A Wrinkle in Time

October 27, 2008 by Book Dads

A Wrinkle in Time is a well-loved classic of children’s literature that has remained popular throughout several generations. It has the additional distinction of being a Banned Book. But it’s also a wonderful examination of a young girl’s changing relationship with her father, and of how both fathers and children need to change as children go through the process of growing up.

Meg Murray is a young teen who somehow just doesn’t fit in or even know who she is inside. Her normal pains of awkward adolescence are made worse by the fact that her famous scientist father disappeared mysteriously several years earlier, leaving her scientist mother to raise Meg and her three brothers alone in their small town.

Meg’s older brothers are as normal as apple pie, but her younger brother Charles Wallace is … different. Brilliant for his age, Charles Wallace also seems to sense and understand things that others can’t. That makes him even more of a misfit than Meg, and inspires a fierce protectiveness in her.

Everything changes for the Murray family when three eccentric and otherworldly women appear – Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, and Mrs. Whatsit – and whisk Meg, Charles Wallace, and their new friend Calvin off on a mission across the universe to rescue Meg’s father. Soon the children are embroiled in nothing less than the eternal cosmic war between Darkness and Light, and Meg will have to be more brave than she can possibly imagine. And when she finally finds her father, Meg will have to confront the fact that her father is, in fact, only a man – and Daddy can’t make everything better this time. It will take Meg and her father working together, and confronting both of their deepest fears, before the Murray family can be reunited again.

There’s a little of Meg in all of us, when even as adults we sometimes feel awkward or unsure of who we are. Meg struggles to hold onto her love for her father as she also learns to see him for the human being that he is, and learns how to stand on her own two feet. And there’s a little of Mr. Murray in all of us who are fathers as well, as we learn that we are not gods to our children but only mortal men, and that sometimes we have to learn to let them go. Madeline L’Engle wrote with deep compassion and understanding for both fathers and children, and indeed for all humanity. She never forgot what it was to be a child, with a child’s wonder and the sense that there is an entire magical world just beyond the edge of our perceptions if we could just pull back the veil. A Wrinkle in Time’s reputation is a timeless classic with lessons for both fathers and children, and will remain so for countless years to come.

Read more reviews:

Product Details:

Reading level: Ages 9-12
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Square Fish (May 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312367546
ISBN-13: 978-0312367541

Filed under About Dads
Tags: Young Adult Fiction

Comments

One Response to “A Wrinkle in Time”

Whit says:

October 28, 2008 at 10:42 pm

I loved these books! I wonder if I still have them for my boys. Time to sort out the garage.

Whit’s last blog post..Bend It Like Honea

Reply