Why was I only reading Nancy Drew as a "young adult?" Did I realize that this habit would mark me for life as a murder mystery junkie? Did anyone ever mention The Phantom Toll Booth or this one, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, another book recently celebrating its 50th anniversary since being published? It's a Newberry award winner, for heavens sake!
Like Toll Booth, I ordered my own copy of Wrinkle after I read it. You can never start stashing away books to read to your grandchildren so they don't realize when they arrive at late middle age that there are significant holes in their literary experience.
Adding to the fact that this is another "juvenile" book is its overlay of science fiction, a genre that never really caught me despite my love of Stranger in a Strange Land. L'Engle herself believes the story was poorly received because the hero of the story was a GIRL, something completely "alien" to sci fi at that time. Meg Murry, our intrepid heroine, is a brilliant underachiever, unsure of her intelligence easily when interacting with her Einstein like younger brother Charles Wallace. She is also struggling with pre-teen angst of having a beautiful, intellectual scientist mother who often makes dinner over Bunsen burners rather than leaving her lab for the kitchen, and of not having her father at home. Alas, the story predates all the dysfunctional family youth literature of today: Meg's father works for NASA and seems to have disappeared while on secret assignment.
Like Milo venturing into imaginary warring worlds of numbers and words, Meg teleports with Charles and the hunky misfit athlete scholar from school to find her father. It is a wonderful coming of age story, one to help children learn to love their different strengths and to avoid a society of commonality and uniformity. It too describes the faults of group think and demigod mind control.
Slightly shorter than TPTB at 211 pages, I found myself not dog-earring pages of clever writing. L'Engle writes more of a piece. Even though her characters, IT and the three witch/angels, are memorable, it is for their personae and not their turn of phrase. The story is maybe a tad more adventurous and the moral more singular. But planning ahead, it is still something I want in my guest room book case for night time stories to read to my next generation of brilliant kiddies.
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I doubt there is much coincidence esp in this but I too read this this weekend while up in the Adirondacks, gawking at the star filled night sky. How did I miss this when I was growing up? And the Phantom Toll Booth as well? What was I doing??? A Wrinkle in Time is excellent as is your review. Required reading for grandkiddies when they are older and what a nice way to tell a tale about the importance of being your own person and living life authentically as yourself. I'm glad you did this review.
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