thank you, madeleine l'engle

for making me lie awake in the middle of the night during

the bulk of the 1963-64 school year.

it wasn't like i didn't have enough to worry about, what with the space race, the kennedy assassination, the cold war, and the growing number of american "advisors" being sent to french indochina.

nooooo.

you had to write a book so compelling it made this impressionable little 5th read and re-read this thing, pondering the whys and wherefores of the physical dimensions of the universe, the irreconcilabilities of religion, and the foolishness of homework when so much that mattered was going unaddressed in the curriculum of upper elementary education.

i am forever in your debt, ms. l'engle.

merci, beaucoup.