I think I read A Wrinkle in Time in sixth grade. Maybe seventh. Although I have forgotten many of the details of that book, I have never forgotten the powerful effect it had on me. So when I heard that its author, Madeleine L'Engle, 88, had died on Thursday, September 6, I had a moment of grateful reflection.

Wrinkle is the story of 12-year-old Meg Murry, a girl who thinks she's stupid--but who, of course, is anything but. She, her strange little brother Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin embark on a dangerous journey across the universe to try to find Meg's missing father. The children travel across time and space, through folds in the space-time continuum called tesseracts. Along the way, they are shadowed by an evil force called the Dark Thing.

L'Engle introduced me to concepts of physics that stretched my young mind in new ways. If I'd thought I understood the nature of reality at that point in my life, I suddenly realized that the universe is a far more mysterious and complex thing than I could possibly imagine or understand. The battles of good and evil that permeate and define the novel also made me think in ways that went beyond the black-and-white catechism view of the world that I had held up until then. And yet, at the same time, the book reinforced that view, with the compelling truth that love alone can conquer evil--that love is the ultimate salvation.

In short, A Wrinkle In Time was the first book that really made me think. And what a wonderfully shivery feeling it gave me to ponder such thoughts! It was like jumping into dark but inviting waters of infinite depth. The sense of weightlessness it gave my mind was a new form of freedom, never before experienced. And I wanted more.

Though L'Engle wrote many books, poems, and plays, A Wrinkle in Time was her masterpiece. It was rejected by 26 publishers before Farrar, Straus & Giroux accepted it in 1962. The novel went on to win the prestigious John Newbery Medal as the best children’s book of 1963, and still holds its own today.

Part science-fiction adventure, part coming-of-age story, part religious allegory, A Wrinkle in Time expressed L'Engle’s "faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically."

Madeleine L'Engle, you changed my life. Thanks.

PS: Because A Wrinkle in Time was and is a frequently banned book, Madeleine L'Engle's official web site, madeleinelengle.com, suggests we honor the author's memory by reading a banned book.

It's Monday. How did you spend your weekend? Enjoying the few remaining days of summer at the beach? Going to a baseball game? (Go Yankees!) Well, how about by reading? If you're a guy, according to an article on NPR, the answer is probably no.

The article claims that girls read way more than guys. While guys are more likely to read books such as Harry Potter, girls read more in general.

I'm all for girl power. I even have some old Spice Girls songs in my itunes. (Hey, I'm sure you have some songs you're embarrassed about as well!) But in this case, I'm all for equality. Everyone should be reading! Seriously now. There are so many things that you can read about. Like fantasy? Read some Tolkien. Want to be scared? Check out Stephen King (you can even read an interview with him here.)

There's a book written on just about anything you can think of. You have no excuse. It doesn't even have to be something "educational." For example, I love celebrities. Can't get enough of them. I also love writing (hence my job). So I found a book that has all of those aspects. I just finished reading But Enough About Me by Jancee Dunn. This is a memoir about the career of a former Rolling Stone reporter. (It's an awesome book, by the way. Definitely check it out, if you're into that sort of thing.) Rock and roll, celebrities--none of it was educational. But it got me reading. See, it's easy.

Come on, guys. You know you love reading. Don't you? And girls, just because you're ahead, doesn't mean you can slack off. Keep on reading! 

The following interview with Scott Francis was conducted by READ magazine's Associate Editor, Audra Pace. Scott's book, Monster Spotter's Guide To North America is in stores now.

Click here for READ's special Monster issue.

READ: When did you start monster spotting?

Scott Francis: A couple of years ago. I invented the term "monster spotting" when I came up with the book idea. But, as a kid I always loved monsters and ghost stories--I used to check out books of scary local legends from the library. The idea of "monster spotting" sort of sprang from that.

READ: Can you tell us a memory of one of your favorite monster spotting expeditions?

Francis: My wife and I were searching for evidence of the Loveland Frogman along the banks of the Little Miami River. We brought our dog with us, which seemed like a Scooby Doo kind of thing to do at the time. He ended up sliding down a mudbank into the water and got completely filthy.

READ: Have you ever found yourself face to face with a monster?

Francis: Not exactly. I had a bat get into my house once, though. I caught it with a laundry basket.

READ: Please tell us your top three favorite monsters, and what makes them great.

Francis: I like the obscure legends that really smack of authentic folklore. For example the Black Dog of the West Peak is an incredibly creepy ghostly dog in Connecticut that is supposedly an omen of death. The legend literally gave me chills when I read about it. And there's a giant turtle that is reported to live in a lake in Indiana named the Beast of Busco. He is supposed to have a farmer's initials carved in his shell, which I think is a very quaint detail. But probably my favorite is the Appalachian legend of the Wampus Cat because I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina and heard tales of it as a kid. That, and it has a funny name.

READ: You cover all of North America, and cross national borders in this comprehensive guide. Do you think there is any specific region in the country, the continent, or maybe in the world that is particularly monster-prone?

Francis: I haven't researched other continents in depth enough to compare, but in North America I'd say that it's a toss up between the Midwest and Canada, just based on variety of kinds of monsters. Almost anywhere has it's own Bigfoot legend.

READ: How do your friends and family feel about your hobbies? You mention your wife both in your book and on your blog as "patient and understanding." How does she feel about monster spotting?

Francis: Everyone wants to be involved actually. My sister sends me monster spotting reports from her vacations. My friends forward me links to monster sightings they read about online. I tease my wife about putting up with me, but the truth is she loves this stuff just as much as I do. At least I think she does...

READ: Finally, the unavoidable topic: skepticism. How do you feel about it?

Francis: Skepticism is healthy. If you don't question things then you're simply not thinking for yourself. But at the same time, if you don't consider fringe possiblities then you're limiting yourself as well. My own stance is that some of the monster legends could be true, many of them probably are just good stories... but, who doesn't love a good story?

READ: Any last words of advice for a novice monster spotter?

Francis: Don't take yourself too seriously. It's not all that important what you are looking for, as much as it is that you are enjoying the search.

Don't forget to check out READ's special electronic issue:

MONSTERS

The following entry was written by READ and Writing Magazine's new Associate Editor, Audra Pace.

This is my favorite quote from On The Road, so I wanted to jump right to it. If you don't know, 50 years ago today, a book called On The Road was published. It was written by Jack Kerouac, a Beat Generation forerunner. If you don't know about the Beat Generation, quietly read this article, and then pretend you already knew. Play it cool, because that's what most of the Beats spent their time doing ... being cool. Like, real cool daddy-o.

Yeah, they talked like that.

The Beat Generation MVPs include Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Ken Kesey, and William Burroughs, among others. One of the reasons Kerouac's On The Road is famous is because it chronicled the impossibly cool goings-on of many members of the beat tribe.

But what were they all about? The Beats were a band of artists and writers who rebelled against strict, traditional American society that immediately followed World War II. They went west, they hitchhiked. They partied hard but they also held all night poetry readings. Much of their writing aligns with transcendentalist ideas about nature and freedom. They were hippies before hippies were hippies.

On The Road mostly tells the story of Neal Cassady's life, and his hitchhiking travels with Kerouac across Route 6. Cassady's character is named Dean Moriarty, and Kerouac's character is named Sal Paradise. Other Beats show up in the novel, too. Allen Ginsberg is played by a character named Carlo Marx.

Kerouac bought one long, continuous roll of type paper, and typed out the novel without changing pages, indenting paragraphs, or breaking up lines or chapters. What can we say? Beats certainly weren't big on following rules, even grammatical ones. Fortunately for the reader, it was cleaned up by the time it was published in 1957, but the "stream of consciousness" feeling still prevails.In reading On The Road, you actually get inside the main character's head. The story of how On The Road was crafted is fascinating.

So, on the 50^th birthday of the release of this novel, I say, check it out. Get in on it, and pretend you've been in on it all along, man.

Well, it's that time again. Most of you are back in school. And if you're not, well, you will be soon. I feel for you, I do. But fear not. There are plenty of reasons to be happy (or at least less sad) about being back in school. We've counted down the top reasons for you.

10. You can start reading your favorite Weekly Reader magazines again. Yay for shameless plugs!

9. Sometimes when you're assigned required reading, you actually discover books you enjoy that you never would have read on your own. Hello, Salinger, Heller, and if we're lucky, Rowling.

8. Only 79 days until Thanksgiving. It really sneaks up on you!

7. Writing assignments become excuses for bragging about what you did all summer. This summer, I went mountain climbing, traveled to Europe, sailed across the Atlantic ...

6. Speaking of writing, it's a lot easier to write notes to your friends or crushes when you're sitting next to them again. Dear John, do you want to go out? Check yes or no.

5. Be honest, you're kind of sick of watching bad reality shows and reruns. It couldn't hurt your brain to actually learn something. For some reason, history and English class seem a lot more entertaining ...

4. This is the year you can become captain of the team, editor of the yearbook, a straight-A student ... anything you want! I'm going to be head cheerleader!

3. Four words: brand new school supplies! If there's anything more satisfying than cracking open a crisp notebook and writing with a new pen, I don't want to know!

2. Cafeteria food almost seems edible after a summer of camp gruel. Mystery meat, I never missed you so much!

1. You can be published on Word. Another shameless plug? Well, it is pretty cool ...

What are your top reasons for being less-sad about going back to school?