Madeleine L'Engle

First printing of the book that helped make science fiction stories for children mainstream.

• Madeleine L'Engle (American).
• Dust jacket designed by Ellen Raskin (American).
• New York: Ariel Books and Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy, (1962).
• [10], 211, [2] pages.
• Bound in original quarter blue cloth, white speckled paper boards, and in original unclipped ($3.25) blue pictorial dust jacket.

A journey to a fantastical land full of epic battles and philosophical musing, A Wrinkle In Time reads in many ways like an updated, science-based spin on the Narnia series. While Heinlein and others published science fiction for young adults before this, L'Engle popularized it among elementary-age titles. Initially, L'Engle had a difficult time getting it published: "After trying 'forty-odd' publishers (L'Engle later said 'twenty-six rejections'), L'Engle's agent returned the manuscript to her. Then at Christmas, L'Engle threw a tea party for her mother. One of the guests happened to know John Farrar of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and insisted that L'Engle should meet with him. Although the publisher did not at the time publish a line of children's books, Farrar met L'Engle, liked the novel and ultimately published it" (Random House). Winner of the Newbery Award and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award.