This month marked the 50^th anniversary of the publication of Madeleine L’Engle’s iconic A Wrinkle In Time. The anniversary is being celebrated with a commemorative printing of the book and a number of celebrations across the country, including one held at the Symphony Space in New York, which featured YA authors R.L. Stine, Lois Lowry, Katherine Paterson, and Rebecca Stead.

Aside from its great achievement of teaching kids around the world what, exactly, the word “tesseract” means, A Wrinkle in Time is being celebrated for its profound influence on young adult reading. The book’s success in inspiring lifelong fans helped turn a generation of kids into readers, and had a great impact on the science fiction genre in particular.

Do you remember any of the first chapter books you read? What book(s) made you into a lifelong reader?