Review of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

May's pick for Classic Middle Grade reads with The Midnight Garden was A Wrinkle in Time.  I confess this is a first time read for me.  You can follow along or join in on the discussion at http://www.themidnightgarden.net/ and #tmgreadalong.  

Reading a Wrinkle in Time was reminiscent of reading the Phantom Tollbooth or even The Little Prince. Like the previous two books, I found that I had to take my time reading the book and really absorb the story. Although, this is a really quick read, I didn't want to miss out on all those messages layered in about family, courage, bravery, but most of all love.  I must admit that going in to A Wrinkle in Time, I really didn't entirely know what to expect.  I expected there to be science fiction, and maybe even a scary monster of some kind.  I mean the story does start out with "it was a dark and stormy night..."  (Which by the way, I really like that line).  But, somehow I was kind of let down with IT and The Black Thing, they didn't seem as scary to me as I had envisioned they would be.  So,  I'm going to say A Wrinkle in Time is a gentle introduction into science fiction and good versus evil in a non scary way.   Meg is an endearing character, even with all her insecurities about her looks and wanting to be popular, qualities that as a kid I would have easily identified with.  I also liked the relationship and closeness that she shares with Charles Wallace. The characters of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which were intriguing, they come off very angelic and at one point I thought that Charles was too, mostly because of his extraordinaire abilities.   L'Engle sure doesn't write down to her reader either and I appreciate that as well as all of the various poems that she introduces through Mrs. Who.   I really enjoyed reading A Wrinkle in Time, would my child self have enjoyed it, probably, especially for the sweet moments between Calvin and Meg.  Since Calvin's family had so many children it was easy for him to get lost in the shuffle and feel unloved, so the moments that he found comfort with Meg by holding her hand or asking her lots of questions to get to know her better were really sweet and made the story for me.