A Wrinkle in Time

Title: A Wrinkle in Time
Author: Madeleine L'Engle
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Reading Level: 5th and up
Pages: 238
Genre: Science Fiction





Summary:

Meg Murry is condsidered a trouble maker. Both of her parents are scientists, but her father is missing. She has 10 year old twin brothers, Sandy and Dennys, and then a 5 year old brother, Charles Wallace Murry who is a genius. On a stormy night the Murrys are visited by an old women named Mrs. Whatsit. Mrs. Whatsit tells Mrs. Murry that there is a "tesseract" and the mother almost faints. Meg eventually finds out that it is something her father was working on before he disappeared. Charles and Meg run into Calvin O'Keefe, a high-school junior, and they all go to visit Mrs. Whatsit. They meet Mrs. Who and she promises that she and her friends will help Meg find and rescue her father. Meg and Calvin become very close friends and then Charles tells them it is time to begin their rescue mission. Then they meet Mrs. Which, the last of the three "Mrs. W's." The Mrs. W's are angels who can transport people through hte universe by tesseract. They go to the planet Uriel where everygthing is joyous. Centaur-like beings who live always in a state of light and love live there. There the "Mrs. Ws" reveal to the children that the universe is under attack from an evil being who appears as a large dark cloud called The Black Thing. The children are then taken to visit a woman who is a kind of medium with a crystal ball. In it, they see that Earth is partially covered by the darkness, although great religious figures, philosophers, and artists have been fighting against it. Mrs. Whatsit is revealed to be a former star who exploded in an act of self-sacrifice to fight the darkness. The children travel to Camazots where Meg's father is held captive. Everyone on the planet is like a robot, so they try to find the central power. They meet a man with red eyes and telepathic abilities who can cast a hypnotic spell over their minds. He claims to know the whereabouts of their father. Charles Wallace looks into his eyes and becomes taken over by the mind controlling the planet. Under its influence, he takes Meg and Calvin to the place where Dr. Murry is being held prisoner because he would not succumb to the group mind. The planet turns out to be controlled by an evil disembodied brain with powerful telepathic abilities, which the inhabitants of Camazotz call "IT". Charles Wallace takes them to the place where IT is held, and in close proximity to IT, all of them are threatened by a possible telepathic takeover of their minds. To escape, Dr. Murry "tessers" Calvin, Meg and himself away from Camazotz, but Charles Wallace is left behind, still under the influence of IT. They are taken to the planet of Ixchel. Calvin and the Murrys are discovered by the planet's inhabitants, and they take care of the Murrys and Calvin. Mrs. Which tells Meg that she has something that can defeat IT, so she tessers Meg to Camazotz. Meg realizes that the evil IT is unable to stand the emotion love. So she looks at Charles and thinks of how much she loves him, and it frees him! They are then tessered back home with Calvin and Mr. Murry where they are reunited with their family. The Mrs. Ws come to say goodbye and then they disappear forever.

My Reaction:

I thought that this book was very read. I guess I'm not much of a science fiction lover. I didn't like how everything played out, and I hated the planet Camazots where everybody was controlled. I wasn't very motivated to finish the book.

Potential Problems:

This is definitely a different kind of story. Children might have trouble wrapping their minds around it. Also, when Charles is controlled he turns his family over to IT, and that might be hard where they are family.

Recommendations:

I would recommend this book to people who like to think about science things. It gets you thinking about how things work and is kind of interesting. However, if you just want a simple plot line to follow than this one is not for you.