Flashback Friday: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Flashback Fridays is a blog feature started by myself. It's a weekly post where I feature books from my past that have impacted my reading tastes today. 

A Wrinkle in Time

by Madeleine L'Engle

Originally Published: 1962
Genre: Science Fiction
Age Group: Middle Grade
Age When Read: 8

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".

A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusal book. 

I remember going to the old Barnes and Nobles in my hometown when I was eight years old. I'm pretty sure I was eight. My mom often took my brother and I (and later my youngest brother) to the bookstore and let us pick out whatever we wanted and we could easily spend hours there. I specifically remember this trip and buying two books: A Wrinkle in Time and Island of the Blue Dolphins. I don't remember which I read first, but I remember how much of an impression A Wrinkle in Time left upon me.

I think this book was one of, if not my first Science Fiction book. Though the setting was a bit fantastical and the plot unrealistic, I seriously identified with Meg. She wasn't the girly girl who had tons of friends, in fact she was rather a nerd! I also completely understood her love and responsibility for her little brother, Charles Wallace and I wanted to be just like her. Crossing time and space on an adventure to save her brother and everyone else from a seriously dark force. I also had a major thing for Calvin, who liked Meg the way she was, braces and all. This book taught me that science fiction is really cool, and that it was okay for me to enjoy being a nerd while my friends at school were reading about kittens and princesses. Not that I didn't go through my own princess phase... *ahem*.

This is a book I would love to pick up and read again. I know I re-read this book in high school, but a fresh take on it would be lovely.