I am so very excited to be a part of the 50 Years 50 Days 50 Blogs tour for the 50th anniversary of A Wrinkle in Time. If you’ve been following the tour you know that this is the Reading A Wrinkle in Time for the first time leg of the tour. Young me had absolutely no desire to read this book. Until I was in college I was convinced that I did not like fantasy/sci-fi/anything that could not really happen. I remember being in late elementary or early middle school and a friend tried to get me to read this book:
Friend: Oh my goodness. You have to read this book!!! Me: Yay! Another book! What’s it called? Friend: A Wrinkle in Time and it is so so so so so good! Me: Ummm, a what in time? Sounds kinda, ummm, well…. What’s it about? Friend: Well there’s this girl and she has glasses and braces and she’s really kind of awkward and doesn’t really fit in. You’d like her. You’re a lot alike! Me: o_O Thanks? Also, I don’t wear glasses. Or braces. Friend: Okay but you need braces. Anyway, her dad is missing and there is this boy with red hair and then there are these ladies and they’re like really odd and stuff. One is actually a horse/man/rainbow thing with wings. Oh, and her brother is this super smart little kid and I don’t understand him and they have adog! I love dogs. Me: Oooookkkaaayyyyy. Do they, you know, do anything or are they just kinda there? Friend: They go all these crazy places and are rescuing the dad from IT but it’s like in space so they wrinkle time to get there. Get it? Wrinkle. Time. A Wrinkle in Time??? Me: Ummm, I think I’ll stick with The Babysitters Club.
This description put me off the book for approximately twenty years. When the 50th anniversary of the book rolled around I jumped at the chance to be a part of the celebration. So all in all I guess it’s a good thing my friend was really bad at describing the book!
Macmillan has done some really cool things for the 50th Anniversary edition of the book, First, you can check out their facebook page. Then there is this very cool book trailer:
The 50th Anniversary edition of the book includes:
•Frontispiece photo*†
•Photo scrapbook with approximately 10 photos*†
•Manuscript pages*†
•Letter from 1963 Caldecott winner, Ezra Jack Keats*†
•New introduction by Katherine Paterson, US National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature †
•New afterword by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Voiklis including six never-before-seen photos †
•Murry-O’Keefe family tree with new artwork †
•Madeleine L’Engle’s Newbery acceptance speech
* Unique to this edition † never previously published
Okay, on to what I am really supposed to be posting, my thoughts as a first time reader of A Wrinkle in Time:
You have to love a book that starts, “It was a dark and stormy night.” Classic. It sets the tone perfectly. And then we meet Meg. Poor Meg. She is the epitome of awkward young teen… glasses, braces, crazy hair. She feels alone and somehow fundamentally wrong. She doesn’t fit in at school and though she loves her family she doesn’t feel she fits with them either. It’s easy to see why so many teen readers identify with her (still, it was not cool of my “friend” to point out my similarities!)
Charles Wallace was an interesting character. I adored the fact that he had two names. I also loved how loyal he and Meg were to each other. I did have a really hard time with how well spoken and intelligent he was. I know he’s unique but there has to be more. Maybe it’s explained more in the other books?
And Calvin. Oh, dear, sweet Calvin. He is so proper and darling. He is polite to Mrs. Murry and kind to Charles Wallace. He holds Meg’s hand and tells her she is the nicest thing to happen to him in a long time. I approve of him as a crush for tween/teen readers!
As far as the story itself goes… there was a lot going on! Meg is swept up in a whirlwind adventure to save her father and perhaps all of humanity. The book touches on so many themes and ideas. It was a lot to absorb in one reading. A Wrinkle in Time is the kind of book I could read over and over and still find new ideas. Clearly a book that stands throughout time!
Random things I think I noticed as an adult reading the book for the first time that I probably wouldn’t have cared about as a younger reader:
*I really wanted the kitten to have a name. WHY DOESN’T THE KITTEN HAVE A NAME?!?
*Mrs Whatsit, Mrs Who, and Mrs Which. Why don’t they have periods after the abbreviation of Mrs?!? This threw me off every time.
*Charles Wallace. I know he is supposed to be this super smart yet odd five year old but it really creeped me out. I have a 5 year old nephew. He talks about super heroes and movie characters and poop.
*Calvin is a 14 year old popular junior on the basketball team? Does not compute.
*There is a line about the moonlight flashing across Meg’s braces. Followed by the use of the phrase “dreamboat eyes.”
*Calvin and Meg hardly know or talk to each other. At all. Through the whole book. The do hold hands quite a bit though.
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