A WRINKLE IN TIME 50th anniversary edition -my first classic read of 2012

A Wrinkle In Time 50th Anniversary edition is a gem. As an
adult reader (and full disclosure: an author of my own young adult novel: LIE],
I have fallen in love with the story of Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin again. One of my resolutions 02 2012 (does anyone really keep these??) was to read or re-read some classics.  Friends sent me ideas:  Sylvia Plath, Nabokov, Shakespeare, and to start, I chose this magical childhood favorite celebrating it's 50th year in print. 
 
First, I must say that this new hardcover edition is worth buying --
it's physically beautiful, with a luscious red and gold updated cover, and additional material
including essays by noted children's writer Katherine Paterson and L'Engle's
granddaughter, as well as to the delight of this writer -- a copy of a work-in-progress
manuscript of the opening chapter. 
This piece is complete with L'Engle's notations. Lastly, I was inspired
by the inclusion of her Newbery Medal acceptance speech.  Every aspiring writer must read this
speech, 'The Expanding Universe' from 1963 and this book!  
If you are an adult reader, be prepared to be transported by
the language (quotes by greats Pascal, Aristotle, and more, which I'm sure I glossed
over at 10 or 11 years old, are so terrific now).  I've fallen in love again with Charles Wallace and his love
of words, his obsession with the meaning of them.  Most of all,  I've
fallen again for the story of the search for a father -- and for meaning in
this far-reaching universe.  I plan to re-read
again with my 11- year-old and 6-year-old, but first I wanted to savor it all
by myself!    
A Wrinkle in Time expanded my horizons as a
young child and has done so again.  As L'Engle says in her medal acceptance speech, "A book, too,
can be a star, 'explosive material, capable of stirring up fresh life
endlessly,' a living fire to lighten the darkness leading out into the
expanding universe."