Monday, September 10, 2007

One of My Favorite Books From Childhood

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.




I absolutely loved this book. It had a female protagonist who was awkward, unsociable and uncomfortable with her looks. Just like me at that age. Meg Murray had tremendous untapped potential but felt overshadowed by her brilliant and beautiful mother. Her greatest strength was the love of her family, especially her little brother Charles Wallace.

Meg, Charles Wallace and a boy from Meg's school (and her later love interest)--Calvin O'Keefe--meet up with Mrs. Whatsit, a celestial creature who looks more like a tramp. She and her friends Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which take the children to find Meg and Charles Wallace's father, who's captive on another planet. Along the way they must fight a great evil and meet alien creatures that are amazing and wonderful.

A Wrinkle in Time is about the battle between good and evil and the ultimate triumph of love. This book is followed by A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet. But I think Wrinkle is still my favorite, because it introduced me to that awkward girl who was so much like me, and was my introduction to fantasy/sci fi.

Have you read these books? If so, what did you think of them? If not, what's one of your favorite childhood books?

4 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm ashamed that I actually haven't read this, but I never heard of it until I was already an adult. That may sound weird, but I grew up in a very rural area of Arkansas in the 1960s and there were a lot of things we didn't get there. I never heard of Doc Savage or The Shadow until I was an adult either. I was still sorry to hear of L'engle's death

Sherrill Quinn said...

Thanks for stopping by, Charles. And as long as you discovered these books, it doesn't matter how old you were. They're good at any age. :)

Anna J. Evans said...

Hey Sherrill, I loved those books too. L'engle will be missed.

And I agree Charles! Those books are good at any age.

anna j evans

Sherrill Quinn said...

Hey, Anna. I think I just might pull those books off my shelves and re-read them... :)