In the basement here, I have a bookshelf dedicated to my small collection of Newberry-Medal-winning books. I began collecting them from garage sales and thrift stores years ago, and I even used to keep a list of titles in my wallet so I could keep tabs on what I needed. I only have about 60 titles in all (after so many moves) so nowhere near the full collection, but I have long-held the desire to read through those things en masse with my kids.

Recently we read the 1963 Newberry winner, A Wrinkle in Time as part of our search through popular series. Although I had read the book back in college, I remembered very little (actually, the feel of it stuck with me as did the basic premise). I was as excited as my kids were to join Meg, Calvin, and George Wallace on their adventure through time and space…even when things got “weird.”

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A “Weird” Story

I asked my kids (9, 10) about their impressions of the book once we finished, and “weird” was the most common adjective that came of my questioning. “Weird” and “confusing.” My 9yo daughter generally has a better grasp on plot situations than does my 10yo son, and he said that he wasn’t as excited about hearing this story read aloud as he often is for other books (like the “Peabody Series” by Jerri Massi, which we’ve also been reading lately), noting how “everyone seemed so afraid all the time.” My daughter told me, “It was confusing but not like I didn’t not want to listen to it.” Sometimes, I felt exactly the same!

Brief Summary of A Wrinkle in Time

The story is a modern classic, of course, so I needn’t recount it’s plot beyond the following. Meg and George Wallace’s father, the physicist Dr. Murry, has recently disappeared from his government job. When the children meet three very strange women (definitely not witches) interested in George Wallace’s psychic powers, they help them travel through space and time in the fifth dimension through what’s called the “tesseract.”

In their travels to the planet Camazotz ruled by the giant brain, IT, they become aware of a dark and evil presence called “the Black Thing” that threatens to take over all goodness in the universe. It captures George Wallace, and Meg is left to challenge the enemy alone—yet she’s not quite certain how.

The Story Behind the Story

The information in my edition shares a lot about L’Engle’s publication process, which I found interesting, though my kids couldn’t have cared less (I had to read those portions to myself). While I sometimes enjoy reading “the story behind the story,” I’m often let down when I hear authors say things like “the story wrote itself.” I get how that works, of course. I’ve dabbled in enough fiction writing to know that my characters get into scrapes where I’m not even sure how they’ll escape. Still, shouldn’t writers at least know the general end from the beginning, even if they allow the middle to write itself?

For example, I was so angry with the ending of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series that I felt like she betrayed her readers’ confidence by overplaying Catniss’ goodness and by killing Prim for no reason at all. While L’Engle’s book has a much happier ending than Collins’, her method of just letting go and allowing the story to move where it willed theoretcially left the potential for evil to win—we are, after all, sinners at heart. L’Engle did well to quote Scripture throughout her story, so I’ll quote some as well: “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?”

“Biblical” Themes Throughout

I know nothing of L’Engle’s professions of faith, so I cannot call this “a Christian book” (despite the Scripture), though it certain does carry with it some Christian themes. Love was prominent, as were faithful and general spirituality.

The problem I had with so much Scripture is that it was often misused and misquoted, almost like it were a magical book able to dispel evil just for being God’s Word. Romans 8:28 is an undoubtedly wonderful promise, but it’s not for just anyone (i.e. Dr. Murray). Where was the evidence that he loved God or was called according to His purpose?

I am also curious to know if the three women were somehow representations of God, Christ, or the Trinity itself. Their omniscience and omnipotence are clues, as is their self-sacrifice on behalf of the children. More than 25 years ago, I wrote this about A Wrinkle in Time:

This book teaches morals, yes, but…it tries to push a “religion” that is not doctrinally sound. I admit, it was entertaining, but its witchcraft and sorcery take the place of the acts of God, and its humanistic views detract from His glory. It teaches that “God” exists, but that He is in all of us, and we all are Him. We are all gods and basically good, and we simply need to harness that good and use it to the best of our abilities.

Conclusion

Having given this first book a try on my kids, I realize now that they’re not quite ready to tackle the whole series. We may need to delay reading the follow-up books for a few years—once their tastes broaden and their discernment strengthens—which I’m happy to do. This was a good refresher for me, as “weird” and “confusing” as the novel was!

©2022 E.T.