The Book Club Discussion post is now up and ready for comments. Whether or not you finished the book or this is your eighth reread, we’d love to hear from you!
With Ava DuVernay’s movie adaptation coming out in a month, we’re tying our first #CannonBookClub of 2018 with this 1962 science fiction fantasy classic. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle won the Newbery Medal and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award among others. From L’Engle’s website:
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
“Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me be on my way. Speaking of way, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract”.
Meg’s father had been experimenting with this fifth dimension of time travel when he mysteriously disappeared. Now the time has come for Meg, her friend Calvin, and Charles Wallace to rescue him. But can they outwit the forces of evil they will encounter on their heart-stopping journey through space?
1962, when A Wrinkle in Time was published, was the era of the Cold War, when people thought democracy and individual freedom of expression were being threatened by totalitarianism and collectivism. Reading today, does this threat still seem evident in the story? If Madeleine L’Engle were writing the book today, what political realities would be the major influences on its writing?
Here are some other questions to think about as we get ready for our discussion on February 23 and 24.
- Was this a reread of a childhood book? If so, how did the reread fare – how did you remember it compared to actually reading it? Did you like it more or less this time?
- A Wrinkle in Time is banned by some religious groups and has often been challenged in libraries. Why do you think that is? What do people object to?
- Does the novel feel dated or has it aged well in the fifty years since it won the Newbery Award?
- Are the characters easily described as good or evil, or are the motivations for some characters more complex?
- There are many different types of beings in the book. Which do you find the most interesting? The most scary? The most loving/lovable?
Make sure to tag #CannonBookClub if you’re posting about the book, and please share the cover of your version!
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Can’t wait for this one! :)
It must be destiny. Just posted my review of AWiT this morning :)
This was my favorite book as a kid – like Meg and Charles, I was a sensitive boy with an also-sensitive older sister. I’ll never forget the thrill I experienced, when, after convincing my Mom to read it, she explained to me that the whole scene with the kids all bouncing their balls at the exact same time was a symbol of communism ~ whoa!