If you want to make the world a better place, there are many things you probably should do, and at least two that you must.

1) Read A Wrinkle in Time at least once.

2) When they are old enough, and they are ready, give this book to your children.


I first read A Wrinkle in Time when I was in third grade. I loved it, but didn't read it again for a long time. Then a few years ago, I stumbled across a copy while browsing through a store which sold old books. It's not a hard book to find, by any means, but it seemed appropriate to find and remember it there, among those huge stacks of faded books. That place had eons of nostalgia stored away on crumbling yellowed pages, and I decided to take a bit home with me that day. I read the book again after I bought it, and for the third time the past couple of nights. It made me think about a lot of things. It's an incredible book about what it means to be human, to be alive. In retrospect, I have to wonder how much of who I am is tied to those books I read growing up.


"It's much too wild a night to travel in."
"Wild nights are my glory," Mrs. Whatsit said. "I just got caugt in a downdraft and got blown off course." ... "I shall just sit down for a moment and pop on my boots and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, pet, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."

Tesseract. Take this word, and say it aloud. Feel how it forms on your tongue, seems almost to have weight and substance, and then rolls off the tip into the air. There's a glimpse into the brilliance of this book. There are tons of words, real and imaginary that would have sufficed for ending that paragraph. Tesseract is the only one that is perfect. But I'm not going to tell you what it means.

So, plot synopsis. I never was too great at this part.
The book is about three children, Meg, Charles, and Calvin. The story centers around Meg Murry, an intelligent, awkward girl, who can't quite seem to find her place. Charles Murry is her younger brother, a genius that everyone thinks is a moron. Calvin O'Keefe is a boy from school, a few grades ahead of Meg, who is quite intellegent, athletic, and comes from a home where he doesn't fit at all. Together, these three children are led by Mrs. Whatsit, and her friends, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, through the fabric of the universe in order to find and rescue the Murry children's father, who has been missing for several years. They learn a lot along the way, about what makes life beautiful, and about a terrible shadow of sameness which threatens to swallow the entire universe in its misery. It must be fought, at all costs. And it is.

Well, I guess that's enough to get you started. I don't want to spoil it if you haven't read the book, and anyway I have to get back to practicing my tessering. Keep reading, people.