A Wrinkle in Time- Novel #5

The Book
L'Engle, M. (1962). A Wrinkle in Time. New York, NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers.

Summary
A Wrinkle in Time is the story of Meg Murry, a high school aged girl who is transported through time and space to first rescue her father, and then her little brother. Meg lives at home with her mother, her two older twin brothers, and her younger brother. Her younger brother has developed quite quickly, he can talk well beyond his years and even seems to possess some kind of mind reading ability. Both of her parents are scientists and her father left over a year ago on a work related job. He used to always write until one day the letters stopped coming. Meg soon discovers why as she goes on an adventure to save him from the evil forces that are imprisoning him on another planet. She goes on this adventure with her younger brother Charles Wallace and her friend Cavin O'keefe. Meg and her companions are transported on this journey with the help of three new friends, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. The story begins with the arrival of Mrs. Whatsit at the Murry house on a dark and stormy evening. Meg does not trust her at first as she looks like a crazy old tramp, but Mrs. Murry invites her in to warm up and eat some food anyways. Mrs.Whatsit then upsets Mrs. Murry by mentioning before she leaves that a tesseract actually exists. A tesseract is a sort of "wrinkle" in space and time. It is through this wrinkle that Meg and her companions will travel through the fifth dimension in search of Mr. Murry. On the afternoon following Mrs. Whatsit's visit, Meg and Charles Wallace walk over to the haunted house where the three Mrs.W's are living. On the way, they meet Calvin O'Keefe, a popular boy from Meg's school. The three children then learn from Mrs.Whatsit and her friends that the universe is threatened by something called the Dark Thing. Many planets have already fallen victim to The Dark Thing including the planet Camazotz, on which Mr.Murry is imprisoned. Meg and her companions are then transported to Camazotz to rescue Mr.Murry. The only problem is that this planet has been taken over by a giant diembodied brain called IT. Charles Wallace tries to fight IT with his exceptional intelligence but he is overpowered and becomes possessed by IT. Under the control of IT, Charles Wallace leads Meg and Calvin to Mr. Murry and together they try to defeat IT. However, they too are unable to withstand IT's power and escape at the last minute when Mr.Murry appears and seizes Meg and Calvin and "tessers" away with them to another planet.The three Mrs. W's appear once again, and Meg realizes that she must travel alone back to Camazotz to rescue her brother as he is still there possessed by IT. Mrs. Which tells her that she has one thing that IT does not have, and this will be her weapon against  IT. When standing in the presence of IT, Meg realizes what her weapon is against IT, it is her ability to love! By concentrating on her love for Charles Wallace, she is able to rescue him and restore him to his true identity. IT is defeated and Meg and Charles Wallace tesser through time and space. They  land in her twin brothers' vegetable garden on Earth, where her father and Calvin stand waiting. The family joyously reunites, and the three Mrs. W's visit the happy travellers while they are en route to further travels.

Response
I chose to read this novel after it was mentioned in the novel When Your Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. It was referred to a few times in this novel and I was curious about the story behind it. During my reading of A Wrinkle in Time I was a little confused at times, but overall I enjoyed it. I liked how there was always action and something unusual happening. However, I was confused at how mature Charles Wallace was for his age and how he possessed a sort of mind reading ability. It seemed strange to me that no one, especially their mother seemed to think this was unusual. Also, I wish it would have explained in more detail how Charles Wallace came to meet the three Mrs.W's and why Calvin was chosen to join in on the journey to rescue Mr.Murry. I am left wondering what kind of adventure the three Mrs.W's are going on at the end. I also wonder why Charles and Meg did not tell their mother about this adventure, as I'm sure she would have understood and even would have tried to help. This book definitely gives it's readers a lot to think about. It also leaves many things to the reader's imagination as there are no illustrations. There are also times when the reader must develop their own explanations and backgrounds to certain parts of the story. For example, how the three Mrs.W's knew how to find Charles Wallace, Meg and Calvin. I really enjoyed how desciptive the writing was as it allowed me to really picture what was going on and create my own image of the scenes that were unfolding. I am amazed at how old this book is as while I was reading it never dawned on me that this book was over 40 years old. It is definitely a timeless classic. I also appreciated that the female and male characters were equally powerful, and that each had their own imperfections. There really is a theme of good vs. evil in this book and I also found that it contained many symbols and themes of spirituality and science. I think this book would be great to discuss as a class and hear student's different interpretations of the book and it's themes. It would also be good to study in an English Language Arts class as it uses quite descriptive vocabulary, and it contains many examples of personifications and alliterations.

Awards Received/Reader's advisory information
A Wrinkle in Time has won the Newbery Medal, Sequoyah Book Award and  Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. It won the Newbery Medal Award in 1963 and I do not know the years it won the other awards. It would be most appropriate for children 12 and up as the chapters are quite long and the writing is pretty small. The plot is quite complex and there are also no illustrations. I also think the content would be harder for younger students to understand. It contans themes of spirituality, science, fantasy, time travel, family, friendship, courage, love, determination and the powers of good and evil (light and dark).