CHARACTERS: Margaret "Meg" Murray, 12-year-old social misfit and math-whiz; her baby brother Charles Wallace, a 5-year-old genius who can read his Moms and sisters minds, and whom neighbors and kids at school think is mentally retarded; Calvin OKeefe, age 14, a popular 11th-grader from Megs school; Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which, three beings from another dimension who help the children travel through time/space in order to try and rescue Mr. Murray, their scientist father.SUMMARY: Physicist Mr. Murray has been working on top-secret government projects, so secret he hasnt even told his family the nature of his research. His letters stopped after hed been away on a special mission and Megs family is never given an explanation for his disappearance. Mrs. Murray, a biologist and bacteriologist, believes hell return and encourages her children to believe it, too.
Meg hears about a mysterious newcomer and learns her baby brother has already met the eccentric Mrs. Whatsit. The stranger, Mrs. Whatsit, and her two associates are time- and space-travelers who, using a mode of travel called "tessering"--a concept Mr. Murray had researched before his disappearance--take Meg, Calvin, and Charles Wallace away from Earth in search of Mr. Murray. From a planet in another system they can see through the thin atmosphere that a dark cloud or shadow, an evil Black Thing, surrounds another planet; they learn Mr. Murray has been fighting the Black Thing for years. They are shown the Thing surrounding a planet other than Earth, then they see that IT casts a pall over Earth as well. The children are frightened, but determined to rescue Mr. Murray and to fight IT themselves in order to rid their world if ITs evil influence.
Mrs. Whatsit sends Meg, Charles Wallace and Calvin to Camazotz, where Mr. Murray is being held by humanoids who are loyal to IT. Hes been holding out mentally, but is beginning to weaken just as the children arrive. With the wisdom imparted to them by Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, will they be able to break through the barrier imprisoning Mr. Murray? In the process of finding Megs father, baby brother Charles falls victim to ITs mind control. The others tesser away from Camazotz to a safe planet, but are forced to leave Charles Wallace behind.
Meg, by far the most fearful of IT of the would-be rescuers, must be the one to return to Camazotz in order to save Charles Wallace from IT, as shes the only one who can reach Charles Wallaces mind and wrench control of it away from the evil power of IT. When Meg returns to the planet, which has been under ITs control for some time, she must try to gain entry to her little brothers mind, but how can she outwit the huge intellect of IT? Mrs. Which told her that she has something that IT did not have, and this will be her only weapon--if only she can realize what can reach through IT to her brother.
Will the family be finally reunited? Will everyone escape the evil power of IT unscathed, or will there be lasting repercussions? Read this nearly-forty-year-old book to find out.
IMPRESSIONS: One of my favorite books from childhood, "A Wrinkle in Time" is a novel that I have reread many, many times, even throughout my adult life. Believable, touching, and teaching all at once, it is a timeless classic of American modern literature. Meg teaches us all that we can turn our weaknesses into strengths, and that good really can triumph over evil. Also consider the fact that a WOMAN (Madeleine LEngle) wrote this novel in 1962. She really was ahead of her time! I recommend this book for kids in middle school and high school--and to their parents, because sharing and discussing a book together is incredibly rewarding and enlightening. To really learn how a kids mind works, tap in through the mutual enjoyment of a well-written book. There are no sassy-mouthed pre-teens or adult situations in this book, so "A Wrinkle in Time" is an excellent choice!
Amazing and well written