Wasylyn, Nina
 Book Review #1
 Period 4
 31 October 2016                                    


                                          A Wrinkle in Time

Madeline L’engle

Fantasy

232 pages

John Newberry Medal 

The novel, A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’engle, is about three children who travel throughout the universe trying to save their father. Meg, short for Megan, and Charles Wallace, her five year old baby brother, travel to find their father along with their friend Calvin, a tall, skinny boy with orange hair and blue eyes. Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which are the three magical old ladies who tesser the children through time, dimensions, and galaxies. To tesser is a way to travel using a fifth dimension. They travel to a new planet in a new galaxy called Camazotz. They believe that is where their father is being kept. Mrs Whatsit, Who, and Which leave the children to find their father on their own. On Camazotz, everything is perfect and in place and it doesn’t seem right. All the children out in front of their houses, which all look the same, are all bouncing a ball or jumping rope in the same exact rhythm. The children continue walking down the street until they see the CENTRAL Central Intelligence, which is the main center of the planet. They sneak inside but get caught. Charles Wallace tries to be brave but gets hypnotized and now is a part of this crazy, perfect city. They learn that the main control of the planet is called the IT. Meg and Calvin are still in search for the father, and find him in this glass cylinder which is dark inside so he cannot see. Meg realizes she has Mrs Who’s spectacles which allow her to walk through the glass and see her father in the darkness. Meg, Calvin, and Mr. Murry, her father, try to take control of Charles Wallace but he will be a part of IT forever if they do. They tesser out of Camazotz into this new, dark planet. They regain consciousness with the help of faceless beasts. Mrs Whatsit, Who, and Which come to give them support because they are going back to Camazotz, but they only allow Meg to. Once Meg is there, she gets to the IT and finds Charles Wallace. Mrs Which told her the only way to defeat the IT is with something that she has that the IT doesn’t. That’s love. Meg explains how much she loves Charles Wallace and he is freed from IT.  

This book did not appeal to me in any way. I didn’t like the fact that it is so fantasized because I had to go back and read something many times because it’s so confusing. The ending of the book to me was not exciting or interesting either. The end was kind of short and nothing special. Meg was thinking about what she had that the IT didn’t have, and the IT is just a giant computer that looks like a brain,  so I thought it was going to be something like friendship or love,  and it was. It wasn’t a surprise; nothing in the book was a surprise. There were no twists in the plot or characters which would have made the book interesting. I was bored and only reading because I had to not because I wanted to learn more about the story. If a friend wanted to read it, I would not recommend it. It was so annoying to me that I didn’t want to read it, and then I procrastinate and then I have to do it all the day or two before it’s due.