A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
New York, Square Fish, 2007
256 pages, ages 10 and up

Meg Murray is at that frustrating age. She is not a child anymore, but she isn't a grown-up. She doesn't fit in with the kids at school, and her beloved family is suddenly no longer stable. Her scientist father has gone missing, and her genius little brother, Charles Wallace, gets teased for being stupid. Her grades are failing and she is getting in fights with the other kids at school.  If only Meg could find some balance!

Then one dark and stormy night, Mrs. Whatsit comes to the door and everything changes. Soon Meg, Charles Wallace, and their new friend Calvin find themselves traveling through space and time to try and find Mr. Murray. They are accompanied by Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which and all those who fight for the light against the powers of darkness.

I have a confession. As a child I was scared to read A Wrinkle in Time. It had this retro cover with a winged centaur and a scary man's face with red eyes. That cover. It was the stuff of nightmare to me.

My older brother had read it. My mom had tried to read it to us multiple times. But not only was there that man with the red eyes, but there was a character named Mrs. Which. I thought she was Mrs. Witch, and witches are scary.

It wasn't until I was seventeen or eighteen that I finally decided that I needed to read this Newberry Award winning book. I was hooked immediately. I felt like Meg. Her awkwardness, her fierce love of family, and her stubbornness all appealed to me. Her friendship with Calvin, a popular kid on the basketball team, gave me hope that popular kids actually had a heart.

Madeleine L'Engle soon became my favorite author. I scoured the local bookstores and thrift shops for her books. I searched the internet and found copies of the ones that were out of print. I tried to read everything she had ever written. Then I became Facebook friends with her granddaughter Lena Roy, who is delightful, and my life seemed complete. I cried the day that Madeleine died.

A Wrinkle in Time has been made into a stage play, a TV movie, and now a major motion picture. I was concerned that any adaptation would mess with my vision of this beloved book. But, you know, I was really pleased with Ava DeVernay's handling of the story. It is an update. Things are different. There are things that were left out. But I cried all the way through it. In a good way. Really. The themes that Madeleine wrote about, the themes that I loved about the book, they were all there. Tonight I am running a book club about the book for my neighborhood. This book that couldn't seem to find a place of its own in the sixties is still applicable to what is going on in our world today. If you haven't read it, give it a try. If you have, read it again and go see the movie. Let me know what you think!