A Wrinkle In Time

L'Engle, M. (1962). A Wrinkle In Time. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Brief Annotation: This is the story of Meg Murry, a shy teenage girl who is trying to figure out how she fits in. Her father has gone missing and the past few years without him have been very hard for Meg and her brother Charles Wallace. One night Meg is visited by three strangers who are witches. They inform her that her father has been captured and that Meg needs to go and free him. Through science, and the use of tesseract (a wrinkle in time) Meg and her brother and friend Calvin are able to travel through space and fight off the forces capturing their father. They return safely and Meg learns that she is much stronger than she ever imagined.

Genre: Science-Fiction

Grade Level: Grades 4-8

Readers who will like this: students who are looking for a challenging read, and also for a fun book. Teachers could use this book to read aloud to older students, and take it chapter by chapter, explaining all of the different themes behind the book. There are some controversial aspects to the book now, but overall it is a fun book and full of imagination and excitement.

Response/Rating (1-4): 4. This book is a classic and a must read. I think it touches on so many personal growth issues, as well as community and how we work in todays world, it transcends time and through the generations. It does have a few spelling struggles (so if you were trying to teach students how to spell correctly this book could be confusing at some parts with the witches unique words) and a few scary sections, but mainly this book is full of adventure and fun.

One question you would ask before a read aloud: “What do you think a wrinkle in time could be?”