A Wrinkle In Time: A Fascinating Children's Novel!
Written: Jul 30 '02 (Updated Jul 30 '02)
Product Rating:
Pros: Good Plot, Interesting Characters, Suspense
Cons: Some Cheesy Characters (in my opinion, anyway)
The Bottom Line: Expect a good read when reading A Wrinkle in Time. It has all the important elements that a book should have-- a good plot, interesting characters, and suspense.
tkd_grant's Full Review: Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time: Literature ...
Have you been looking for a fun, adventrous children's story that has some meaning? If you answered this question with yes, then A Wrinkle in Time is the book for you!
I was first introduced to A Wrinkle in Time when I was in the fifth grade. The book was on our reading list, but I decided not to read it because my classmates claimed it was too confusing. What a mistake that was! The following year, I gave A Wrinkle a try and thought it was a great science-fiction/fantasy story!
Plot
Meg and Charles Wallace Murry have always had their own share of problems. Meg is not popular in school and is constantly arguing over something with the school principle, Mr. Jenkins. Charles Wallace, on the other hand, is getting picked on because of his high IQ level and because of the fact that he doesn't talk very much.
Just to make matters worse, Charles and Meg's father is missing after experimenting with time travel. Mrs. Murry has been trying to contact him for a long time, but no luck!
Therefore, it's Meg and Charles' turn to help rescue their father. They will receive help from three lovely ladies-- Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. Calvin, Meg's new friend (surprise, surprise!), with also join the journey.
There will be several joyous moments on the journey. They will have the chance to meet a bunch of neat characters--such as The Happy Medium and Aunt Beast. Both are very kind and loving to Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin.
But the kids will face many struggles and hardships throughout their journey. They will meet face to face with "The Black Thing" (a dark, shadowy monster that looms over the dark planet of Camazotz). The "Black Thing" can capture you while tessering (a way of traveling through time. Also know as wrinkling. Hints the title, A Wrinkle in Time). But the biggest struggle of all will be fighting against the big, disgusting brain called It. It is controlling father and the rest of Camazotz. Will Meg and company defeat It and rescue father?
My Thoughts
I very much enjoyed A Wrinkle in Time. It has pretty much all the elements needed to make a good book-- suspense, a good plot, interesting characters. Some of the characters were just too cheesy for me, though.
Aunt Beast:
They had four arms and far more than five fingers to each hand, and the fingers were not fingers, but long waving tentacles. They had heads, and they had faces. Where the features would normally be there were several indentations, and in place of ears and hair were more tentacles.
What is with that? Well, then again, this is a children's book afterall. That's the only downside of the book I could think of. I would definetly give Ms. L'Engle (author) an award for creativety.
Speaking of awards, A Wrinkle in Time won the Newbery Medal! That's pretty impressive, eh?
All the characters (even the cheesy ones) were interesting. Ms. L'Engle gave each character their own unique personality, which I thought was great!
The story had plenty of suspenseful moments also. Most of the suspense happens at crucial parts in the story, and therefore you need to read to find out. I don't want to spoil it for you. Just read and find out for yourself.
The theme of this story (I believe) is to show how powerful love can be. Love itself is very powerful. In A Wrinkle you will see a demonstration that involves love.
Recommendations/Overall
I would recommend this book to kids ages 8 and up. Children younger than this might think this story is a little too confusing (like I did!). Teenagers 14 and up might think of the story too cheesy. However, I have read reviews of this book on other websites and found out that many adults enjoyed this book just as much as their kids did! So, go ahead give it a try!
Also recommended: A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters, Harry Potter series.
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