We’d moved from a tiny town in the Canadian prairies to a town in Northern California’s high desert, and the one good thing that place had to offer was a library that would let me take as many books as I wanted at any given time. I thought they were crazy. I would stagger out of there with 20 or 30 books. My English teacher noticed me too. She invited me to be on the yearbook and the student newspaper.

The combination of these things—loneliness, sickness, access to lots of books—made this a year that I spent a lot of time snuggled under blankets, reading, escaping into the world of my imagination. I remember that English teacher (I don’t remember her name, sadly) giving me a copy of A Wrinkle in Time and saying, “Try this. I think you’ll like it.”

I opened it and read, “It was a dark and stormy night. In her attic bedroom Margaret Murry, wrapped in an old patchwork quilt, sat on the foot of the bed and watched the trees tossing in the frenzied lashing of the wind,” and was already hooked. I didn’t have an attic bedroom–we lived in a depressingly-average 60s-era bungalow–but I wanted one. I did have a patchwork quilt. And I love storms. By the time Mrs. Whatsit showed up and announced wild nights were her glory, I knew I had found a book to keep and treasure. (I got my own copy, don’t worry.) And so, I was along for the ride as Meg and Charles Wallace and Calvin tesseract across the universe to save Meg’s father, in an adventure that mixes theology, science fiction, pure fantasy, and the realities of everyday life on planet Earth.

I think the feeling of being alone is universal. Every child can relate to crushing embarrassment at school, to feeling misunderstood by even loving parents and siblings, to cowering in a storm and wondering if anyone else out there will ever understand you. That’s part of what makes A Wrinkle in Time such a great book. It’s instantly accessible. But then, to have Meg celebrated for her faults, to realize that what is so scary about Camazotz is that there is no originality, no true humanity, was very affirming to me as a young teen. And even though I knew that, unlike Meg, I would never do higher math, stories like this still gave me courage to keep on facing down my fears every morning on my way to that junior high.

I went on, of course, to read the companion books, then many of L’Engle’s other books. Now, as an adult, I especially love her non-fiction and poetry. All my copies are signed too, because she once visited Portland and I was able to hear her speak, and she was just as affirming and imaginative as you would expect. She was too tired to sign books afterwards, so we were encouraged to submit a list of up to 10 titles, and she sent us signed nameplates in the mail. That generosity is still stunning to me.

Once I had kids, I couldn’t wait to share my favorite books with them. They enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time too; begging me to keep going through just one more chapter to find out what happened.

It’s hard for me to believe A Wrinkle in Time was published 50 years ago–it still feels very fresh to me. This book was legendary for the number of rejections it received before someone finally had the courage to publish it, and I do feel it was ahead of its time. The legend lives on–one of last year’s most popular YA books, Matched, imagines a world very like Camazotz, and what might happen to give one of those identical children the courage to break free.

The new commemorative edition is gorgeous, with all sorts of extras—a copy of L’Engle’s acceptance speech for the Newbery Awards, a copy of a chapter from the original manuscript with her own scribbled pencil marks, an introduction by Katherine Paterson and an afterword by L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis, telling a bit of her Gran’s story and the story of the book. There are family photos, including one I love of Madeleine reading to her two granddaughters, and more. There’s also a special facebook page for the 50th Anniversary commemorative copy, where you can keep up with different events that will be happening this year to celebrate the occasion.

This post is part of a special 50 blogs in 50 days celebration, so please read some of the other thoughts, with a different theme each week.

A Wrinkle in Time is classic for all the right reasons—because it is a story that has and will endure, because it touches something timeless in all of us. If it’s been a while since you’re read it, I encourage you to share a copy with a young person in your life.

One of you (U.S. only) will win a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of A Wrinkle in Time. Just leave a comment, and we’ll announce the winner in our giveaway column on February 8. This giveaway is now closed.

• The winner of the Lunatics giveaway is #20 Beth C.
• The winner of Crossed is #23 Shelly Burton.
• The winner of The Flight of Gemma Hardy is #26 Tennille.
• The winner of the Shadow of Your Smile giveaway is #29 June.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Elizabeth is glad she never has to be 12 again, but she survived. Learn more at her blog Planet Nomad.

I enjoy fiction that causes me to think in that way, but I really wonder if kids get it. My daughter has enjoyed learning about the Civil Rights movement, and she respects Martin Luther King, but do kids like to read this sort of book? And do they understand?

Dear America: With the Might of Angels by Andrea Davis Pinkney is a perfect example of a great story — a school story — about a very strong twelve-year-old girl who wants to be a doctor. When she earns the chance to leave her run-down, second-rate school on the poor (Black) side of town to go to the richer all-White school, she and her family leap at the chance. But then the anti-segregationists step in and try to force her out. At first, her family is fighting for the rights of all the kids, even though she is the only one willing to make the valiant effort to attend, but when the local dairy provider comes out for segregation in the newspaper and the whole town decides to boycott dairy, it becomes a harder battle, and Dawnie and her family end up being resented by much of the town.

I make it sound like a dramatic heroic story, and it is, but I think that kids (girls, really) will relate to her — looking forward to her birthday, competing for an honor at school, making a new best friend, sticking up for her little brother. That’s what makes this such a nice book. The Dear America books deftly weave history and plot, and this one is no different.

AUDIO NOTES: I also listened to this on audiobook, which the library had available before my review copy came in. It was a great version. It’s hard to voice a child, but Channie Waites conveyed Dawnie’s enthusiasm and her questions perfectly.

Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling takes on school integration as well.

This book is based on the true story of two girls. Sylvia Mendez and her family rent a house that is vacated when Aki Munemitsu and her family are sent to a Japanese internment camp in the World War II-induced paranoia.

When Aki must leave, she can only take a few things. Everything else must be destroyed, lest the officials find something that would mark them as anti-American. She can’t take her doll, but she can’t bear to destroy her either, so she tucks her away high in the closet.

When Sylvia moves in, she finds the beautiful traditional Japanese doll and tucks her on her bed beside her own traditional Mexican doll. The girls end up corresponding and and even becoming friends as Aki survives the uncertainty of the camp (Where is her father? Will they be reunited? When will they be able to leave?) while Sylvia battles segregation.

When her aunt tries to register Sylvia and her brother for the school that her half-white/half-Mexican children attend, she is told that her niece and nephew have to attend the Mexican school that is much further away. Sylvia’s dad fights for her to attend, all the way to court in a much lesser known — but earlier — court battle versus the Orange County school system in California.

This short book looks at two groups that experienced discrimination during this post-war time in the US. It’s a little heavier on history than plot, reading almost like that very engaging type of non-fiction that tells a story using the format of a novel, which might make it a good fit for kids who prefer non-fiction to fiction, and conversely it could introduce pure fiction lovers to the wonders of well-written non-fiction style.

*****

Though the Cybils Middle Grade fiction shortlists have already been posted, I still have some reviews to post that I read as a round I panelist. These two books were both nominated.

Jennifer Donovan enjoys historical fiction if the history and the fiction is right, but middle grade historical fiction is even better. She blogs at Snapshot.

The Cybils finalist lists are out! Check out the site for the top picks in categories from young adult, to picture books, to poetry and more.

Dawn and I were thrilled to be invited back to serve as Cybils round I judges this year, her in fiction picture books and me in middle grade fiction.

For me (Jennifer), both this year and last year, I realized that there were going to be some very fine books that wouldn’t see the shortlist. Take seven panelists, 142 middle grade fiction nominees, a shortlist limited to 5 to 7 books that should hit the target of being both well-written and oozing with kid-appeal, and there will likely be some books that just don’t make the cut.

As a panelist, I was happy to discover several new books/authors that didn’t make the cut. Buried in that list of 142 nominees, they might get forgotten, so I’m going to pull them to the forefront.

Please note that this isn’t “sour grapes.” Our middle grade finalist list is fantastic. The list of finalists is varied featuring books that are humorous or serious featuring kids who will look just like those reading it, or possibly will open their eyes to a whole new culture. I’m proud of each and every book on the list and happy that they will be getting some more attention.

That said, here are some others that really stood out to me (all linked to my reviews):

• I liked Calli B. Gold so much it surprised me. I don’t know why. I elaborated more in the review.
• Saving Zasha — A beautiful dog, a war-time setting in a foreign country, and adolescent boys standing up for their family all make this book one that I hope reaches a lot of kids.
• Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading — We know exactly what we think this book is about: Reading is dumb, people who like to read are geeks; OR Kid thinks he hates reading, but picks up a book and loves it. Wrong all around. Charlie Joe charmed me.
• Wolf Storm– Truth be told, I liked Dee Garretson’s first book Wildfire Run more, but her newest one featured a really cool setting — actor kids on set in a snowy wonderland, and just the right suspension of disbelief about what they could do in a crisis.

Now, when you talk picture books, I (Dawn) could talk your ear off. As a mom to two kids still in the age range for picture books, and as a preschool teacher, I live and breathe this genre, and I love every minute of it. The finalists in the Fiction Picture Book category are really some of the best books published in the eligibility period, in my opinion, though there are ones I love more than others on that list. There is one book, though, that I just couldn’t convince the other round one judges to include, and I’m happy to put it in the spotlight here.

Stars by Mary Lyn Ray, and beautifully illustrated by Marla Frazee, impressed me from the moment I picked it up. I looked at it in a bookstore, since it was still too new to be in my public library, and I immediately knew I would be purchasing it that very day, which is not something that I do on a whim. Magic oozes from this book, inviting children to use the imaginative power that comes naturally to them when thinking about all the ways stars can play a part in their lives. And just as in another of my favorite books illustrated by Frazee, All the World, the art perfectly complements the text and the illustrations of children are naturally diverse and alive with emotion. (Incidentally, these illustrations definitely helped All the World win the 2009 Cybils Award, and the 2010 Caldecott!) Though this is definitely a quiet read, I can personally attest to its kid appeal from my experiences reading it to the rapt audiences of my own children and my class of three and four year olds, who all sat big-eyed with wonder. I’ll be giving Stars as a children’s gift for years to come.

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Jennifer feels the same way about being a Round I panelist as one feels after having a baby. She might like to do it again, but doesn’t want to talk about it right now. Let’s just appreciate this baby! She blogs at Snapshot.

Dawn juggles teaching, parenting, and reading on a daily basis, sometimes hopping back over to give her blog, my thoughts exactly, a bit of attention, too.

Promise the Night by Michaela McColl is a middle grade novel that looks at her life, growing up on her father Captain Clutterbuck’s horse farm in British East Africa (now Kenya). It’s a fascinating setting, complete with wild animals and Beryl’s defacto inclusion in the nearby Nandi tribe. Hunting and fighting with them taught her courage and living with only her father developed her strong sense of individuality and self. She believed that there was nothing she couldn’t do.

Interspersed with stories from her growing up years, about 11 to 14, from 1912 to 1915ish, are news stories and Markham’s own accounts of that flight she took in 1936, not the “easy way” West to East, but flying towards the dark against the wind from East to West.

Boys and girls who love interesting settings and/or flight will be as charmed by Beryl Markham as I was. Michaela MacColl’s Prisoners in the Palace is another of example of her well-written and engaging historical fiction. I think that one is more for 11 and up, whereas Promise the Night is a solid middle-grade novel that would appeal to boys and girls 9 – 12 years old.

Jennifer Donovan loves to read about exotic locales. She blogs at Snapshot about her travels, when she manages to get away.

Significant social issues of the time loom large in this novel, from the many town leaders doing everything they can to avoid opening the segregated pool to every citizen in the community, to the sudden appearance of activists from the North to aid African-Americans in getting access to health care, among other things. But this story is told on a much smaller scale, from the perspective of eleven year old Glory whose worldview just isn’t that sophisticated yet. The things that matter most to her– her relationship with her sister, her lifelong friendship with Frankie, and her desire to spend her summer at the town pool– are the focus of Glory’s story. As a result, young readers can begin to understand the gravity of what is happening around Glory just as she begins to have her eyes opened to it as well.

Though I tend to think of the middle grade category as most appropriate for the 9-12 set, this novel is definitely accessible to children a bit younger. I like that it raises serious issues of the time, but does so in a manner that rings true for how an eleven year old might be understanding and processing events. It can be difficult to explain particularly dark periods of our country’s history to our children, but Glory Be helps to put it in a story form that is appealing to young readers. Parents can easily breeze through the 200 pages and be able to discuss the story with their children, bringing a realistic perspective to a fictional story.

Dawn’s growing love for middle grade and YA fiction is definitely inspired by the fact that her oldest child just keeps getting older. He, and the other two book-loving kids, appear frequently on her blog, my thoughts exactly.

Warp Speed

Middle-schooler Marley is invisible. No one sees him. No one except the bullies who take his homework, spit on him, and shove him around. His only hope to escape them is to run — and run he does.

Marley is a lovable hero — having become the brunt of the bullies’ attention when he stuck up for their former target — with a quirky family, a reclusive father who runs an historic movie house and a self-sufficient mother who happens to be blind.

Marley loves Star Trek and keeps his own Captain’s Log where he records his thoughts in sparse Star Trek style, and in spite of feeling invisible, he does have some friends — the A/V club including newcomer Max, and there’s even a girl in one of his classes who likes talking to him (although he has to suppress the Klingon that comes out of his mouth whenever he tries to talk to her).

Some of the characters from Yee’s other novels set in Rancho Rosetta make appearances, but Warp Speed completely stands alone. I didn’t feel that I was missing anything, but I enjoyed this novel so much that I definitely hope to read some more of her novels. I loved the way she injected humor into Marley’s story about the ups and downs of his school life, which ultimately showcases the power of friendship.

The Lemonade Crime

The Lemonade Crime by Jacqueline Davies is the sequel to The Lemonade War, which I read a couple of years ago when it was a “One School, One Read” selection at my son’s elementary school. That one was a summer story, where siblings Evan and Jessie go head to head in a lemonade stand war. This story picks up where that one left off, trying to solve the mystery of Evan’s missing (stolen!) lemonade money. The story pretty much stands alone, though I did appreciate knowing more about Evan and Jessie than was revealed in the story. The school setting is so strong here. Certain details like the school lunch menu of “chicken patty on a bun” leapt out at me (Why can’t it just be a chicken sandwich?? But it never is). I did have to suspend my disbelief a bit, because I don’t see a full-scale mock court really taking place on a school playground, but I like to give authors a little latitude to ramp it up. Kids who like realistic fiction — school stories, sibling stories — will like both of these books. They are pretty accessible to kids from 2nd grade through 5th grade.

Fractions = Trouble

Fractions = Trouble by Claudia Mills is another sequel, though I hadn’t read (or heard of) 7 x 9 = Trouble, which was published in 2004. I didn’t need to know any more of the background than was obvious — Wilson has a hard time in math. When his 3rd grade class starts a fractions unit, his mom decides to help him by setting him up with a tutor, but that’s the last way he wants to spend his time. Again, the school setting is strong, with not only the toils and tribulations of math being featured, but also science fair fun. This book is targeted towards younger readers, and my own 2nd grader enjoyed it a lot.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Though I am a Round I panelist in this Middle Grade fiction category for the Cybils, my opinions are solely my own and are not meant to reflect the final outcome.

Jennifer Donovan liked school. She even participated in a mock trial in high school. She wasn’t a nerd or a nobody, but she never had a tutor or spit on anyone either. She blogs at Snapshot.

Once you get that ereader, you need to stock it up with titles. The beauty of my Kindle is that I will never run out of books to read! What’s more, I make sure that there are titles on there for my kids as well. I keep a good eye out for sales (I bought several titles for me, and each of my 2 kids, for less than $4 a few months ago), and I’m always watching the Kindle Free bestsellers, which include small press and self-published books as you’d expect, but also has backlist titles from authors you love.

Today I’m proud to feature a wonderful ebook title from Open Road Media.

Read my full review of the new enhanced Mr. Poppers Penguin ebook over at 5 Minutes for Mom, and you can enter to win your own download.

She definitely enjoys sharing books, and Jennifer doesn’t really mind sharing her ereader with her kids either. She blogs at Snapshot.

The Rapid Fire stories are seven stories that work together to unlock a secret. It’s all about the Cahills and Vespers, the next generation in this series.

Seven days, seven stories—one explosive secret.

Celebrate the holiday season with The 39 Clues. Beginning on December 25, a different top secret eBook short story will be released daily, leading up to an explosive finale on December 31. Codes hidden in each of the seven stories combine to unlock an exclusive card and medal on http://www.the39clues.com.

You can preorder them all now for just 99 cents each, and they’ll be delivered right to your device each day.

What a fun way to encourage reading during the holiday break!

Keep up to date by liking the 39 Clues Facebook page

In honor of the 7-day, 7-story release of the Rapid Fire stories, we have an excellent giveaway for one of you (U.S. addresses only): a boxed set of all 10 original 39 Clues books in paperback (a $70 value).

Leave a comment if you’d like to win. We’ll announce the winner on December 28. Of course, you won’t have it in time for Christmas, but this is the kind of gift that is sure to thrill kids from 8 – 12 years old if they have any little kernal of reading love.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

Jennifer is going to set her 2nd grade son loose on the 39 Clues this summer. She blogs at Snapshot.