes wonder if all the words that created that story of good and evil, of the disembodied IT that took away one's will, and of the LOVE that could free someone from it, I think this book kept God's love in my "memory banks" and was a seed that (eventually) blossomed into the faith I treasure today.

Drop by Anita's contest post and see what other books were people's favorites.