A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time 2010-08-19

Reviewer: Z. M.

I was completely surprised by the amount of reviews this book received. I think this book is as good as The Harry Potter Series if not better. The book is somewhat confusing, but in the way that keeps you reading. The characters were easy to love.
te book had an incredible plot! I highly recommend this book to all.

Timeless Wonder... 2010-08-05

Reviewer: D. S. Thurlow

Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 "A Wrinkle in Time" is an astonishingly good children's science fiction story, still very much in print. It features three misfit children, three very unusual old ladies, time travel, and a desparate mission to rescue a missing father.

"It was a dark and stormy night" begins the story, which quickly introduces Meg Murry, an awkward thirteen-year old with braces, glasses, and a scientist father who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Her five-year old brother Charles Wallace is a child prodigy who can read minds, but not yet books. Together with Meg's schoolmate Calvin O'Keefe, himself a misfit, the three children will be launched on a rescue mission for the missing father by the three mysterious old ladies Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Their mode of travel will be a phenomenon called a tesseract, literally a wrinkle in time and space.

The three children will cross several strange worlds in search of the missing Dr. Murry. What they will find is IT, an ancient evil that captures Charles Wallace. In the end, Meg must find a way to face IT if anyone is to have a chance to return home.

"A Wrinkle in Time" is a timeless wonder, whose story and message still resonates. It is very highly recommended to children of all ages who still are fascinated by "once upon a time."

groundbreaking classic 2010-08-03

Reviewer: Featherhead

Groundbreaking YA science fiction / fantasy story about a socially inept but bright girl who learns about courage and the value of love in the fight against evil. Many sci fi novels today feature female protagonists, but this was one of the first.

Meg Murry's father has disappeared; no one has heard from him in over a year. Her teachers, thinking that Mr. Murry has abandoned his family, counsel acceptance, but Meg and her siblings know better. One night, a mysterious creature appears during a thunderstorm, and from then on, Meg's life gets crazy. She is taken on a planet-hopping trip that ends on Camazotz, a planet entirely controlled by a gigantic brain called "It" (Stephen King later borrowed this idea and name, only his "brain" was a huge spider). Meg's father is imprisoned on Camezotz, and her space-traveling friends help her rescue him. Along for the ride are Charles Wallace, Meg's genius younger brother, and Calvin O'Keefe, a sympathetic neighbor. They are assisted by three female entities whose powers, while vast, are limited. They and other space beings have been fighting "It" for eons; Meg's father has merely been caught up in this eternal struggle.

Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace naturally want to know how they have traveled across space, and the three weird sisters (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which) explain the concept of tesseract, which they explain as "folding the fabric of space and time." Mr. Murry had been involved in secret government experiments with tesseract and ended up on Camezotz by accident. All ends happily, with Mr. Murry home and everyone safe.

Despite its inventiveness and richness of plot, the story is at bottom a fairly traditional one. Great evil does exist, but it can be overcome by goodness and innocence. Evil manifests itself as total and rigid conformity; it is confounded by independent will and love-driven actions. Towards the end, the Christian overtones become stronger, with Meg realizing that the beings who heal her after her first encounter with "It" are angels of a sort. I see a strong influence from C.S. Lewis's trilogy about space travel, which began with Out of the Silent Planet (1938).

The book has a mixed bag of effects. Erudite references to Shakespeare and Goethe give way to a groan-worthy pun involving a clairvoyant creature called "the Happy Medium." Overall, the message for teens is positive: brains are good, courage is good, family is good. Unlike other, more simplistic, science fiction, this one does not expel or vanquish the evil by the end of the book. "It" is still up there on Camezotz, and the battle goes on.

As with many children's and young adult stories, the protagonist here is missing a parent (for much of the story anyway). In fact, few award-winning novels feature children with two parents. If they exist, they are not present in the child's life at the time of the story (Holes, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Everything on a Waffle). This absence forces the young people to think more creatively and to grow up faster. I have only recently become aware of this phenomenon, and am still unsure what to make of it. Perhaps in a subtle way, this plot device addresses a child's worst fear (loss of parents) while simultaneously offering hope that such a tragedy could be dealt with and lived through.

My son regrets this pick 2010-07-28

Reviewer: J. Turner

My eleven year old son picked this selection from his required summer reading options. He is a great reader,and an advanced student, but the book has to keep his interest or it is torment for him. He hates this book. He said the wording is strange and it was hard to follow. He was so miserable trying to force himself to finish it and finally gave up on page 70. We are going today to pick another book. We do not recommend this book.

Great for Children 2010-07-20

Reviewer: OneItalianFlower

This book is exactly what young readers need, but can be lacking for the older reader. Some books can be written for children (ex, Gary Paulsen's The Transall Saga) and still be completely enjoyed by a more mature reader, but this is not one of them. It has the simplicity, characterization, randomness, and fantastical nature that kids LOVE. I ADORED this book when I read it at about ten. But reading it now, it's lacking, mostly because there's just not enough there. There's not enough of the characters you love, not enough in general to really immerse you in the story, and sometimes things happen really fast. That being said, the writing is strong and it's a quick, easy read. Mostly though, give this to your kids, students, children in your life because it's great for them. You should read it too because it has some great points (like Meg's conversation with It about the difference in being equal and being the same) and will allow you to discuss some of the points with them. But don't expect to get out of it what they got out of it.