Book Review of A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I was excited at the prospect of seeing the A Wrinkle in Time movie so I decided to read the book beforehand. I’d never read the book as a child so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. 

I grabbed a copy of the book from our local Half Price Books store (which was NOT half price by the way) and began reading immediately. 

Did I think the book was the "beloved children's classic" so many readers claim it is? Let's see...

Brief Synopsis

An oddly dressed stranger blows into the Murry home one "dark and stormy night”. The stranger mentions a “tesseract”, which clearly upsets Mrs. Murry and daughter Meg needs to know what a tesseract is and why it upsets her mother so much. Meg and her five-year-old brother Charles Wallace decide to use the tesseract as a way to find their long lost scientist father. Before leaving, they meet and invite Meg’s schoolmate Calvin and the three embark on an adventure through space and time.

My Review

At about 80 pages in it became clear to me that this book is a total DUD. I have no idea what the author was trying to do here. It ends up being a book that can’t seem to decide what it wants to be.

Before I go further into my reasons for hating this book, I’ll preface things by saying that I LOVE children’s books. I read and review them all the time. I read to children’s groups whenever possible, so I know what works and what doesn’t. But with this one, I couldn’t help thinking…How did this book become a classic? How did it get so many glowing reviews? How has it been made into a movie? Is Oprah really that influential?

The plot is ridiculous and thin. The characters are so poorly developed; I couldn’t care less what happened to them. The book is far too short for the characters to have any real substance or genuine interaction among them. There was just a lot of zipping here and zipping there.

Right from the start the “it was a dark and stormy night” opening line set the tone for the rest of the book for me. The author’s writing is bland, non-descriptive and flat – describing Charles Wallace’s maniacal giggle as being “a giggle that was the most sinister sound Meg had ever heard” is just lazy writing. That means nothing to me as a reader.

The book was written in 1962, but Calvin’s character used terms that were better suited for a 1930s B movie star – addressing Charles Wallace as “old boy” and exclaiming “Golly day…I’ve been in such a swivet” sounds ridiculous. What high school boy (even in 1962) says that?

With regards to Charles Wallace, the idea of a five year old who acted more like an adult than a toddler was, to me, just creepy. And I didn’t find Meg to be the least bit likable or relatable.

This book is supposed to be geared toward 10 – 14 year olds, but I saw far too many words that just would not be understood by many children in this age group. The thinly veiled religious references did not help either – they served absolutely no purpose aside from perhaps injecting the author’s religious views into the book.

A Wrinkle in Time was rejected by 26 publishing houses before finally being accepted. The author herself mentions this fact in her (boring) interview at the end of the book. She also mentions that her mother put her in contact with a publisher friend, who decided to publish the book…finally. Enough said.

1 of 5 Stars, Susan Barton, DIY Mom Blog

Classic Children's Novel "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett Book Review - Mother/Daughter Book Club Choice

If you've read The Secret Garden as a child I'd suggest revisiting it as an adult. It's packed with lovely life lessons and encouraging messages for both children and adults. It'd be a wonderful book choice for a Mother/Daughter Book Club!

This book is a well-loved classic, written in 1909. I read it while in elementary school and when I saw there was a one-day free promotion in progress, I decided to grab the eBook copy. Re-reading The Secret Garden as an adult certainly gave me a better perspective on the book’s message.

Mary Lennox is a sour, angry ten-year-old child who lives in India and spends her days alone and left to her own devices. Mary is a pale, thin and plain child who is so disagreeable that the family’s house servants have little to do with her. Even her socialite mother has little time for Mary, as she leaves her in the care of a string of Ayahs (nannies). When she’s orphaned after a cholera outbreak, Mary is sent to Yorkshire, England to live in a sprawling mansion with an uncle she’s never met. Once there, she makes friends with a friendly housemaid, Martha, her brother, Dickon, and then accidentally stumbles on her cousin – a purported invalid and equally disagreeable ten-year-old boy named Colin. The unlikely group of friends embark on a magical and life-changing journey.

There are several lovely, positive and powerful messages contained in The Secret Garden. The most important message being that we all have the ability to choose to be either happy and upbeat or angry and sad. As the children cultivate and revive the secret garden, they are also cultivating and reviving a brand new and happier feeling of well being within themselves. As they begin working together toward their mutual goal of developing the garden, they realize how important companionship is for their health and growth.

There are definite “religious”, spiritual and magical undertones going on in this book. It’s been reported that the author’s interest in metaphysics and the New Thought movement were likely the reason for this. Whatever the motivation, I thoroughly enjoyed the magical elements in The Secret Garden. I would highly recommend The Secret Garden for children and adults!

5 of 5 Stars, review by Susan Barton and originally posted to eBook Review Gal.