I first heard of the book A Wrinkle in Time back in the mid to late 1980s. When I was in middle school, the author of the book, Madeleine L’Engle, actually came to my school, Marie Drake and spoke to a large group of us students in the library. She talked about the writing process, her early life and her books. She said she had met author Judy Blume. She described one of the first stories she wrote was about a set of male identical triplets who all pretend to be one person combining their talents of intelligence, social charm and artistic leanings. Things get complicated when one of them falls in love. She also mentioned an early story she wrote that she hated and to this day hasn’t removed it from the drawer she put it in after finishing it. L’Engle wasn’t the only children’s/teens’ book author who came and spoke to us. Another was Ted Strasser.
After seeing L’Engle speak, I meant to read A Wrinkle in Time but never got around to it. I guess I was too busy reading to get ahead in school. I had heard a little about the book: that it began with the famous sentence “It was a dark and stormy night” (I later learned she borrowed this from Edward Bulwer-Lytton); that it was a science fiction/fantasy; that it had three mysterious characters called Mrs. Watsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which; and that name “Megatron” appears long before it was used as the name of the leader of the evil Transformers, the Deceptions. A Wrinkle in Time was another book I got for long-term 9-month checkout from the Cal State L.A. library. I had checked it out along with Les Mis, Hatchet and many other books back in September 2009. We called the collection the “checkout library.” After the initial 3-month checkout period, I got two more 3-month renewal periods. By early June there wasn’t much time left in the last renewal period, but enough for a children’s/teens’ book of less than 200 pages. The colorful cover showed various fantasy images including what looked like the three mysterious characters. There was also a gold medal indicating that the book had won the Newbery Award.
The book begins with the storm described in the first sentence and introduces the main character, Meg, who I think is a freshman in high school. Throughout and after the storm, the book doesn’t quite let up. It was as quick and gripping as I hoped. It was written and published in the early 1960s but it seems like a modern day story. The only indications of the time period are exclamations from one of the characters: “jeepers” and “jiminey.” Another possible indicator is that a male character whose full name is Alexander goes by “Sandy.” The book is written for young people: short sentences and paragraphs, lots of dialogue, and fast-paced action. But the story still contains some very complicated elements. It involves the space-time continuum travel long before it became a regular feature on Star Trek. As I suspected the story does have some scary elements. I probably would have been spooked if I had read the book in middle school or high school. L’Engle also does a great job describing the scenes from the storm in the beginning to the fantastic worlds to which the characters travel.
A Wrinkle in Time is a great story to read at any age. It is well-paced. All parts of the book are crucial to the story. L’Engle has an amazing imagination that includes faraway worlds, fascinating creatures, and some frightening implications. Not everything is fully explained, just enough for the story. It’s told from the main character, Meg’s point of view, though it’s written in third person. The story unfolded for her as it did for me and I could feel her confusion. She’s an awkward teenager (or preteen) who does a bit of growing up. Like all good fantasy stories, this one is about more than just fantasy. It’s about family, trust, taking risks, learning, and growing. There are several sequels to the book and some “spinoffs.” I may check them out later. Too bad I didn’t read this one earlier, but I’m still glad I read it.
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