A Wrinkle in Time Review

Synopsis from Edelweiss:

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

“Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I’ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.” A tesseract (in case the reader doesn’t know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L’Engle’s unusual book.

A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg’s father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

About: A Wrinkle in Time is a children’s science fiction written by Madeleine L’Engle. It was published on 3/15/1973 by Yearling Books, paperback, 211 pages. The genres are children’s, science fiction, and fantasy. This book is intended for readers ages 10 to 14. This book belongs to a series of 5 books: book 1 is called A Wrinkle in Time, book 2 is called A Wind in the Door, book 3 is called A Swiftly Tilting Planet, book 4 is called Many Waters, and book 5 is called An Acceptable Time. Please see below for more information about the author.

My Experience: I started reading A Wrinkle in Time on 3/13/18 and finished it on 3/16/18. This book is fantastic! I love the characters! They all have unique personalities. I like the twin’s good sense of humor. I like their easy going intelligent parents and the oddities of Meg and Charles Wallace. I like that despite the characters being super smart, that they seem to have a disability in others. Charles Wallace is a genius but he didn’t speak until he was 4 years old. Meg is excellent at math but she is a trouble student at school. It’s a good reminder that even geniuses are still not perfect. I read this book to watch the remake of A Wrinkle in Time. I have seen the old version of the movie years ago and some events came back to me as I read this book.

This book is told in the third person point of view following Margaret (Meg) Murry as she experiences one of the lowest days of her life. Her grades are suffering, the mean girls at school are saying she’s acting like a baby, and she has gotten herself into a fight to protect her youngest brother, Charles Wallace though her middle twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys weren’t appreciative of her efforts. Now the storm is scaring her. The storm brought in one of their new strange neighbors, Mrs. Whatsit. To Meg and her mom’s surprise, Charles Wallace already gotten acquainted with the new neighbor. Mrs. Whatsit said a tesseract is real and it brought on a whole new adventure for Meg and Charles Wallace. This adventure involves rescuing their father, a renowned physicist. With the help of Mrs. Whatsit and her two friends Mrs.Which and Mrs. Who and Meg’s classmate, Calvin, they were able to travel by tesser to far away planets.

A well written story, this book is full of adventures and wholesome characters for readers. I love the illustrations in this book that explains how traveling through tesser works. I like the mathematical references and the mentioning of Einstein. I like how Meg’s dad spent time to teach Meg math shortcuts and the periodic table of elements. I like Charles Wallace and his interest in higher learning at such a young age. I like the glimpse of Camazotz’s citizens, how everyone doing the same thing in a rhythmic motion. This book has a good family dynamic and the curiosity of the mind and I highly recommend everyone to read this book!

Pro: fast paced, page turner, easy to read, family oriented, other planets,

Con: none

I rate it 5 stars!

Buy it here for free shipping: Book Depository

About the Author:

Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007) was born in New York City and attended Smith College. She wrote more than 60 books, the most famous of which is A Wrinkle In Time (1962), winner of the Newbery Award in 1963. L’Engle continued the story of the Murry family from A Wrinkle In Time with seven other novels (five of which are available as A Wrinkle In Time Quintent from Square Fish). She also wrote the famous series featuring the Austin family, beginning with the novel Meet The Austins (1960). L’Engle revisited the Austins four more times over the next three decades, concluding with Troubling a Star in 1994. The story of the Austins had some autobiographical elements, mirroring Madeleine’s life and the life of her family. Madeleine L’Engle’s last book, The Joys of Love, is a romantic, coming-of-age story she wrote back in the 1940s, and is being published by FSG.

***Disclaimer: I borrowed this book from my local public library and my opinions are honest.

xoxo,
Jasmine