Wayback Wednesday

Book & Author:  A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Publisher:  Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Publish Date: January 1, 1962 (re-released many many times)
ISBN: 978-0374386139
Pages 256

"There is such a thing as a tesseract."  That line sets us up for a wonderful adventure.  A tesseract is...well, we all know that the shortest path between two points is a straight line, right?  Nope!  It's a tesseract, or 'folding' the fabric of space and time.

This book has been banned off and on in certain areas, but has never been out of print.  Why was it banned?  Because it talks about witches/angels (Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which) and religious liberalism, mostly the usual nonsense.

I first read this book when I was nine years old, I was probably too young for it, but thought it was a brilliant fantasy story.  I read it again as an adult and saw all the political and religious aspects...along with the fantasy story and loved it even more!  The entire series is amazing, but at least read this one!

L'Engle's characters are well-rounded and fleshed out.  It's easy to come away feeling like you know the Murray family:
Mr. Murray - a brilliant scientist on top secret work, missing for 2 years
Mrs. Murray - a beautiful, brilliant scientist; lonely and raising 4 children on her own
Meg - a 'misfit', she's bright, wears glasses, believes she is plain, protective of her family, misses her Dad, gets in trouble and fights in school because she's difficult and is terribly stubborn
Sandy and Dennis - twins, into sports, they're the 'normal' ones in the family
Charles Wallace - everyone in town believes Charles Wallace is retarded, but he actually way above average.  He's 5 years old but has the vocabulary of a teenager.
Then there's Calvin.  He goes to school with Meg and 'accidentally' falls in with the Murrays.  He's bright, athletic and unlike the rest of his family.

Add in three witches/angels, Evil and time travel and you've got an amazing book.