A+Wrinkle+in+Time


 * A Wrinkle in Time **

Book Review by: Stacey Garrity

A Wrinkle in Time Author: Madeleine L’Engle Publisher: Square Fish May 1, 2007 Format: Paperback (Reprint) $6.99 (Barnes and Noble) ISBN: 9780312367541 Reading level: 11-15 Years Pages: 245 Pages Language: English

Summary: A Wrinkle in Time is the story of Meg Murry; a homely and awkward high-school-aged girl who travels through time and space with her younger brother Charles Wallace, a little boy who everyone thinks is dumb but actually has incredible powers, and her friend Calvin O'Keefe to rescue her father. Meg and Charles’ father is a gifted scientist that evil forces have captured and are holding prisoner on another planet for over a year. The story begins on a dark and stormy evening with the arrival of Mrs. Whatsit at the Murry house. Although she looks like a peculiar vagrant, Mrs. Whatsit is actually a celestial creature with the ability to read Meg's thoughts. Mrs. Whatsit, her two equally eccentric friends Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, and the children must travel through a “wrinkle” in space and time to the fifth dimension to search and rescue Mr. Murry.

Book Review: //A Wrinkle in Time// was a book that I was assigned to read when I was in fifth grade. I never liked any book that I was forced to read, and I was not looking forward to reading this book either. I was definitely surprised! This was the first book I read that tapped into my love of far away magical lands, and allowed me, as the reader, to travel along with the characters. Meg Murry is also a character that many young girls can relate to because so many go through that awkward phase where they feel different and do not quite fit in.

About the Author: Madeleine L’Engle was born in New York City, NY on November 2, 1918. She attended Smith College and graduated in 1941. L’Engle wrote more than sixty books, but is best known for //A Wrinkle in Time,// and the four other books that make up the complete series about the Murry family; //A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet,// and //Many Waters.// She wrote many other series of books, as well as some independent books such as //And We Were Young, Ilsa,// and //The Joys of Love//. Along with her young adult novels, L’Engle also wrote adult fiction, poems, plays, memoirs, and religious meditations. Madeleine L'Engle passed away at a nursing home in Connecticut in 2007.

Literary Element Analysis: One literary element that Madeleine L’Engle uses in //A Wrinkle in Time// is allegory. One example that shows allegory in this book is “The Black Thing”. This character represents pure evil, but the reader never gets a complete description spelled out for them. This allows the readers to imagine this ominous character on their own. Not describing this being fully also follows the books theme that not there is more to the universe than what is simply seen.

//A Wrinkle in Time// also shows symbolism for religion. At one point in the book Charles Wallace asks Calvin to read him the Book of Genesis as a bedtime story. This scene is followed by Calvin and Meg taking a walk in the garden, where they both snack on apples. Similar to Adam and Eve walking through the Garden of Eden before they meet the Devil disguised as a snake, this scene creates the sense that Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin are about to gain a greater knowledge of good and evil.